Towards a strategic publications programme for Eurostat Ulrich Wieland, Eurostat B6

Objectives To be first choice for European statistical data To increase the service to users To present Eurostat figures attractively Repost of the study group on Eurostat communication policy Deals only with publications

Main principles Multi-annual publications programme Regular flagship publications Digital link to Eurostat Web site Review of collections Harmonisation of publications User needs analysis

Multi-annual publications programme Top-down approach Set of Eurostat core publications which should appear at predefined intervals over many years Covers the full range of regular publications from the Eurostat yearbook to monthly data tables in pdf format Aims at increased reliability and predictability of Eurostat publications What publications are expected by an organisation like Eurostat? We looked at all domains and reflected what should be proiduced. Up to now, only annual program, due to budgetary cycle. Multiannual program, even if no guarantee is given, is important to give guidance to both production units and clients

Regular flagship publications Flagship publications in all major statistical areas covered by Eurostat Two-yearly periodicity recommended for most areas Yearbook, pocketbook, regional yearbook Two-yearly publications e.g. on business statistics, energy, transport, information society, … Other periodicity is possible e.e. agriculture will be linked to farm structure survey Details are in draft form in the annex of the document

Digital link to Eurostat Web site EOI’s (Eurostat object identifiers) and stable internet links will be introduced for all predefined tables an data collections on the Eurostat Web-site All tables and graphs in publications will refer to data on the Eurostat Web-site through the EOI code PDF version will have hyperlinks Who has heard of DOI? International DOI foundation and proposed as ISO standard. Very important for an integrated dissemination policy, will give added value to publications. Will be implemented end of this year

Review of collections Remove distinction between panoramas and detailed tables Introduce Statistics in Focus for data publications Limit pocketbooks to pocketbooks Only minor adaptation to bring the collections in line with reality

Guidelines for publications Guidelines for authors on Content, style, commentary, structure, user orientation, expected audience … Types and characteristics of publications Procedures for publishing Layout (including problems of logos, abbreviations, citations, cover page, foreword, references to the Eurostat Web site…)

User needs analysis Internet surveys Interviews We need to know more about our users: Who are they, how do they work, what are their needs? Specially important for the question about the role of paper publications Internet survey: Infrastructure available, will use it and expect results, but limited to internet users (e.g. very young public) Interviews might be useful, but no decision has been taken.

Comments? Suggestions? E.g. on Recommendations for Eurostat publications Experiences with user surveys Suggested guidelines on the content of statistical publications What publications should we add / remove? How can we better present the results of our work? What do you know about your users, how did you find out (especially concerning publications) Do you have guidelines which we could use? How can we best profit from experiences from countries?