The value of data depends greatly on its users: on the questions they ask, the perspectives they bring, and the meanings they are able to uncover. Yet the careful and meaningful use of data also depends on how well we understand the data themselves. Data are never merely numbers. They are the result of sustained efforts in collection, documentation, management, curation, and interpretation. For researchers to draw convincing insights from data, they must understand where the data come from, how they were constructed, what they cover, what they omit, and what kinds of stories they can legitimately support. Whether a dataset is complete, coherent, and sufficiently rich to sustain a broader social narrative depends fundamentally on the work of data collectors and data managers.
  The 2026 Workshop on Data Value Creation and Challenges (DVCC 2026) will bring together expert teams with extensive experience in building, managing, analyzing, and applying major social science databases in Taiwan. This year’s seminar will feature representative data resources and applications, including the Risk Map of an Aging Society, value-added applications of fiscal and tax data, Kids in Taiwan: National Longitudinal Study of Child Development and Care (KIT), Taiwan i-Generation Panel Study: Growing Up with Digital Natives (TIGPS), and Taiwan Communication Survey (TCS). Through these examples, the workshop aims to show not only how data can be used, but also how data, when properly understood, carefully managed, and thoughtfully interpreted, can become a foundation for meaningful social knowledge.
  A central message of this event is the close relationship between those who use data and those who collect and manage them. Good research depends on good data, but good data are not created by technical procedures alone. They require data collectors and managers who understand the potential value of the data, the kinds of questions the data may support, and the importance of completeness, consistency, and context. At the same time, researchers who use data must approach them carefully, deeply, and with appreciation. To use data well is to respect the intellectual and institutional work behind them, to recognize their limitations, and to interpret them with both creativity and responsibility.
  We warmly invite students, teachers, researchers, and practitioners who wish to sharpen their data insight, seek research inspiration, or develop project ideas to join us. Through the sharing of professional research teams, participants will gain a deeper understanding of how social science data are collected, managed, visualized, and interpreted, and how such data can help us better understand Taiwan’s past, present, and future.