Users Conference 30.9.2019, Statistics Finland

1. DATA BELONGS TO
EVERYONE
Statistics Finland's Figures for tomorrow seminar
Helsinki, 30/09/2019
Pekka Sauri
Professor of Practice, University of Helsinki

2. COMMUNICATION
REVOLUTION 1
Almost every citizen has all the data
published in the world in their pocket
The data monopoly has broken down:
the gap between public administration
and citizens has closed

3. COMMUNICATION
REVOLUTION 2
Almost every citizen has a powerful
mass medium in their pocket
Communication has been freed
from advance censorship
Everyone can be the editor-in-chief
of their own media

4. THE WORLD IS A
COMMUNICATION PROCESS
• New communication tools (social
media) have opened the world to
multilateral, bidirectional, real time
interaction.

6. THE DEMOCRATIC CYCLE
Citizens ”experience” Decisions
Political programmes Detailed ”facts” -> preparation of
decisions
Voters
Election result
Master plan Budget
Strategy Operational objectives

7. DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY AND THE
BEST ARGUMENT PRINCIPLE
 Jürgen Habermas: In an ideal speech situation, the best
presented argument leads to a consensus after weaker
arguments lose
 Criticism: There is no ideal speech situation - the time available
before deciding is limited, the discussion is not carried out with
equal terms, the participants have different resources for carrying
out the discussion…
 Counter question: What is the alternative to the best argument
principle in a world of freedom of expression and equality?

8. FACTS VS. VALUES IN DECISION-
MAKING
 Preparation "non-political" (based on facts), decision-
making "political" (based on values)
 The mayor model (Tampere, Pirkkala, Helsinki):
difference between "non-political' and 'political'
clarified - the town managers are office holders, the
mayors are politicians - the term is the council term
 Politicians should not interfere with preparation -
preparation should be based on the best possible
information base

9. SO… BUT WHAT IS THE
REALITY?

10. 'THIS IS HOW THESE THINGS ARE
EXPERIENCED,"
- PARTY SECRETARY RIIKKA SLUNGA-POUTSALO, IS 1.8.2015

11. INFORMATION AND FEELING,
FACTS AND EXPERIENCE
 It may well be that 'this is how these things are experienced’ - but
shouldn’t the person making the decision check the facts on
which the experience is based and rectify them if they are
incorrect?
 See public perceptions of the proportion of the Muslim
population in different countries (next)

13. THINGS ARE BETTER THAN YOU THINK
Hans Rosling, Ola Rosling, Anna Rosling
Rönnlund: Factfulness - things are better than
you think. Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're
Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are
Better Than You Think Otava 2018. (Finnish
version)

14. WOMEN’S SCHOOLING
www.gapminder.org/teach Version: 1Free teaching material for a fact-based worldview
3 years
5 years
7 years
AA
AB
AC
Women’s schooling
Women aged 30 spent how many years in school?
(Men of same age spent 8 years)
ANSWERS

15. What percentage of adults in the world
today are literate — can read and write?
— ANSWERS
80%
60%
40%
A
Q3.1
www.gapminder.org/teach Version: 5Free teaching material for a fact-based worldview
A
AB
AC
TEST QUESTION 4: WORLD LITERACY

16. Q7.1
www.gapminder.org/teach Version: 1Free teaching material for a fact-based worldview
AA
AB
AC
TEST QUESTION 7: EXTREME POVERTY RATE TREND
Almost doubled
Remained more
or less the same
Almost halved
Extreme Poverty Rate Trend — ANSWERS
In the last 20 years the proportion of the World
population living in extreme poverty has...

17. WORLD OF FACTS...
 "We are subjected to never-ending cascades of negative
news from across the world: wars, famines, natural disasters,
political mistakes, corruption, budget cuts, disease, mass
layoffs, acts of terror.
 Journalists who reported flights that didn’t crash or crops
that didn’t fail would quickly lose their jobs.
 Stories about gradual improvements rarely make the front
page even when they occur on a dramatic scale and
impact millions of people.”
- Factfulness, p. 66

18. FAKTAT JA POLITIIKKA (FACTS AND
POLITICS)
Matti Wiberg (toim.) (2017): Faktat ja politiikka (Facts and
politics).
Kunnallisalan kehittämissäätiön julkaisu 7.

19. - The basic principle of advising on evidence-based decision-making is that the advisor
advises but the decision-maker decides. There are, you see, several other viewpoints
next to researched information that may have more impact in the politician’s mind:
 Agreements made ("it is not mentioned in the government programme")
 Financial conditions ("Finland cannot afford it")
 Values and ideologies ("It is a threat to the welfare state")
 The precautionary principle ("It has not been proven safe")
 Opinion polls ("It is against the people’s will")
 Citing authority ("I know better")
 National inferiority complex ("Sweden does it this way")
- Chancellor emeritus Kari Raivio, Faktat ja politiikka, p. 2

20. THE REALITY OF POLITICAL INFORMATION
1. A citizen that is interested in politics seeks data sources that confirm their
preconceptions
2. When facing information that contradicts their preconceptions the citizen
abandons the new information and sticks to what they knew before
3. Resistance to contradictory information is the stronger the more active and aware
a follower of politics the citizen is
- Lauri Rapeli, Faktat ja politiikka, p. 14

21. A STRONG BELIEF TRUMPS FACTS
 When Sarah Palin claimed on the radio that the aim of President
Obama's health-care reform was to create "death panels” where
senior officials would decide which of the patients would die and
which would live, 30% of Americans believed the claim - around
one-half of republicans.
 After two and a half years as many Americans still believed this
claim.
- Lauri Rapeli, Faktat ja politiikka, p. 16

22. THE CHALLENGE OF THE
PREPARING PERSON
How can I present the information on which
preparation is based in such a form that the
decision-maker
(1) understands it, and
(2) can present it to their voters plausibly?

23. THE CHALLENGE OF THE
DECISION MAKER
(1) How do I absorb the information on which
preparation is based and the related
concepts and terminology so that I can
maintain a credible connection with voters?
(2) How can I justify detailed decisions with
the strategic policies made by the
representative decision-making body?

24. HOW ARE CITIZENS "HEARD” AND WHO ARE HEARD?
Eeva Luhtakallio and Maria Mustranta: Demokratia suomalaisessa
lähiössä (Into 2017) (Democracy in the Finnish suburb)
 "Current urban activism: For example, Helsinki increasingly has
neighbourhoods where “things are happening” and with “hustle and
bustle” and, thus, people who actively participate in many types of
civic activity without bowing down to old structures. This group of
people organise village fêtes, streets festivals, bicycle parades and
pop up activities."
 "Things are planned, people network and mobilize on social media.
The high level of education among city dwellers is an important
underlying factor: there is a wide range of know-how but above all
trust in one’s own strengths and influence.” (pp. 118-119)

25. THE PROBLEM OF BEING LEFT OUT 1
 "But at the same time as the networked activist browses through
a dozen municipal councillors’ contact information on their
mobile in order to take their issue forward there is, on the other
hand, a group of people who does not protest or participate in
associations nor do they arrange trendy street festivals."
(Luhtakallio and Mustranta, p. 118)

26. THE PROBLEM OF BEING LEFT OUT 2
"They see their possibilities to have a say in
society and even belonging to it as non-
existent. These two attitudes are materialised
class positions which people usually have a
hard time to recognise as such if not
impossible regardless of which side of the coin
they are on.”
(Luhtakallio and Mustranta, p. 118)

27. WHY DOES THE BEST ARGUMENT PRINCIPLE NOT
MATERIALISE?
 Citizens are not interested in strategic decisions but are only
activated once the detailed decisions made based on strategy
become concrete.
 The strategy tends to get buried under controversial detailed
decisions.
 The decision is finalised already in the committee stage and
changing it in the cabinet or council stage is difficult.
 Possible policy trades
 Practical constraints: the time for debate runs out and the issue is
settled by a vote, i.e. based on political power relations.

28. SO, WHAT TO DO?
 Trust in decision-makers and ultimately in the
democratic system is built on open interaction.
 If decision-makers only participate in the debate
when the strategic decisions become topical, it is too
late to build trust.
 Decision-makers must be involved in civil debate all
the time and introduce facts to the debate that
hopefully will replace unjustified beliefs.

29. THANK YOU.
ANY QUESTIONS, COMMENTS?
pekka.sauri@helsinki.fi
Twitter: @pekkasauri