10.7.1 Dissemination by websites and data portals
NSOs have provided access to data via their websites for many years. Data has been made available in pdf format, as downloadable datasets, and as interactive links to databases. The most important tool used by an NSO to disseminate statistical data and metadata is the data portal, a web-based, interactive data and metadata platform with databases modelled for specific data types and domains such as microdata, macrodata or geospatial data.
Today many developing countries lack fully functional platforms for data dissemination and reporting and rely on less sophisticated dissemination methods on their websites. Solutions have come and gone, but none in the recent past have emerged that were sustainable over the long term for many countries. For example, DevInfo, was the data dissemination platform developed for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and used in 120 countries but is now no longer supported. This issue was highlighted by the PARIS21 study on national data portals () published in 2016 which concluded that while there have been many well-intentioned efforts to make data portals available to countries, the outcomes have been mixed, particularly in the most aid-dependent countries. The report also notes that the increased adoption of data portals in NSOs of all capacity levels has had a particular impact on developing countries where data portals were often implemented by international agencies for monitoring purposes as well as to help NSOs to improve the dissemination of data to a broader public. In many cases, NSOs found themselves having to maintain multiple, non-integrated data portals focussed on specific domains. This confuses users who consult the various portals with often conflicting results, and such multiple portals have the consequence of overall high costs for low usage.
Data portals can help promote standards that can enable interoperability – this can be within an NSO, within an NSS, or at the international level. They can promote the exchange of data by leveraging standards such as SDMX to establish a coherent framework for transmitting data and metadata. Data portals can play a major role in reducing reporting burdens and improving the quality of reporting data and provide a single interface for accessing statistical data using standards of content and presentation.
Selecting the appropriate data portal for a national statistical office
It is important that an NSO seek impartial expert advice and can access the information needed to make an informed decision on selecting the appropriate data portal to meet their needs. An NSO should be aware of the advantages and shortcomings of each system, its use of international standards or proprietary formats, its sustainability, and the real costs of maintenance. Regional bodies and centres of expertise can play an important role in providing such guidance based on the latest available information in the international statistics community.
The UNSD report on Principles of SDG Indicator Reporting and Dissemination Platforms and guidelines for their application () provides a set of principles for selecting a national data reporting platform. These are summarised below:
A national reporting and dissemination platform can be understood as a means to report and disseminate national statistics including SDG indicators and descriptive metadata, and refers to a web site, database(s), and associated IT infrastructure, workflows and processes used to collect, store, secure, and ultimately disseminate data and related metadata and documentation in an easily accessible way to reach all target users.
■ Clear institutional arrangements and management: The responsibility for the development, implementation and maintenance of a national reporting and dissemination platform, including the required coordination and cooperation within the national statistical system, as well as accountability and oversight, should be clearly established through adequate laws and/or regulations, mandates and standard operating procedures. The NSO, commonly tasked with coordinating the national statistical system, is typically assigned this responsibility. Information flows, and the role of each actor within the national statistical system should be clearly established.
■ Fitness for purpose: National reporting and dissemination platforms should comply with the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics and should address the priority needs and requirements of sub-national, national, regional and global monitoring and reporting, as well as reduce the reporting burden.
■ Sustainability: The decision on the purpose, scope, features, development and implementation of the national reporting and dissemination platform needs to consider the availability of internal and external resources and capacities over the medium and long term.
■ Interoperability and statistical standards: The components of national reporting and dissemination platforms should follow international and national statistical standards and best practices, to facilitate the integration, customization and further development of components and different solutions. In particular, standards should be supported to facilitate data harmonization and exchange across different stages of the statistical production and institutions including common data structure definitions and code lists, and the integration of data flows and processes within the national statistical system.
The report also lists the following guidelines for the implementation of an SDG Indicator Monitoring and Reporting Platform:
■ National ownership: NSOs should have the ability to maintain, adapt, transform and customize their national reporting and dissemination platform to address their own and their users’ needs, such as the management of sub-national administrative boundaries, country-specific ethnic and language groups, and additional indicator definitions related to national development priorities.
■ Collaboration: National reporting and dissemination platforms should be designed, developed, improved and maintained based on a collaborative approach that leverages learning between various stakeholders of the national statistical system as well as technology developers, donors, policymakers, subject-matter experts, business partners, advocacy groups and both institutional and grassroots users.
■ Multilingualism and accessibility: To leave no-one behind, to ensure national ownership, and to promote the use and impact of data for policy and decision making at the local level, national reporting and dissemination platforms should support national languages and implement national and international best practices in terms of accessibility to persons with disabilities, as well as full access across the range of browsers and devices, including mobile devices.
■ User-centric design: National reporting and dissemination platforms should be designed for and with users (including both operational and end-users, such as data consumers or NSO officers), and project owners should engage them in all phases of development.
■ Data communication: National reporting and dissemination platforms should implement innovative strategies to improve the presentation, communication and use of sustainable development data.
■ Data disaggregation: National reporting and dissemination platforms should support improved access to, and use of, disaggregated data to focus on all population segments, including the most vulnerable. In particular, data platforms should allow the management and dissemination of data disaggregated by sub-national geographic areas, sex, age group, residence, wealth and income group, disability, ethnicity, migrant status, and other important characteristics relevant to the national context.
■ Modularity and extensibility: National reporting and dissemination platforms should be modular, composed of modules (sub-systems) and components that interoperate to service the different phases of the data life cycle. The data that these modules and components consume as inputs and produce as outputs should as much as possible be based on open standards and protocols such as Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange (SDMX) and Common Statistical Production Architecture (CSPA). The system should support extensibility through the addition of modules or components, upstream or downstream.
■ Standardized interfaces: National reporting and dissemination platforms should provide standardized Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) in accordance with the industry best practices such as the OpenAPI Specification. This facilitates creating and sharing data across global, regional, national and sub-national data communities.
■ Scalability: A National reporting and dissemination platform should have an architecture that enables an NSO to start with a limited scale implementation and iteratively progress towards a full-scale system.
■ Metadata: National reporting and dissemination platforms should support statistical metadata at the appropriate level of granularity. This includes structural metadata such as codes and their descriptions; reference metadata such as methodology and quality aspects of published indicators; and other relevant information such as the date of last update.
■ Open Data: National reporting and dissemination platforms should be consistent with Open Data best practices, summarized as ‘Open data and content can be freely used, modified, and shared by anyone for any purpose’. National reporting and dissemination platforms should include and follow a data license consistent with the Open Data principles, such as Creative Commons Attribution (4.0) or the Open Database License. Published datasets should be clearly attributed to the originating organization.
■ List of open data portals ();
■ Africa open data portal ();
■ CKAN data portals ();
■ Eurostat data portal ();
■ OECD data portal ();
■ UN data portal ();
■ Search for data portals ();
■ World Bank data portal ().
Examples of NSO-specific data portals:
■ Canada data portal ();
■ China data portal ();
■ India data portal ();
■ Ireland data portal ();
■ Mongolian data portal ();
■ Philippines data portal ();
■ Rwanda data portal ();
■ South Africa data portal ();
■ Turkey data portal ().
National statistical system data portals
As well as the need for an NSO to have a data portal, there is also a wider requirement for a common integrated data portal that can be used across an entire national statistical system. This is especially important in the SDG context where a coordinated approach is necessary to provide indicators from multiple sources. National SDG reporting platforms are usually separate from web portals intended for the dissemination of official statistics.
These data should feed in from the various ministries and other agencies that make up the national statistical system, coordinated by the NSO, in a standard format such as SDMX. The African Information Highway is an example of such an NSS-wide system that uses SDMX as the common exchange and dissemination format (see Chapter 14.4.5 — Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange (SDMX))
Generic data portals
There are several generic data portals that aim to meet the common dissemination needs of NSOs of all capacity levels. This reiterates the need for commonly shared systems or interoperable home-grown solutions. A challenge is to adapt a generic portal to accommodate every data type that an NSO produces - and generic solutions may eventually need to be customized for specific NSO requirements.
Examples of generic data portals:
■ Fusion Registry 9 () Enterprise Edition is an integrated management system for aggregated statistical data and metadata. It uses SDMX, the international standard for describing and exchanging official statistics.
■ National Data Archive (NADA) dispenses survey documentation – questionnaires, technical documents and reports describing the surveys etc.; survey description – sampling frames and data collection information etc.; and data description – variables and counts etc. and anonymized microdata of surveys.
■ Stat Suite () is a component-based, open-source set of tools for managing the full data life-cycle. The Data Explorer allows for searching, visualising and sharing of data through a fully open-source front-end set of components that can be adapted to specific needs and context.
■ IMF Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board ().
■ African Information Highway ().
10.7.2 The use of social media in dissemination
Social media are websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking. In the last edition of the Handbook in 2003 social media barely existed – this indicates the rate of change in technology and human behaviour that has taken place during the intervening period that NSOs have to adapt to.
The use of social media by NSOs has been increasing rapidly in recent years, and this will most certainly continue in years to come given its pervasiveness. Social media has been used in various forms to disseminate and raise the profile of official statistics. Social media are mainly used to distribute information, announce new releases, promote the use of statistics, and increase statistical literacy. They can also be used to reach new audiences and improve user support and receive user feedback and for marketing purposes. Using social media can also promote the image of the NSO as a modern and dynamic organization. Social media can be a useful tool in disseminating and discussing official statistics, as it offers tailor-made solutions to reaching individuals interested in official data.
The main types of social media are listed below:
■ Collaborative projects serve as an online database, allowing users to pool knowledge and information on particular topics to be viewed by other interested parties. Example: Wikipedia.
■ Blogs, microblogs and vlogs are a type of website or part of a website maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, graphics or video. Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. Example: WordPress or Twitter.
■ Content communities allow users to upload, share, and view multimedia content such as videos, pictures, music or presentations. Example: YouTube, Flickr, Soundcloud.
■ Social networking sites, e.g., are online services, platforms or sites that focus on building and reflecting social networks or social relations among people who share interests or activities. Example: Facebook, LinkedIn.
■ Virtual communities take the form of a computer-based simulated environment through which users can interact with each other through avatars and can explore, meet others, socialise, participate in individual and group activities, and create and trade virtual property and services with one another, or travel throughout the ‘world’. Example: Second Life.
Social media can be of use to an NSO in the following ways:
■ reaching and more people and people who normally do not look for statistics;
■ providing a new way for users to find facts quickly;
■ challenging the traditional ways of searching and accessing information;
■ allowing quick and spontaneous reaction to issues raised;
■ fostering reputation and strengthen the brand of NSOs;
■ increasing information availability; and
■ increasing the use and reputation of statistics in a positive way.
■ Eurostat microdata reference guide ();
■ Eurostat - Social media in statistical agencies ();
■ UK GSSr - Improving user engagement for official statistics ();
■ United Nations on social media ();
■ UNECE framework for communication on official statistics ();
■ Statistics Canada use of YouTube ().
10.7.3 Machine-to-machine dissemination
Machine-to-machine access (commonly abbreviated as M2M) refers to computers exchanging data via application programming interfaces (APIs) as a means of opening up data to a wider variety of uses. It can also refer to communication within a system of networks that transmit data to personal appliances. The expansion of networks around the world and increased computing power has made M2M communication quicker and easier to implement.
M2M data transmission methods can reduce reporting lags and lower the reporting burden. Using a standard such as SDMX data structures and common IT building blocks, international information systems can communicate M2M as industrial production processes. Using SDMX makes it possible to interconnect remote dissemination databases to cut transmission delays, save resources, and improve the data quality in making global data more comparable.
■ Statistics Poland – API portal ().
10.7.4 Hard-copy dissemination
The use of printed publications varies from NSO to NSO, but the overall trend is that producing large numbers of printed publications that are essentially a series of tables is declining and being replaced by online access to data or PDF files that can be printed on demand. There is still a need for paper publications in countries with scant access to digital systems and tools and undeveloped digital literacy.
Printed publications are also used for display purposes in conferences and events, or as gifts, but this is fairly small-scale production of well-designed infographics presented in small booklets. Ready-made-tables can provide a service to those who need material ready-made and simple to download. Many NSOs do this in PDF only, but machine-readable files in standard formats such as CSV or XLSX can be useful to many users.
■ Albania National Statistics Institute – dissemination policy and guidelines ().
10.7.5 Multimedia dissemination
Other dissemination formats include CD-ROMS, DVDs and USB keys. These are mostly used where there is little internet access and are generally being phased out in most NSOs. They and have been replaced by online access to data.
10.7.6 Mobile apps
As a result of the continuing technological advances in smartphones, users now expect access to digital information anytime, anywhere, and on any device. Use of mobile devices by NSOs to provide data access has risen significantly in recent years, with more users accessing data on mobile devices. One concern is that such apps can quickly become obsolete if they are not maintained. It is important that existing web-based applications, in particular, data portals, should be adapted to be usable on multiple platforms of mobile devices.
10.7.7 GIS Portals
Geographic Information System (GIS) portals are specialised platforms for the dissemination and visualisation of geospatial data. Data is combined with maps from publicly available sources such as Google Maps.
■ Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia thematic maps ();
■ The Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri) ArcGIS platform for geospatial data processing and dissemination for NSOs ();
■ Eurostat – GISCO (Geographic Information System of the Commission) ();
■ National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda Geodata Portal ();
■ Statistics Korea - GIS, Maps and Statistics ();
■ Tool for visualisation and dissemination of geospatial statistics in Slovenia ();
■ World Resource Institute (WRI) portal of maps, charts, datasets, infographics, and other visual resources ().
10.7.8 Statistical yearbook
The statistical yearbook is a compendium of statistical information dealing with a wide range of development pertinent topics. Printed yearbooks have the limitations of other paper publications in that people now read less and want clickable tools accessing live databases - however, many NSOs at all capacity levels are still producing them. Merits of producing a yearbook include the following:
■ The yearbook can be distributed to/is useful for users who do not have access to digital equipment and in regions with little or no digital network;
■ It provides an occasion for a review of the relevant information that describes a country;
■ It clarifies the need for integration in the statistics that will be selected for the yearbook;
■ It reveals gaps in the available information, thereby suggesting the new initiatives that should be taken to complete the description of the country's social and economic fabric;
■ In the case of decentralized systems, it is yet another means of promoting coordination among statistical units in different government departments;
■ It is an ideal pedagogical device to introduce children to the physical, political and human geography of their country;
■ It also acts as a timestamp for the data published on a specific date.
■ Albania statistical yearbook ();
■ China statistical yearbook ();
■ India statistical yearbook ();
■ Jordan statistical yearbook ();
■ Maldives statistical yearbook ();
■ Mongolia statistical yearbook ();
■ Rwanda statistical yearbook ().
10.7.9 Dynamic visualisations
Dynamic visualisation refers to those representations that go beyond static forms, such as printed media. The defining characteristics of dynamic visualisation are animation, interaction and real-time data access. Visualisation tools play a key role in making complex data understandable and accessible to a wide audience (see Chapter 14.2.6 — Data visualisation software). It can support and underscore messages to influence policy and evidence-based decision making. Visualisations can reveal compelling stories from complex underlying data and have become an important element of communication strategy. Until fairly recently data visualisations used by NSOs were mainly static images and simple graphics, but advances in technology have led to a wide range of visualisation methods and sophisticated graphics that border on artistic design that can be reused, linked to datasets and embedded in websites and via apps in social media.