Data and artificial intelligence culture and skills

10 new “PIX Data” courses

10 new “Pix+ Data” courses designed for all public and private sector professionals who produce, distribute or reuse data

https://pix.fr/donnees

These courses aim to raise awareness, assess and support the development of digital skills relating to the use of data in the professional world.

These 10 “Pix+ Data” courses, lasting an average of 30 minutes, cover three main areas of professional digital skills

• Searching for and producing quality data : searching specialized catalogs, assessing the intrinsic and/or contextual quality of data, etc.
• Open, protect, share and encourage the reuse of data: Understand the environmental impact of open data and best practices for limiting it, share or protect data while respecting exceptions to open data…
• Using and reusing data in public or corporate policies: Produce a datavisualization, learn about data preparation tools, make a decision based on data…

These “Pix+ Data” courses are designed to be accessible to all levels, from beginner to expert, thanks to an adaptive algorithm that adjusts questions to the level of each participant, answer after answer.

A 7-question test, requiring neither an account nor a PIX license, provides an initial overview of the tests: https: //app.pix.fr/courses/course1uOzQroNkVlMMH

Each “Pix+ Data” course features real-life situations and concrete exercises, complemented by tutorials and educational and training resources to help participants deepen their knowledge. By way of example, these courses provide access to a wide range of resources such as regional data platforms, Etalab guides to opening up and sharing data, geographic information systems and much more.

“Pix+ Data” consists ofa discovery trail and 9 thematic trails:

• Searching for data
• Data production
• Data quality
• Opening data
• Data protection
• Data reuse
• Data preparation
• Data visualization
• Innovation via data

For example, for the “Innovation via data” pathway, the topics covered are :

• Understanding the different data-related professions in the public sphere
• Understanding the vocabulary involved in using data in public policies
• Interpreting and calculating indicators for decision-making and evaluation purposes
• General knowledge of artificial intelligence and machine learning.

The complete PIX+ Data repository (digital data skills): https: //cloud.pix.fr/s/3H5Q35sQ7yCPTaQ

Two examples of PIX+ Data tests:

The official launch of these pathways, accompanied by a communications campaign, took place on June 11, 2024 during the Ministry of Ecological Transition’s Data Day.

The press release for the launch of PIX+ Data: https: //www.ecologie.gouv.fr/lancement-10-parcours-pix-donnees

The Acteurs Publics article on the launch of PIX+ Data: https: //acteurspublics.fr/articles/letat-met-en-place-un-parcours-dacculturation-a-la-donnee-pour-les-agents-publics

Are these courses accessible to Ministry of Ecological Transition employees?

The “Pix+ Data” courses are the 8th theme to be made available to MTECT employees.

Seven courses built with PIX have already been offered to MTECT staff (central and regional administration) since mid-2023:

• Internet and its uses ;
• Spreadsheet office applications
• Word processing and slideshows
• Safe and responsible practices
• Hardware, files, data
• Cybersecurity
• Solving technical problems

Why this project?

In the general PIX repository, there are a few questions linked to data, but we don’t find many of the themes linked to the use of data in the public sphere: openness of public data (obligations and exceptions, licenses, APIs…), data sharing between administrations (FranceConnect…), statistical secrecy, the role of DINUM/Etalab and ministerial data administrators, archives, regional geographic data platforms, etc. In addition, important notions deserve to be explored in greater depth: data quality, protection of personal data, data systems, data security.

In addition, important concepts need to be explored in greater depth: data quality, protection of personal data, database management systems, etc.

The project therefore consisted in drawing up a list of the skills required in the field of data in the public sphere, and then creating the corresponding questions. Since the summer of 2022, GIP Pix’s educational engineers and a group of cross-functional experts and associations have been working on this project, for which they would like to express their sincere thanks.

The project was launched by the Ecolab of the Commissariat général au développement durable, in its capacity as delegated ministerial data administrator.
The Agence Nationale de la Cohésion des Territoires (ANCT) is also involved.

From the outset, the future self-assessment repository was intended to be interministerial and cross-functional, but also widely open to the private sector.

We talk about data within the Ministry because :

– Given its size and missions, our ministry generates and uses (and must open up and protect) a large mass of data that is very useful for the day-to-day running of the Nation, as well as for the success of the ecological and energy transition (NB: also fight against untruths). This is also the case for local authorities, with whom our ministerial pole, and in particular the decentralized services, is in contact to manage the territory. The ecological planning of the France Nation Verte project will need to be based on existing and future data, particularly at the territorial level
– There are specific legal provisions concerning the right of every individual toaccess information relating to the environment. There are also specific legal provisions requiring the production and sharing of data on transport, energy, land values, etc.
– Some operators are responsible for producing and distributing data : Météo France, Institut national de l’information géographique et forestière (IGN), Office français de la biodiversité (OFB), in particular
– The ministerial cluster includes a large scientific and technical network that creates and publishes research data
– The ministerial cluster must provide data training in its schools (ENTE, ENTPE, ENPC, ENSG, ENSM, ENSAM, ENAC, INSTN)
Several major policies of the ministerial cluster rely on public service delegates, whose data can be qualified as being of general interest
– The directive of March 14, 2007 establishing a European geographic information infrastructure (“Inspire”) has had a very strong impact on the development of the sector. Inspire “) has played a major role in structuring and opening up our geographical and environmental data sets. Of the 228 Inspire reference data sets, at least 220 originate from the ministerial division. This explains why geomaticians are de facto part of the field of data professions (even if an increase in skills is required)
– A large proportion of the ” High-value data ” that will have to be shared at European level by June 9, 2024 also emanate from our ministerial public policies: geospatial; Earth observation and environment; meteorological; mobility (+ business and population statistics)
– Several companies belonging to the economic sectors regulated by the ministerial cluster are among the “essential service operators” and future “highly critical sectors” of the 2016 and 2022 European cybersecurity directives: transport, energy, drinking and waste water
– The ministerial cluster is responsible for the regulation of expert uses of data: drones, autonomous vehicles,smart cities, etc.
– The ministerial cluster houses the secretariat of the French national council for geolocalized information (CNIG) , which supports the deployment of high-quality territorial data
The ministerial cluster has a strong presence in new types and uses of data : satellite, 3D lidar, digital twins, etc.
– Did you know?
The Agence Nationale de la Cohésion des Territoires (ANCT), the operator of our ministerial cluster since July 2022, supports policies to give territories and individuals access to digital technology and thus to multiple uses of data
-MétéoFrance, the operator of our ministerial cluster, has two of France’s largest supercomputers to run its models: Belenos and Taranis
-TheIGN maps the Anthropocene with thematic maps on a limited number of major ecological issues, reflecting the rapid changes in the territory and the consequences for the environment.

A series of webinars on data culture for employees of the French Ministry of Ecological Transition

To review the seminars in the cycle on data culture proposed by Ecolab with the support of CMVRH

Data glossary

-Data is the basic element of knowledge. The term “data set” or “data collection” is used to describe a collection of data.
-The term “raw data” is used to describe data that has just been acquired (via measuring devices, for example). Data can be cross-referenced, enriched, aggregated, degraded, etc.
-A database is a structured collection of data.
-A database is structured using conceptual data modeling or a data schema: this requires collaboration between data and business experts. Data schemas are used to describe data models: what are the different fields, how are data represented, what are the possible values, etc.
-A data standard is a data schema associated with governance rules, the whole being consensual and shared by a community or ecosystem
-When we know the data schema, we can issue queries on the database to obtain only the data that obeys our criteria. APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) are computer applications that enable other programs to obtain data according to queries.
-Databases can be cross-referenced if identical and discriminating information is available in each database. This is the join.
-The information describing data or databases is called metadata (title, acquisition date, date put online, owner, license, quality information, download URL, etc.)
-Metadata can be used to create data catalogs, in which the data is displayed. In this way, a consultancy firm can consult catalogs to find out about the state of knowledge in the field it is going to analyze. It can then consume the data it needs. We say that data circulates, that it is shared.
-Some data is open (known as opendata), while other sensitive information can only be consumed by authorized users: sharing is more than just opendata.
-Catalogs can communicate with each other automatically, and keep up to date with the latest developments in other catalogs. This is known as harvesting.
Data is hosted within data infrastructures (portals, information systems, etc.).

OpenClassRooms training courses on data and artificial intelligence

Ecolab invites all staff with an interest in data-related issues – particularly of a technical nature – to take courses on the OpenClassRooms online platform.
There are over 60 courses dedicated to data (not including general courses on the Python language).

Work with OpenDataFrance on key data skills

Ecolab took part in the OpenDataFrance “Culture D” association’s work to develop

• A data resource center
• A repository of data skills
• A data career path for local authority professionals

Project deliverables (December 2023): https: //opendatafrance.fr/decouvrez-les-livrables-du-projet-culture-d/

DATAcculturation

DATAcculturation videos on Youtube: https://www.datagrandest.fr/portail/fr/ressources/metiers-data-roles-et-missions-magiciens-donnee

DATAcculturation aims to raise awareness of data and open data among local authority employees in all categories and professions, through accessible and educational media.

DATAcculturation is a project led by the Préfecture de région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (Secrétariat général pour les affaires régionales), supported by the @RCHIPEL public innovation laboratory, and a winner of the Fonds d’innovation RH 2022.

The website: https: //www.datara.gouv.fr/accueil/infos/actualites/12_209/datacculturation__un_kit_pedagogique_pour_sensibiliser_les_agents_a_la_donnee

DataGrandEst: Data professions, roles and missions of data wizards

Link to the January 13, 2023 webinar: https: //www.datagrandest.fr/portail/fr/ressources/metiers-data-roles-et-missions-magiciens-donnee

Educational video: general introduction to data

The Direction de la Recherche, des Études, de l’Évaluation et des Statistiques(Drees) of the French Ministry of Health and Social Affairs organized its first Data Day on April 4, 2023. To mark the occasion, the department released a video resource providing a very simple explanation of what data is, with examples linked to the healthcare sector.