How Guyana Utilises the Web to Disseminate Data By: Frederick Deane

Concept of Dissemination The dissemination of data is the main conduit between a statistical body and the public or organizations that utilise the said data. Dissemination of data can take a number of forms ranging from simple publication via the press (conference or print), multimedia, and the World Wide Web.

In the statistical division, dissemination of data plays a key role for everyone within a country and more over the world. It drives decision making in governments, the private and public sectors. Therefore, data should always be seen as public goods and the need for accurate and diversified ways of dissemination should be extremely important to the parties involved in the process.

Agencies that use the Web for Dissemination The Bureau of Statistics (BoS) is responsible for the dissemination of data within Guyana but an important point to note is that we are not the sole agency of dissemination. The BoS releases all available data gathered and processed from surveys and day to day activities such as the census of the country, imports and exports as well as the country’s pricing index.

All this data is released on the website of the BoS and available for download to the public for free. The BoS disseminates data in keeping with the requirements of our Statistical Act, which prohibits us from disseminating micro-data through the web but allows only summarised or aggregative data at small area level (Population), section level (Trade), sub-group level (Prices), socio-economic at national or sub-national levels.

Data or info at more disaggregated levels is disseminated on request that is justified and at the discretion of the Chief Statistician, who has to ensure that the law (The Statistical Act) is not violated. If this request is approved the data is not disseminated via the web but directly to the requesting party who has to give commitments that he would not pass on that data to a third party without first obtaining the permission of the BoS.

Other Key Agencies that Disseminate Data via the Web Ministry of Finance – The BoS falls under the arm of this ministry. The Ministry of Finance disseminates data on the country’s budget estimates, quarterly progress as well as the progress of the Millennium Development Goals. Bank of Guyana – The Bank of Guyana disseminates data on the foreign exchange rates, as well as statistical bulletins on the performance of the country’s banking sector.

Other Line Ministries of Guyana disseminate data with respect to their field via the web such as: – Ministry of Education – Ministry of Labour, Human Services & Social Security – Ministry of Culture, Youth & Sport – Ministry of Health – Ministry of Natural Resources & The Environment

Producers & Users of Data As mentioned before the BoS is not the sole disseminator of data in Guyana. Other key agencies such as the Ministries of Health, Education and Labour also disseminate data related to their field via their websites. The BoS in turn uses that data produced by these agencies to update Guyana’s adaption of DevInfo, called Guy_D Info. Guy_D Info is another form of dissemination of data by the BoS.

Plans for the Future The BoS has been gearing at including all other line ministries within Guyana to have a central hub where data can be housed and disseminated to the public using the internet and through hard work and dedication towards this project and with the assistance of UNICEF we are in the position to launch our web version of Guy_D Info (an adaptation of DevInfo. UNICEF’s tool for dissemination).

With the launch of Guy_D Info for the web, it is believed that access to data on various sectors of the country would be much easier and faster by cutting out the red tape process of going through the individual agencies to access that data. Finally with the concept of “Big Data” emerging globally, the BoS is looking to embrace this concept and flow in the direction of change to try and have data more readily available in multiple formats to suit society.