Statistics Explained your guide to European statistics Luxembourg, User Support Workshop, 25 January 2010

User Support Workshop: Statistics Explained 2 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 update any page, but not outsiders (normally)

25 January 2010User Support Workshop: Statistics Explained 3 What’s so special? Unique combination of wiki openness with quality control: statistics must be guaranteed New channels reaching new audiences on the Internet: –General public not inclined to go to statistics website –Picked up much better by google and other searches –Present where people are (forums, blogs, Facebook etc.) Huge impact on publication workflows and output

25 January 2010User Support Workshop: Statistics Explained 4 Current state Content: –Some 150 statistical and other articles across all statistical themes, from economy to crime –Supplemented by some 750 glossary items –Equivalent to 3000-page paper publication Over 130 contributors (1 in 7 of Eurostat) Governance working smoothly, no incident or accident in 10 months’ operation Growing visitor numbers, high google rankings, more bookmarks and links

25 January 2010User Support Workshop: Statistics Explained 5 Future developments Statistical content rapidly expanding and improving, in a decentralized way New software development to facilitate navigation and support site management Glossary –To be expanded drastically and systematically –Multilingual version (23 EU languages) considered Publication workflows and strategy being reconsidered

25 January 2010User Support Workshop: Statistics Explained 6 How can it be of help? To User Support staff: Source of information: –Data plus explanations in articles –Definitions of terms and concepts in glossary Portal to detailed additional information –Legal texts, policy documents, metadata, … –Direct access into Main tables & Database To your clients: Can find the data themselves and interpret them correctly if you show them

25 January 2010User Support Workshop: Statistics Explained 7 Please use it ! Tell your clients Put links on your website