Building the Case for Public Statistics, March 8 in DC

Building the Case for Public Statistics: Workshop for Stakeholders   March 8, 2018 Academy Health, 1666 K St NW #1100, Washington, DC 20006 Register: Online or PDF  |  Preliminary Agenda In uncertain times, we need evidence. Federal statistics are vital sources. Researchers, businesses, governments, and nonprofits rely on this data, and we need to do a better job of telling policymakers that investment in data is important. APDU is pleased to announce a training that will give stakeholders in federal statistics the tools they need to educate policymakers on the value of their data. How can you better understand: the messages that resonate best with policymakers about the value of Federal data? the most effective way to engage with policymakers to make the case for statistical data? the needs of a broader community of federal data users and supporters? Meet the Trainers Mary Jo Hoeksema, Director of Government Affairs for the Population Association of America and Association of Population Centers, and Co-Director of The Census Project Mary Jo Hoeksema advocates for funding federal agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, Census Bureau, and National Center for Health Statistics. Since 2008, she has also been Co-Director of The Census Project, a diverse collaborative of national, state, and local organizations, including APDU, which support the decennial census and American Community Survey. Emily J. Holubowich, Senior Vice President, CRD Associates Emily J. Holubowich has 15 years of experience in health and fiscal policy, government relations, strategic communications, and coalition management. Ms. Holubowich has an extensive body of written work and more recently has authored and managed the production of the reports for advocacy campaigns and is frequently sought out by the media for her expertise on public health and fiscal policy. Dale Oak, President, Oak Federal Solutions, LLC Dale Oak has more than 30 years of experience on federal budget and appropriations matters in government and the private sector. Decades of senior staff experience help Mr. Oak translate budget and appropriations developments, facts and figures into actionable information.

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The Association of Public Data Users (APDU) is a national membership network that links users, producers, and disseminators of government statistical data. APDU is managed by the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness (CREC).

UN Data -recent updates

Visit UN Data metadata


The Human Development Report is a reliable source and an alternative perspective on critical issues for human development worldwide. Featuring the Human Development Index, every report presents agenda-setting data and analysis and calls international attention to issues and policy options that put people at the center of strategies to meet the challenges of development today - economic, social, political, and cultural.
Last update in UNdata: 22 Mar 2016


The Economic Statistics Branch of the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) maintains and annually updates the National Accounts Main Aggregates database. It consists of a complete and consistent set of time series, from 1970 onwards, of the main National Accounts aggregates of all UN Members States and other territories in the world for which National Accounts information is available. Its contents are based on the official data reported to UNSD through the annual National Accounts Questionnaire, supplemented with data estimates for any years and countries with incomplete or inconsistent information.
Last update in UNdata: 16 Mar 2016


The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) provides UNdata with a subset of the more than 1,000 indicators which may be found in the UIS Data Centre.
The UIS Data Centre contains indicators and raw data on education, literacy, science, culture and communication. The UIS collects these data from more than 200 countries and international organizations.
Last update in UNdata: 24 Feb 2016


The Millennium Development Goals Database presents official data for more than 60 indicators to measure progress towards the Millennium Development Goals. The data and analyses are the product of the work of the Inter-agency and Expert Group (IAEG), coordinated by the United Nations Statistics Division.
Last update in UNdata: 24 Feb 2016


The Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventory Data

New Census Web Tool Helps Business Owners Make Data Driven Decisions

New Census Web Tool Helps Business Owners Make Data Driven Decisions  The U.S. Census Bureau released Census Business Builder: Small Business Edition, a new Web tool that allows business owners and entrepreneurs to easily navigate and use key demographic and economic data to help guide their research into opening a new business or adding to an existing one. The Census Business Builder was developed with user-centered design at its core and incorporated feedback from customers and stakeholders, including small business owners, trade associations and other government agencies. The tool combines data from the American Community Survey, the economic census, County Business Patterns and other economic surveys to provide a complete business profile of an area. Business statistics include the number of establishments, employment, payroll and sales. American Community Survey statistics include population characteristics, economic characteristics and housing characteristics.

Economic Development Data from Data (dot) NY (dot) gov

In 2013, Governor Cuomo launched Open New York, data.ny.gov, a state data transparency website that provides user-friendly, one-stop access to data from New York State agencies, localities, and the federal government.

Here are just a few items available through the Economic development section:

1. Active Corporations: Beginning 1800

2. Liquor Authority Quarterly List of Active Licenses Economic Development licenses3

3. Retail Food Stores which are licensed by the Department of Agriculture and Markets.

4. Current Employment Statistics: Beginning 1990, reflecting jobs by "place of work."

5. Jobs By Industry: Donut Chart, based upon an economic profile created for the 10 Empire State Development (ESD) economic development regions.

6. Farmers Markets in New York State Map. In the past decade the number of farmers markets in New York State has grown at a rapid rate. The dataset published on the Department website contains information detailing the time and location of community farmers markets as well as the name and phone number of the market manager.

7. Broadband Availability By Municipality

What is the best source for US house electoral data by districts?

One of the sources of House of Representative election data is the House website. However there's only data from 1920-2010. This citation is on a list from the Library of Congress.

The Federal Election Commission has data from 1982 through 2012.

There are other sources that involve paying for the information.

United Nations metadata

UN data sets include:

The United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database (UN Comtrade) stores more than 1 billion trade data records from 1962.

The Energy Statistics Database contains comprehensive energy statistics on the production, trade, conversion and final consumption of primary and secondary; conventional and non-conventional; and new and renewable sources of energy.

The Environment Statistics Database contains selected water and waste statistics by country.

FAOSTAT provides access to over 3 million time-series and cross sectional data relating to food and agriculture.

The United Nations Industrial Commodity Statistics Database provides annual statistics on the production of major industrial commodities by country.

International Financial Statistics (IFS) is a standard source of international statistics on all aspects of international and domestic finance.

The LABORSTA is an International Labour Office database operated by the ILO Department of Statistics which has data and metadata on labour statistics for over 200 countries or territories.

Other entities address health, marriage and fertility, population, telecommunication, tourism, weather, and other statistical information.

Census Reporter

Census Reporter is a Knight News Challenge-funded project to make it easier for journalists to write stories using information from the U.S. Census bureau. Place profiles and comparison pages provide a friendly interface for navigating data, including visualizations for a more useful first look.

Data brokers and what they know about you

Check out the 60 Minutes piece last week on data brokers? They have a LOT of info on you.

See also 60 Minutes Overtime; the first and third segments are about the topic.

Place data by county on the Census web page

From a self-described Census geek:

Places within County (or Town)

The Census Bureau uses a three digit Summary Level as a way to identify a certain level of geography. A few Summary Levels to remember are:
040 – State
050 – County
060 – Subcounty (City/Town in NY)
070 – Place/Reminder (or part)

These summary levels are very hierarchical and make up the higher level. So all counties make a state, all subcounties make a county, and all level 070 make up a subcounty. If a place is split by two towns, this place will have two records at level 070, one for each town. The city of Geneva is the only city with two 060 records (one in Ontario and one in Seneca County).

There are some additional summary levels related to places tabulated in AFF and things get very complicated:
155 – County (or part) with Place
159 – Place (or part) with County
160 – Place with State
To see summary levels in AFF you have to go to the Name tab, collapse the Geographic Type in the Filter Options and expand the Summary Level. Level 155 and 159 are normally hidden from view, but shown when you select All Summary Levels in the grey bar above the results.

If you select level 155 you can narrow your results and select Within State and Within County. You end up with a list of places and part of places that are within each County. If a place crosses county boundaries this summary level will give you the results for the part!

Summary level 159 works similar, but instead of a list of counties to select from, you get a list of places and counties to select from. This is not very handy and results are identical to level 155.
Level 160 is a collection of records for places as places do not cross State boundaries. This level is very much equivalent to selecting “City or Town” from the Geographic Type and the places returned using the method Dale described as per Bob’s suggestion returns places with this Summary Level.

So if you want data on the complete places (villages, CDP’s and Cities) that are fully or partially within a county, use level 160. If you are interested in the parts that are within a county use level 155 and if you want to split the places by towns, use level 070.

The Estimates Universe is comparable, but slightly different as it does not contains CDP’s (CDP = Census Designated Places). The Census Bureau assigned a different set of summary levels to this universe. Instead of level 160, 155 and 070, places can be found using Summary levels 162, 157 and 071. That is if the sub county estimates were available using AFF. At the moment these estimates are only available in downloadable format.

JOIN the American Community Survey Data Users Group

The American Community Survey Data Users Group (ACS DUG) is an excellent resource for anyone who needs to access, analyze, interpret, and present data from the American Community Survey. ACS DUG is not managed by the Census Bureau but rather is driven by data users. The Census Bureau participates in many of the meetings. Data users are strongly encouraged to join the ACS DUG. It does not cost anything and is a great resource.

ACS Data Community is an online community that allows people to more easily connect with one another, share ideas, and collaborate.

Census Bureau Challenge to App Developers: National Days of Civic Hacking

What:
The U.S. Census Bureau has joined other federal agencies and nonprofit organizations to issue a challenge to participants in the National Day of Civic Hacking. The event brings together citizens, software developers and entrepreneurs from across the nation to use publicly released data, code and technology to solve challenges facing neighborhoods, cities, states and the nation.
The Census Bureau has created “The Census American Community Challenge,” which asks developers to use publicly available American Community Survey statistics in the agency’s open API. Participants are asked to develop an application that helps communities either with economic development or with disaster planning. Note: Protecting your privacy and confidentiality is a core Census Bureau commitment. No confidential or personally identifiable information is available.
The Census Bureau’s API and participation in this national event open up Census Bureau statistics beyond traditional uses, giving developers in research, business and government the means to customize the statistics into applications that their audiences and customers need.
With the release of this API and other upcoming forward-looking online communications improvements, the Census Bureau is meeting the goals of the Digital Government Strategy to make information more transparent and customer-centered.

When: Saturday, June 1 and Sunday, June 2

Who: 5,000 expected participants, including software developers and entrepreneurs; 20 local, state and federal agencies

Where: More than 80 cities nationwide. Follow the conversation on Twitter using #hackforchange and #census. Developers can access the API online and share ideas through the Census Bureau’s Developers Forum.

Public Information about Government Data Will Improve With New Obama Policy

From APDU:

The Obama Administration released an Executive Order and a Policy Directive that move the federal government forward in a significant direction -- officially requiring that, going forward, data generated by the government be made available in open, machine-readable formats (with appropriate protections). Most notably, it requires that agencies create and maintain an “enterprise data inventory, if it does not already exist, that accounts for datasets used in the agency's information systems" -- with the ultimate goal of including all agency datasets, and with indications whether the agency has determined that the individual datasets may be made publicly available and whether these are currently available to the public. Here's what you need to know:
• The Executive Order declares that information is a valuable resource and strategic asset for the nation.
• Newly generated government data will be required to be made available in open, machine-readable format by default -- enhancing their accessibility and usefulness, and ensuring privacy and security.
• These executive actions will allow entrepreneurs and companies to take advantage of this information -- fueling economic growth in communities across the Nation.

Watch a short video and find out more about the announcement HERE. Also, read more HERE.

In conjunction with those steps to unleash troves of useful data from the vaults of government, the interagency US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) launched a new online tool that promises to accelerate research relating to climate change and human health—the Metadata Access Tool for Climate and Health, or “MATCH.” MATCH is a tool, driven by open data, which could open the door for new scientific insights in the public health and climate science communities. It is a publicly accessible digital platform for searching and integrating metadata—standardized contextual information—extracted from more than 9,000 health, environment, and climate-science datasets held by six Federal agencies. Read more HERE.

Debut Issue of 'Big Data' Journal Features Syracuse iSchool Roundtable

A new academic journal, Big Data, debuted this month, and its first issue features a recap of a spirited roundtable discussion conducted with a team from the Syracuse University School of Information Studies (iSchool).

The article, Educating the Next Generation of Data Scientists [PDF], captures a wide range of perspectives about the subject voiced during a roundtable moderated by the journal?s editor-in-chief, Edd Dumbill. Participating on the discussion panel were iSchool Dean Elizabeth D. Liddy; Senior Associate Dean and Professor Jeffrey Stanton; information management and data science graduate student Kate Mueller; and Microsoft FUSE Lab?s Shelly Farnham.

The discussion began with panelists addressing the basic question of defining the field of data science. It turned to observations about patterns and trends in data education, including the iSchool at Syracuse University?s approach of educating for the full lifecycle of the data field. Panelists also spoke about students who are entering the field and their various backgrounds and subject matter orientations. The high demand for data graduates, as well as career options and the needs of business and industry for data specialists also were detailed. In addition, panelists touched on the importance of higher education continuing its connection to and collaboration with industries who are hiring in the data field...

The journal, published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., is designed to ?bring together the community to address current challenges and enforce effective efforts to organize, store, disseminate, protect, manipulate, and, most importantly, find the most effective strategies to make this incredible amount of information work to benefit society, industry, academia, and government,? the issue states.

How the 50 States Rate in Providing Online Access to Government Spending Data

The ability to see how government uses the public purse is fundamental to democracy. Transparency in government spending promotes fiscal responsibility, checks corruption, and bolsters public confidence.

In the past few years, state governments across the country have made their checkbooks transparent by creating online transparency portals. These government-operated websites allow visitors to view the government’s checkbook – who receives state money, how much, and for what purposes. Most of these websites are also searchable, making it easier for residents to follow the money and monitor government spending of many sorts. Today almost every state operates a transparency website with the state’s checkbook accessible to the public.

Over the past two years, the number of states that give citizens access to their state’s checkbook has increased from 32 to 46.

This report is U.S. PIRG Education Fund’s third annual ranking of states’ progress toward “Transparency 2.0” – a new standard of comprehensive, one-stop, one-click budget accountability and accessibility.

Canada Year Book, 2012

Source: Statistics Canada:

This edition marks the Canada Year Book’s final release.

Statistics Canada recognizes that today’s data users need information that is both up-to-date and accessible online. In 2012, we took a major step in that direction by making all of our online information free, enabling users to easily download and manipulate statistical data. In the future, we will be developing new approaches to web-based publications. Our goal, as always, is to keep Canadians informed about our country’s social and economic life.

Data Visualization Weekly Feature

The Census Bureau has launched Visualization of the Week, a new feature on census.gov. Each week, visualizations will explore a variety of statistical topics. The first posted visualizations pertain largely to historical population statistics and show changes in the growth and redistribution of the U.S. population. For later visualizations, the topics will expand beyond 10-year census statistics to include the full breadth of Census Bureau data sets and subject areas, from household and family dynamics, to migration and geographic mobility, to economic indicators. Each week, new visualizations will be posted, many of which will be interactive. All of the visualizations can be shared on social media sites. Internet address: <>.

"Link Rot" and Legal Resources on the Web: 2012 Analysis

Access to web-published content can be lost as websites are routinely updated, reorganized, or deleted over time. In the five years since the program began, the Chesapeake Group has built a digital archive collection comprising more than 8,600 digital items and 3,700 titles, almost all originally posted to the web but captured and preserved within the group's digital archive.

Every year, the Chesapeake Group investigates whether or not the documents in the archive can still be found at the original web addresses from which they were captured. The group analyzes two samples of web addresses, or URLs, pulled from the archive's records. ...

In 2012, 218 out of 579 URLs in the sample no longer provide access to the content that was originally selected, captured, and archived by the Chesapeake Group. In other words, link rot has increased to 37.7 percent within five years.

MetroTrends: up-to-date indicators from numerous data sources

The Urban Institute's report card and toolkit for researchers, students, journalists, elected officials and the public on the state of metropolitan economies. Here you'll find up-to-date charts and figures, expert commentaries and relevant, downloadable datasets.

The MetroTrends Blog has launched and brings you seasoned voices on the changes and challenges facing metropolitan America.

Future of Producing Social, Economic Statistical Info, Part 2

From the Director's Blog for U.S. Census Bureau

In my last post, I reviewed five observations. Because of changes in American society, 1) the Census Bureau’s methods of data collection are costing more money to produce the same statistical information, but 2) the demands are increasing for more statistical information from businesses, governments, and the public, and 3) there are new data collection technologies that are being invented constantly, 4) there are new sources of digital data from Federal program agencies, the internet, and economic transactions, but 5) in the medium run the Census Bureau is not likely to have more fiscal resources to take advantage of these

New search engine for data & statistics

From an e-mail I received recently:

"I...thought that you might like to try our new search engine – Zanran – which is for finding data and statistics.

"It’s currently in beta – and it’s free. I think you’ll find it helpful - because of its focus on data, which makes it different from Google and Bing."

Worth taking a look.