Page 186 - Contributed Paper Session (CPS) - Volume 6

CPS1868 Jo R.

Fighting innumeracy with TV
Jo Røislien
1,2
1 Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Stavanger, Norway
2 Department of Research, Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation, Norway

Abstract
Introduction Stories of statistical misconceptions in the public domain are
plentiful, and statistics is generally considered a difficult topic to disseminate
in understandable layman’s terms. General interest in STEM subjects is in
decline worldwide, yet statistical literacy has never been more important in a
world increasingly fuelled by statistical analyses of quantitative data. In an
attempt to change the public’s view on maths and stats a large-scale mass
communication project funded by national Norwegian broadcaster NRK was
initiated in Norway in 2009.
Methodology TV production company Teddy TV teamed up a young stats
professor with a director of international music videos and commercials.
Through innovative use of everyday objects, contemporary high-end
cinematography and pop-cultural know-how the team invented a series of
visual demonstrations explaining basic and advanced topics from maths and
stats. The end result was ten half hour prime time TV-episodes aimed at the
general public.
Results The series premiered fall 2011 on national broadcaster NRK to
massive ratings, enthralling more than 600,000 viewers weekly, in a country
of only 5 million people. The series rocketed host Prof Jo Røislien into the
Norwegian mainstream, as a celebrity alongside rockstars and actors. The TV
series has since ended up in classrooms throughout Scandinavia as part of
the regular maths and stats education. Clips from the series has hundreds of
thousands of views on YouTube, and has been the blueprint for Scandinavian
science communication for years.
Discussion and conclusion Film are an underexplored medium for
explaining statistics. As scientists have limited know-how of large scale public
communication, teaming statisticians up with professional communicators
with pop-cultural know-how opens up for more effective communication of
important basic statistical competence to large audiences.

Keywords
Mass communication, attention, TV, music videos, pop-culture

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