Discussing three papers
Belarus, Russia, Philippines
Dissemination and communication policy
for Rapid Estimates
Ottawa,
May, 2009
Pieter Everaers, Eurostat
20 May 2009
Main characteristics of communication and
dissemination policy
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What
When
How
By whom
To whom
Indicators for long-term developments
What
 Predefined indicators, agreed within the Statistical
System (PEEI’s)
 Ad hoc news releases
 A flash, one page on one indicator
 Only headline indicators
 Main outcomes in a bit more detail
 Data/tables and brief analysis
 Metadata available
 Links to other more detailed information (website)
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Indicators for long-term developments
How
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Very visible and well prepared, each time an event!!
Agreed internal protocol for authorization
Tested method (stable IT tools etc)
Alert system
Business continuity
Impact analysis and risk assessment
Indicators for long-term developments
How (ctd)
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On paper,
Direct mail to selected group (journalist, intermediates
Internet announcement
News flash
Press release
Meeting in press room
Daily/ statistics in focus
Help desk / user support available and aware !!
More detailed info on request (free of charge, to be paid)
Indicators for long-term developments
When
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Fixed data, fixed time, fixed location
According to release calender
Pre release to specific agencies
After clearance by hierarchie
In combination with more detailed info available
Indicators for long-term developments
By whom
 Central statistical authority or in special cases
decentralized
 Spokes person (supported by experts)
 Fixed data, fixed time, fixed location
 According to release calender
 pre release to specific agencies
 After clearance hierarchy
 In combination with more detailed info available
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Indicators for long-term developments
To whom
 Pre release (only to certain authorities)
– Transparent agreement
 All users at the same time (via internet)
– With or without subscription
 Internet with pre announcement via mail
 Internet based on regular release calender
– Announcement / alerts of delays
 Journalists via mail (fixed group)
 Journalists via press conference (by spokes person)
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Indicators for long-term developments
Contacts with the press
The Eurostat Press Office – main services
 Issues News Releases
 Provides media support
 Produces release calendar
News Releases
 Around 185 News Releases per year (EN, DE, FR)
 140 Euro-indicator News Releases
 45 ad-hoc News Releases
Dissemination of News Releases
 All Releases sent at 11:00 by email to more than 1000
journalists
 All Releases available at 11:00 in the Commission Press
Room
 All Releases available at 11:00 on the Eurostat web site
 100 000 downloads per month
Release calendar
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Includes all the Euroindicators
Provisional calendar for current year
Dates confirmed Friday before publication week
Disseminated by e-mail to subscribers
 Available on the Eurostat web site
Eurostat Media Support
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Questions about data and methodology
Data extractions for journalists
Regularly updated tables of Euroindicators
Requests are usually dealt with same day
Answering around 1 700 requests per year
eurostat-mediasupport@ec.europa.eu
Tel: +352 4301 33 408
 For economic and political comments contact Spokesperson’s
Service in Brussels
Dissemination
Issues
 Free dissemination policy and its results
 Change of tools
– Publications
– Internet
– Metadata
– User support
 Challenges for the future
Free dissemination
 Recognition that statistics are a public good
 Free dissemination started 1 October 2004
– All statistical domains
– Impartial access for all users
– Single exception is microdata access for
research
New web site - Statistics
New web site - Publications
New web site – About Eurostat
New web site - Help
How does free dissemination work
 Principle: Users have to find and interpret data themselves
 Support to help users to help themselves
(in cooperation with NSIs)
 Involvement of commercial re-distributors
 Internet is central tool for dissemination
 Enlarged community of users creates new requirements
– Presentation of statistics
– Metadata for all statistics
 Publications change role
Presentation of data  introduction and explanation of statistics
Enlarged user basis (per month)
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Visits of Internet from 200.000 to 1.6 Million
Consultation of tables from 50.000 to 500.000
Download of PDF files from 200.000 to 400.000
Extractions from databases increased 4 times
Types of users have changed with new types:
– Enterprises > 50%
– Academic users (students, teachers)
– Private persons
Role of Re-distributors
 Re-use and redistribution is fully allowed without charge
– Commercial
– Non-commercial
 Very low entry conditions. Now only disclaimer
– Indication of origin of data
– Exclusion of liabilities
 About 100 companies currently re-distribute
 Much stronger recognition of Community statistics in
public discussions, i.e. press, but no hard facts are known.
Publications
Statistical books
Pocket books
Statistics in Focus
Data in Focus
Methodological and
working papers
Press Releases
The changing role of publications
 Fewer publications
(table oriented publications disappear)
 Focus on explanations
 Introduction to statistical subjects
 Increasing importance of 'compendium' and 'cross cutting'
publications
 Efforts to increase 'data analysis' publications
(Statistics in Focus - SIF)
 Data in Focus - DIF
 Links to Internet based statistics
Publication 2002 and 2008
Statistics Explained (wiki style)
Visualisation tools I
• Data Explorer for easy to
use data base extractions
• Tables-graphs-Maps
(TGM)
Visualisation tools II
• Business Cycle Clock
(BCC) for economic
cycle analysis
• Country and regional
profiles for comparisons
The changing role of metadata
 Need to cover all statistics offered by a statistical institute
 Community and national statistics
 Common presentation formats
– (SDDS) (Special Data Dissemination Standard)
– SDMX (Statistical Data and Metadata eXchange)
– ESMS (Euro SDMX Metadata)
 Addresses different types of users
– Expert users
– Casual users
 Issue of Languages
User support network – Support centers
European Statistical Data Support
 First level support via Eurostat website (FAQs etc)
 Second level support via National Statistics Institutes (NSIs)
 Third level support via “Eurostat User support” – help on
standard and complex requests which requires special
competence
Around 26 500 user
requests per year!
Eurostat Media Support
• Publications and tailor made extractions
• Requests are dealt with very rapidly
• More than 1700 requests treated in 2007
• eurostat-mediasupport@ec.europa.eu
Tel: +352 4301 33 408
Challenges for the future
 Cooperation in the European Statistical
System (ESS)
 Understanding the new ways of finding
Information
 Advances in Internet (blogs, search tools,
cooperation tools, etc)
 Increasing the competence level of users
Sustainable development indicators (1/3)
Introduction
 Treaty objective of the European Union
 Measuring progress -> integral part of the EU strategy
 130 indicators covering 10 themes and 11 headline
indicators (see leaflet)
 Main output:
– Indicators on the Website
– Biennial monitoring report of the EU SDS
 Many partners (Eurostat Units, countries, DGs,
Agencies, International Organisations)
 Top priority for 2009: EU SDS monitoring report
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Indicators for long-term developments
Sustainable development indicators (2/3)
Web Page – chapter “Demographic changes”
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Indicators for long-term developments
Sustainable development indicators (3/3)
Table “Employment rate of older workers”
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Indicators for long-term developments
Structural indicators (1/3)
Introduction
 Support the monitoring of the Lisbon strategy
renewed in 2005 with a focus on growth and jobs.
 Eurostat provides a statistical annex to the Commission
Annual Progress Report (APR) for growth and jobs
 79 indicators arranged within 6 themes
whenever possible with a gender breakdown
 Shortlist of 14 indicators used for the annual progress report
 Very high visibility of these indicators (APR, most consulted
tables on the Website)
 Many partners (Eurostat, DGs, countries)
 Main priorities 2009: APR, review Lisbon strategy
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Indicators for long-term developments
Structural indicators (2/3)
Commission Annual Progress report
Germany performance compared to EU27
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Indicators for long-term developments
Structural indicators (3/3)
Web Pages – short list
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Indicators for long-term developments
Euro-indicators/PEEIs on Eurostat website
Euroindicators/PEEIs data accessible in three different ways:
 The Euro-indicators/PEEIs page
showing the latest evolution of PEEIs for the euro area and the
European Union
 The Euro-indicators/PEEIs tables
a friendly overview of the latest and most important figures,
for European aggregates, Member States, EFTA countries and
acceding countries and main partners
 The European and national short term indicators database
EuroIND
access to around 60 000 long data series in various reusable formats
(text, HTML, Excel, etc.)
same geographical coverage as the tables
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Indicators for long-term developments
An economic outlook
EuroIND and the Euro-indicators/PEEIs tables
are structured in eight main collections:
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Balance of payments
Business and consumer surveys
Consumer prices
External trade
Industry, commerce and services
Labour market
Monetary and financial indicators
National accounts
Indicators for long-term developments
The Euro-indicators/PEEIs tables
 Aggregated and national data are easily accessible from
the PEEIs page via a direct link to a TGM table
containing the last twelve periods
 Users have the possibility to:
– select several data (e.g. the two growth rates q/q-1 and
q/q-4 for quarterly data)
– display data in a graph (e.g. a bar graph) or in a map
– save the table data
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Indicators for long-term developments
The European and national short term indicators
database EuroIND
 All relevant macro-economic information from different
domains available in a single place
 Easy navigation and data retrieval
 Complete picture of infra-annual economic outlook
 Regularly monitored
– Online monthly monitoring reports (State of Affairs)
 Continuously improved
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Indicators for long-term developments
Metadata accessibility
 All published data are linked to metadata files in ESMS
format
 Euro-indicators/PEEIs tables contain “short descriptions”
i.e. synthetic information on main data characteristics
 PEEIs quality profiles soon available
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Indicators for long-term developments
Metadata: short description
Data, including national ones
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Indicators for long-term developments
Metadata files,
ESMS format
Last press release
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Indicators for long-term developments
Thanks for the attention
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Indicators for long-term developments