Hands On With Google Data Studio

CHAPTER 1Data Studio and the Data Citizen

Since you are reading this book, you probably qualify as a “data citizen.” What do I mean by that term? A data citizen is someone who

• Has access to data in a format that can be analyzed
• Has access to the tools for data analysis
• Has a personal, business, or community interest in building their data literacy and skills
• Has some interest in deriving value from data to benefit themselves personally, their business, or their community

I'm not the first person to use the phrase “data citizen,” but I found that most definitions of the term seemed too restrictive, too bound only to the interests of those working in corporate enterprises, describing their relationships to those organizations. I believe that we need to expand the concept so that it is more inclusive and focused on the individual, regardless of their business relationships.

For our purposes, being a data citizen is a recognition of your current state of meeting the criteria from the list. There is no “Data People's Republic” to enforce the rights and responsibilities of a data citizen. The only state to which you as a data citizen belong is a state of mind. It is the acknowledgment that you have the right to analyze and interpret data yourself and that you recognize the need to act responsibly with the interpretations and guidance that you provide to others.

This book is geared to those people who are ready to explore the opportunities and possibilities that come with being a ...