Columbia will offer a new course on how to interpret and evaluate the impact of data next semester in the hopes of facilitating greater understanding of how data is used.

History professor Matt Jones and applied math and physics professor Chris Wiggins announced the course at an event on the role of data science on Monday. The class will begin as a small discussion section under both the history and applied math departments, and the professors plan to eventually expand the course to lecture size.

Both professors said that the idea stemmed from a fear that while governments and large corporations are gathering more data, the public’s understanding of the way in which that data is used is not sufficient.