UNESCO INSTITUTE for STATISTICS Adapting the indicators Simon P. Ellis Head of Communication Statistics

UNESCO INSTITUTE for STATISTICS The information society l Its already here! ESCWA countries need to catch up l OECD already have a full set of operable indicators l They need adapting to regional contexts

UNESCO INSTITUTE for STATISTICS WSIS l World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis November 2006 l An international partnership has been working on indicators è ITU, UNCTAD, OECD, UNESCO, Regional Commissions and others l Partnership also committed to capacity building

UNESCO INSTITUTE for STATISTICS Why international data standards and definitions? l International comparison l Global indicator reports l To measure progress against global goals l National standards for national policy

UNESCO INSTITUTE for STATISTICS Objectives of annex l Limitations in measurement l What dimensions should be captured? l What is appropriate for non-OECD countries?

UNESCO INSTITUTE for STATISTICS Some major dimensions to consider l What are the policy issues that need to be captured? l What data are already available? l What new indicators might be feasible?

UNESCO INSTITUTE for STATISTICS Fundamental principles l Only collect what is necessary l Minimise response burden l Don’t duplicate (don’t collect what others are already collecting)

UNESCO INSTITUTE for STATISTICS Main chapters in OECD text l ICT products l Demand form households and individuals l Content l Social impact

UNESCO INSTITUTE for STATISTICS ICT products l How to capture market characteristics? l Leapfroging »Mobiles more important than landlines l Linking technologies »TV to internet or Internet to print l Infrastructure »Electricity »Bandwidth

UNESCO INSTITUTE for STATISTICS Demand by business l Business registers – sample base l E-commerce, marketing or research l International or national market?

UNESCO INSTITUTE for STATISTICS Household and individual demand l How to measure community access? l Which questions to incorporate in existing surveys? l Administration of survey eg post or interview l Literacy »How to use PCs »How to access information l Variability in access and bandwidth

UNESCO INSTITUTE for STATISTICS Content l Content for whom? Audience l Language l E-commerce or marketing

UNESCO INSTITUTE for STATISTICS Social impact l Rural and urban distinctions l E-governance who uses? l Remote access to »Health info. and doctors »Education material and teachers

UNESCO INSTITUTE for STATISTICS E-readiness l Which indicators identify preconditions for the information society? l How fast is the information revolution moving? Eg. Straight to wireless »Frequency of survey

UNESCO INSTITUTE for STATISTICS E-readiness 2 l Availability of training l Availability of infrastructure è Electricity, phone lines l Connectivity or bandwidth

UNESCO INSTITUTE for STATISTICS A major question l Why is Arab States the only region where increasing usage has not led to increased local content?

UNESCO INSTITUTE for STATISTICS Some successes l Bahrain è Government Data Network » 1GB per second between all gov. depts. è Internet banking; 20% of inet users l Jordan Education Initiative »E-curricula »National Learning Network l How to measure impact? l How to replicate?

UNESCO INSTITUTE for STATISTICS Some principals for adaptation l Geographic: some topics may not be applicable to some parts of the country l Data availability: different datasets may provide different indicators. If no data available estimate (with metadata) l Administration: technicalities of questions may require personal interviews l Sampling frames: both demographic and enterprise registers may not be complete leading to coverage or sampling problems

UNESCO INSTITUTE for STATISTICS Some principals for adaptation l Evolution of market: relationship between technologies leap frogging, combined technologies, to be captured > frequency of survey l E-readiness: surveys may be more applicable for least-developed provinces/districts l Content: needs to be taken into account as reflecting market – software in Arabic, web sites for info or e- commerce