The word datum, the singular of data, traces its roots to the Latin verb dare, which means "to give." Datum refers to something that has been given. When a healthcare patient consents to participate in a research study, they agree to give researchers information about their health and health outcomes. Researchers gather and analyze these data points, which collectively form a dataset or a collection of data. Our popular understanding of data, however, does not largely follow this idea of datum as a thing given. We tend to think of data with detachment. Data are factual and scientific.
Datum is a project developed out of the Ludic Mind Studio, which supports the creation and adaptation of e-mental health technologies and interventions that are user-generated and based on co-design processes that promote shared decision-making, continuity of care, and overall quality care and cultural safety. On the website you will find videos explaining how healthcare data is collected and used, along with policy documents and legislation pertaining to the use of healthcare data.
