AFRY and Gapminder in collaboration for a fact-based worldview
AFRY has entered into a long-term collaboration with the Gapminder Foundation to identify, highlight and counteract ignorance
As part of this, a new knowledge test will be developed, with questions relating to the UN's global goals for sustainable development. AFRY will contribute to this through fact checking and the provision of expert advice.
Gapminder was founded in 2005 by Ola Rosling, Anna Rosling Rönnlund and Hans Rosling with the aim of promoting sustainable global development by teaching a fact-based worldview that everyone can understand. Now, AFRY and Gapminder are entering a long-term partnership to identify ignorance pertaining to the major societal issues of our time and increase public knowledge of our world and global development.
The global situation over the past six months has clearly shown how important it is that we have the correct knowledge when making decisions - and the need for a fact-based worldview is greater than ever. But making the right decision is also about showing courage, for example by continuing to work for sustainable development even in times like these, when everything comes to a head.
says Jonas Gustavsson, CEO of AFRY.
From the outset, it has been at the core of Gapminder's business to make statistics and data more accessible and easier to understand, to provide more people with better knowledge of the world we live in. Developing fact-based questions to test the public with is one tool to achieve this, and identify systematic ignorance. Gapminder's first knowledge test with 13 questions on global development has been used by over 1 million people around the world. Gapminder is currently producing several new tests within various subject areas linked to sustainable global development. Through the collaboration with AFRY, a new test will be developed, containing questions related to sustainability within AFRY's areas of expertise, such as climate, energy and infrastructure. As a partner, AFRY's experts will identify subject areas, fact check materials and provide advice and explanations.
Through our tests we have shown that there is widespread systematic ignorance about the world we live in - that people not only lack knowledge but also have incorrect information about basic global trends and proportions. Most of us have an overly dramatic world view, which means that we often think things are worse than they actually are. This is a problem, as it makes it difficult to make good decisions. We hope our tests can help people become aware of their ignorance and eager to re-learn and in this way promote a more fact-based worldview.
says Anna Rosling Rönnlund, co-founder of the Gapminder Foundation.
The knowledge test will be launched this autumn under a so-called Creative Common license, which means that it is free to use and distribute further.