Statistics Explained progress report Luxembourg, Dissemination Working Group, 15-16 April 2010

Statistics Explained? World first: Eurostat’s encyclopaedia of European statistics Statistical articles analyzing & explaining data Glossary defining all concepts and terms Portal linking deeply to more data & metadata For the general public, not specialists Wikipedia look and structure Open-source Mediawiki software All Eurostat staff (870 people) may edit anything, but not outsiders (normally) 15-16 April 2010 Dissemination Working Group: Statistics Explained

Solving two problems Traditional publications do not adequately reach new audiences on the Internet: general public not inclined to go to statistics website, using Google, Wikipedia etc. to find information, quoting on discussion forums & blogs, sharing via mail, Facebook, Twitter, …; use slow and cumbersome workflows, rendering content outdated already when finally published 15-16 April 2010 Dissemination Working Group: Statistics Explained

Progress and future plans Expanding content Technical developments User response Impact on workflows Risks and threats 15-16 April 2010 Dissemination Working Group: Statistics Explained

Expanding content Articles added continually, newly created or ‘recycled’ Eurostat’s glossary CODED being integrated 8000 items trilingual de, en, fr Statistical publications replaced by or produced from Statistics Explained articles (wiki input from contractors) Some new and not foreseen uses Static ‘Sigma’ magazine articles Environmental Data Centres (with European Environment Agency) Policy monitoring reports (continuous rather than (bi-)annual) 15-16 April 2010 Dissemination Working Group: Statistics Explained

Technical developments Operational http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained Home page automatically updated ‘Real-time’ user statistics via Piwik To be implemented soon http://inermis.cc.cec.eu.int:8080/index.php/Main_Page Rss-feeds and link to Eurostat Home/news http://ept.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/eurostat/home/ Additional buttons to share, blog, cite, etc ‘Enhanced’ Word-like editor for contributors More efficient watch, track & validation tools Better search 15-16 April 2010 Dissemination Working Group: Statistics Explained

User response High and growing visitor numbers 1.2 million page views since October 2009 Search engine ranking: the key to success! http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/piwik/index.php?module=CoreHome&action=index&idSite=1&period=day&date=yesterday#module=Dashboard&action=embeddedIndex&idSite=1&period=day&date=yesterday Referring sites Wikipedia, NSIs, discussion forums, media, universities, … Presence in ‘social media’ Facebook, Twitter, … “Awards” http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/15/resource-of-the-week-eurostat-statistics-explained http://blog.hillsearch.org/index.cfm/2010/3/16/Business-Website-of-the-Week--Statistics-Explained-your-guide-to-European-Statistics 15-16 April 2010 Dissemination Working Group: Statistics Explained

Impact on workflows ‘Copernican revolution’: electronic first, paper/pdf after (if at all) Duplicating paper publications Sigma, Statistics in focus Replacing paper publications no longer produced European business (557 pages=>100 articles), Sustainable development monitoring report (302 pages=>11 articles) Wiki work platform for producing publications Yearbook pilot, objectives: more flexible collaboration of all contributors faster production, fresher data 15-16 April 2010 Dissemination Working Group: Statistics Explained

Risks and threats Be bold ! But wise … Insufficient resources Maintaining quality is labour-intensive! (broken links, errors, more recent data, clearer wording, …) Too many rules Contributors must not be discouraged by procedures! Not enough rules Clear set-up and rules must preserve overall coherence Lack of management Editor-in-chief with mandate to invite contributions, recommend best practices, impose rules Be bold ! But wise … 15-16 April 2010 Dissemination Working Group: Statistics Explained