Strategies for web based data dissemination

A strategy is a plan of action designed to achieve a vision - from Greek "στρατηγία" (strategia).

Zoltan Nagy – Statistics Division, Department of Economic and Social affairs, United Nations

United Nations Regional Workshop on Data Dissemination and Communication, Manila, Philippines, 20-22 June 2012

Existing Strategies

Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics“statistics that meet the test of practical utility are to be compiled and made available on an impartial basis by official statistical agencies to honor citizens' entitlement to public information”

Handbook of Statistical OrganizationsNational Strategies for the Development of

Statistics (NSDS)The Generic Statistical Business Process Model

(GSBPM)

Data dissemination = communication

Policy makingProfessionals & publicCOMMUN

ICATION

COMMUN

ICATION

COMMUNICATION

COMMUNICATION

Analysis & research

Statistical needs and education

Knowledge based society

Policy accountability

Analysis & assessment

Policy options

Policy decisions

Policy validations

INDEPENDENT OFFICIAL STATISTICS

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL PROGRESS

The importance of web-based data-dissemination

Everyone who has access to internet is becoming a potential user of statistics.

From 2008 to 2013 the number of Internet users grows by 67%

Forget the last war.

Identifying users

User groups Decision makers (government at central and local level, businesses) Academia (institution that use, research and analyze data) Educational (primary, secondary, tertiary) Public at large

Tourists Harvesters and (data) Miners

Tourists

Novice or infrequent users, and typically make up the majority of individual users.

Looking for basic data either out of curiosity, or to inform personal decisions.

Want to be able to find and view data quickly and easily, they prefer low levels of complexity and need only limited functionality.

Harvesters

Intermediate and fairly frequent users, who are looking for data to inform basic research or economic decisions.

They will accept increased complexity if it results in addition functionality and flexibility in the way they can view and download data.

(Data) Miners

Expert users, typically small in number, but using large volumes of data on a regular basis, often for detailed research or analysis.

They want simplicity, easy downloads functionality and flexibility, take data offline

A new type - Builders

Experts that want to reuse statistical data without copying or downloading it.

Requesting ability to access data servers at 24/7 and feed data to maps, visualizations and other applications.

Web services - interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network".

Mashups – hybrid web applications Visualizations Mappings Data aggregators

Defining the content

Data Topic – domain specific or across-domain Coverage – geographical and time Aggregation level - micro and macro data Nature of the data – tables, tabulations, time-series,

datapoints

Documentation Metadata (descriptive and structural) Methodologies and standards Classifications Best practices, business processes, etc.

Subscription models

Registration No registration required Registration required (provides better tracking,

communication etc)

Subscription Free (preferred by many countries) For fee (cost recovery, profit, one-time, periodical,

service based ) Multi-tier (free basic and for fee premium services)

User management

User access (registered vs unregistered users)

User support, helpdeskUser surveys (online polling)User activity tracking

Web server statistics Analytic services (Google analytics) Custom built tracking services

Social networking (Facebook, Twitter..)

Site administration

Data Management Data correction facility Data upload facility Data availability

Metadata Management Structural metadata Descriptive metadata Data upload calendar

Management Reporting

Resource allocation

+Data dissemination group(Centralized or Decentralized)

+Systems/Application development+Hardware and software requirements+Long-term maintenance+Operation+Helpdesk--------------------------------------------------= TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP (TCO)

Content delivery

Bandwidth conservationBrowser considerations

Mobile devices

Software platform and architecture

Off-the-shelf productsCustom development (in-house, outsourcing)

Open source platformsProprietary platforms

Self hostingOutsourced hosting

Design considerations

Simplicity and ease of useEasy of navigationBookmarkingSearchability

Drill down Dimensional search Full text search

Conclusions

One size does not fit allWeb-based data dissemination should work as

a two way communicationFocus has to be on users who frequently visit

our sitesThe maintenance of web-based data-

dissemination products is a long term commitment

We have to be aware of TCO