Big-Data Literacy as a New Vocation for Statistical Literacy

In the contemporary society a massive amount of data is generated continuously by various means, and they are called Big-Data sets. Big Data has potential and limits which need to be understood by statisticians and statistics consumers, therefore it is a challenge to develop Big-Data Literacy to support the needs of constructive, concerned, and reflective citizens. However, the development of the concept of statistical literacy mirrors the current gap between purely technical and socio-political characterizations of Big Data. In this paper, we review the recent history of the concept of statistical literacy and highlight the need to integrate the new challenges and critical issues from data science associated with Big Data, including ethics, epistemology, mathematical justification, and math washing.