Page 187 - Contributed Paper Session (CPS) - Volume 6

CPS1868 Jo R.
1. Introduction
Stories of statistical misconceptions in the public domain are plentiful, and
statistics is generally considered a difficult subject to grasp, and a difficult topic
to disseminate in understandable terms to laymen outside the scientific
community.
Statistical literacy has never been more important in a world increasingly
fueled by and run off statistical analyses of quantitative data. At the same time
general interest in STEM subjects is in steep decline worldwide. Attention span
among the public appears to be decreasing (1), and people spend increasingly
more time in front of screens, browsing the internet for content. And film is
taking center stage in what people consume online. It is estimated that by
2021 80% of all material consumed online will video (2). Even when watching
longer film sequences and drama series attention span is still in the seconds.
Psychological research into how people who watch TV and film has unveiled a
high demand for continuous gratification to avoid people changing channels.
In an attempt to help change the public’s view on maths and stats in
Norway a large-scale mass communication project was initiated by
commercial Scandinavian TV production company Teddy TV in Norway 2009.
The project was eventually given the green light and funded by national
broadcaster NRK. The aim of the project was to turn mathematics and statistics
into binge-worthy television for a large general audience.

2. Methodology
The television producers teamed up young mathematician and professor
of medical statistics Jo Røislien, and director of music videos and commercials
Christian Holm-Glad, the latter with international mega-popstars like Calvin
Harris and Kygo to his name, alongside films for international brands like
Apple and Netflix. Journalists and commercial text writers were added to the
team, alongside high-end cinematographers and film editors.
Through innovative use of everyday objects and real-life settings,
contemporary high-end cinematography and pop-cultural knowhow, the
team invented a series of visually experiments and demonstrations explaining
both basic and advanced topics from maths and stats. The spoken language
was, just like the imagery, contemporary and non-academic, using only words
well-known to everyone. The end result of this science communication
experiment was ten half hour TV-episodes aimed at the general public, on
prime time national television.

3. Result
The result of the profession-crossing collaboration was a maths and stats
series free of blackboards, books, universities and expert interviews. The series
premiered fall 2011 on national Norwegian broadcaster NRK to massive

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