Slides from Session 1 Dissemination

1. Statistical
Dissemination
Jeremy Barton
Corporate Performance Division
Performance and Places Directorate
25 November 2013

2. Statistical Dissemination
•
•
•
•
Access
Developments in presentation
Maximising audience reach
Using new technology
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3. GSS Presentation and Dissemination Strategy
The Vision
“Professionally presented, meaningful, easily
understood statistics delivered in ways users find easy
to access, use, understand and re-use.”
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4. Excellently presented statistics….






Easily located
Are well-written
Mix of commentary, data and visualisations
Link to other related information
Maximise audience reach
Use platforms which best fit users needs
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5. Easily Located?
GOV.UK – the route to easy access?
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https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?publication_filter_option=statistics

6. …or room for improvement?
“Our initial analysis …
suggested that users
tend to come for a
specific statistical
release or table, with
relatively few people
accessing statistics via a
statistics landing page”
Neil Williams, Inside
Government
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7. The alternatives – what do you use?
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8. The alternatives – DATA.GOV.UK – access
to DCLG data second only to ONS
Visits and views to data.gov.uk since June 2012 to present
Department of Health
Visits
Views
Home Office
Land Registry
Department for Environment,
Food and Rural Affairs
Department for Business,
Innovation and Skills
Department for Transport
NHS Information Centre for
Health and Social Care
Department for Communities
and Local Government
Office for National Statistics
0
50,000
100,000
150,000
200,000
250,000
300,000
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350,000

9. The world is changing and we need to
change with it…
Source: Office for National Statistics
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10. How we used to present DCLG’s lead
indicators…
Limited time series presented in Excel
spreadsheet, quarterly updates
A separated Excel spreadsheet contained the
associated metadata – no linkages between the two
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11. How we now present DCLG’s lead indicators
http://dclgapps.communities.gov.uk/indicators/
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12. The indicator dashboard
Key figures with
indication of change
Link to data
What the latest figures
show
Chart of time
series
Explanation of
calculation of indicator
Table showing
components of
indicator
Metadata and link to
further information
Data updated soon
after first release of
statistics
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13. Maximising audience reach
Main cause of accidental
home fires is misuse of
equipment/appliances:
nearly 11,000 in 2012-13
At last count private rent
amounted to 41% of
gross income, social rent
30% and mortgage owner
payments 19%
@CommunitiesUK
Between 2011 & 2012 the
number of long-term
empty homes fell by
19,000 (7%)
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14. Maximising audience reach
40 tweets
429 retweets
1039 clicks on the links
64,000 followers
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15. ..with added visualisations
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16. Increasing use of mobile
Internet use on a mobile phone, 2010 to 2013
100
90
80
Percentage
70
16-24
60
25-34
35-44
50
45-54
40
55-64
30
65+
20
10
0
2010
2011
Source: Office for National Statistics
2012
2013
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17. Increasing use of mobile
Accessing the Internet 'on the go' , 2013
100
90
Mobile phone or smartphone
80
Portable computer (laptop, tablet)
Percentage
70
Other handheld device (eg PDA, MP3, e-book
reader, games console)
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
16-24
25-34
35-44
45-54
Source: Office for National Statistics
55-64
65+
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18. Gov.uk is mobile enabled, but stats content
often is not…
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19. …however our non-GDS platforms are mobileenabled…
Indicators Dashboard
http://dclgapps.communities.gov.uk/indicators/
ODC – Local Authority Dashboard
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http://opendatacommunities.org/dashboard

20. The future…
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21. Any Questions?
Jeremy.Barton@communities.gsi.gov.uk
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22. Statistics and Open Data at DCLG
The story so far…
Steve Peters
Strategic Statistics Division
Analysis and Innovation Directorate
25 November 2013

23. Statistics and open data
Policy context
“The NII will contain the data held by government
which is likely to have the broadest and most
significant economic and social impact if made
available and accessible outside of government, where
possible”
Official Statistics are a key element, e.g..
http://data.gov.uk/library/national-information-infrastructure-narrative
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24. The prize: a web of data
Data and information that is:
• Open, re-usable, accessible and meaningful
• Integrated:
• Data that can be quickly and easily blended and combined
from multiple related sources (national and local-level)
• Useful to (and used by) citizens and communities:
• The fuel to power engagement with local decision making
and holding decision makers to account.
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25. Future potential: the bigger picture
Joining-up national and local sources on
planning, housing, and the economy
Moving away from the web
of documents, towards
the web of data
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26. Open data star rating
make your stuff
available on
the Web
(whatever
format) under
an open license
make it
available as
structured data
(e.g., Excel
instead of
image scan of a
table)
use nonproprietary
formats (e.g.,
CSV instead of
Excel)
use URIs to
denote things,
so that people
can point at
your stuff
link your data
to other data to
provide context
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26
http://5stardata.info

27. 5 Stars of open data engagement
Government information and data are common resources,
managed in trust by government.
A commitment to open data involves making information and
data resources accessible to all without discrimination; and
actively engaging to ensure that information and data can be
used in a wide range of ways.
http://www.opendataimpacts.net/engagement/
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28. DCLG’s journey to open, re-usable data
Moving progressively to 5-star outputs
http://opendatacommunities.org/data
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29. Open Data Communities
Dataset example
So. How is this different to
publishing spreadsheets?
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30. Open Data Communities
Helping you get the data you need
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31. New insights. New audiences
DCLG Business Plan Indicators
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http://dclgapps.communities.gov.uk/indicators

32. Demonstrating future potential
The neighbourhood-level wellbeing map
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http://opendatacommunities.org/wellbeing/map

33. Enhancing our standard outputs
Exploiting new (free) tools
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34. Enhancing our standard outputs
Exploiting new (free) tools
http://geocommons.com/maps/303187
http://public.tableausoftware.com/views/Householdc
ompositionbytypeofletting/Dashboard#1
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35. Enhancing our standard outputs
Enabling rapid development of low-cost apps
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36. Enhancing our standard outputs
Enabling rapid development of low-cost apps
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http://dclgapps.communities.gov.uk/localities/hhprojdemo_v6.html

37. Building the web of data
The “lambeth-in-numbers” demonstrator
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http://lambeth-in-numbers.co.uk

38. Building the web of data
Land supply for Housing in Hampshire
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http://linkeddata.hants.gov.uk/land-supply-mapper/map.html

39. Enabling innovation
From this….
To this…
Some examples
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40. Enabling innovation
Some examples
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41. Enabling innovation
Some examples
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http://opencorporates.com

42. Enabling innovation
Some examples
http://illustreets.co.uk
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43. Enabling innovation
Some examples
http://illustreets.co.uk
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44. Your exam questions for today…
1. Which DCLG datasets do you use (top 5), and how do you use
them?
2. How can we help you to find and re-use our data more
quickly/easily/efficiently?
3. What opportunities can you see to improve linking of DCLG
datasets with related 3rd party sources?
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45. Thank you
Steve Peters
Strategic Statistics Division
Analysis and Information Directorate
steve.peters@communities.gsi.gov.uk
0303 444 42333 / 07899 060 776
Towards open, re-usable data:
http://opendatacommunities.org
Twitter: @Open_Data
Wordpress: http://wordpress.com/openviz
Demo apps: http://dclgexamples.mywebcommunity.org
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46. STATISTICAL
COMMENTARY

47. IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATING
STATISTICS
“I keep saying the sexy job in the next ten
years will be statisticians…
The ability to take data - to be able to
understand it, to process it, to extract value
from it, to visualize it, to communicate it, is
going to be a hugely important skill in the next
decades”
(Hal Varian, 2009)
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48. GSS STRATEGY / VISION
REBALANCING OUR ACTIVITIES
From collection to more analysis, dissemination and user support
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49. WHY COMMENTARY MATTERS
“Official Statistics should contain full and frank commentary and
analysis that aid interpretation”
• Having the ‘right numbers’ is not enough
• More informative, well-rounded products
• Aiding the user’s interpretation of the
statistics
• Increasing the IMPACT
“If you choose not to communicate what
you do, your work will become increasingly
irrelevant. Even worse, you will condemn the
rest of us to receive information from sources
that may be ignorant or those who would seek
to distort or misinform for their own gain.”
(Carl Safina)
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50. COMMENTARY IS A BALANCING ACT
• Providing information without bias
• Explaining without over-attributing
• Highlighting relevant facts and context
TELL THE STORY
A statistical story doesn’t just recite data in words. It
tells a story about the data
A story tells the reader what you found and why it is
important
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51. UKSA GUIDANCE / GSS BEST PRACICE
• Focus on the key messages?
• Add interpretation – describe trends / key events or
changes that have led to observable patterns in data.
• What is the context? (policy environment)
• Commentary framed in a language of uncertainty
• What are the limitations?
• What can the figures be used for?
• International comparison where applicable
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52. STATISTICIANS NEED TO THINK ABOUT
THE USER…
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53. COMPONENTS OF COMMENTARY
1. Title
2. Headline Messages
3. Context
4. Interpretation
5. Language
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54. 1. TITLE
• Should immediately allow the reader to identify what’s in the release
• It should stand alone as a description of the publication and identify:
- Statistics being published
- Time period
- Geographical coverage
- Frequency of the release
e.g.
• Affordable Housing Supply, England, 2012-13
• Fire Statistics, Great Britain 2012 to 2013
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55. 2. HEADLINE MESSAGES
• Ensuring that the main messages of the
publication reach the user
• Should be interesting
• Be easy to understand
• Place the findings in context
• No need to summarise all the results in the
publication
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56. 2. HEADLINE MESSAGES MATTER:
The inverted pyramid…
CRUCIAL
Information
Introduction
Details
HELPFUL
Information
NICE
to
know
Conclusion
Academia
Journalist
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57. 2. HEADLINE MESSAGES
e.g.
• Actual numbers of cases of cancer have risen over the last
decade, likely to be largely due to an ageing population.
• Based on current trends, more than one in three people in
Scotland will develop cancer in their lifetime.
And from DCLG
• In 2011-12 fire and rescue authorities attended 585,000 fires
or false alarms in Britain, 7% fewer than in 2010-11
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58. 3. CONTEXT
• Why are the statistics collected and what are they used
for?
• Why is the user interested?
• Relevant policies and targets
• Long-term trends
• Geographical comparisons
• Limitations and strengths of use/interpretation
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59. 3. CONTEXT
e.g. Court Statistics Quarterly - MoJ
• The number of children involved in public law
applications made by local authorities jumped in
2009 from around 5,000 per quarter to 6,500 per
quarter following the publicity surrounding the Baby P
case.
• Since then, this number has increased even further
to nearly 7,500 per quarter.
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60. 4. INTERPRETATION
• Explores the relationships, causes and
effects, to the extent that they can be
supported by evidence
• Where is the line between interpretation
and speculation?
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61. 4. INTERPRETATION
e.g.
• Cereal areas were at their lowest in 2006 and 2007,
but increased by 52,888 hectares (13.1%) in 2008 in
response to tight EU and world supply, and high
market prices following the 2007 harvest and a
reduction in compulsory set-aside rates to 0%.
• There was a small decrease in cereal areas in 2009
(1.8%) followed by a further decrease of 5.0% in
2010, as market prices dropped and the supply
situation eased
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62. 5. LANGUAGE
Write simply and concisely:
• Use simple sentence structure
• Use everyday language
• Avoid jargon. If it’s necessary, define it in the text
• Leave white space
• Short sentences
• Short paragraphs
• Over half of the UK working population have a reading age
of 11 years old or younger
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63. 5. LANGUAGE
e.g.
• Gross weekly pay in the bottom
income decile was below £276
• One in ten people earn £276 or less
per week before tax and national
insurance are taken out
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64. 64

65. DCLG STATISTICAL COMMENTARY
WORKING GROUP
• Designed a DCLG Statistical Release Template
– now being used for all quarterly releases and
shorter annual releases
• Currently carrying out a Review of DCLG
National and Official Statistics Commentary
• To date 18 reviews completed with 20+ further
reviews due in 2014…
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66. NEW DCLG STATISTICAL RELEASE
TEMPLATE
• National Statistics badge top
right corner
• Topic, Release and Date
Underneath
• Separate Bullet Points for
Key Commentary Messages
• Introduction: Details regarding
special events that may have
affected the data in the release
• Technical Notes: Symbols,
Data Collection, Data Quality,
Revisions Policy, Uses of
Data, User Engagement,
Notes
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67. DCLG STATISTICAL COMMENTARY
REVIEW FINDINGS
• Add more context to aid interpretation
• Provide information on key events that have
led to trends / observable patterns e.g. economic
downturn
• Use less technical language where we can
• Add more information on potential uses of the
data
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68. USER FEEDBACK / CONTACT US
We value your feedback…
• Users are encouraged to provide feedback on
how these statistics are used and how well
they meet user needs
• Comments on any issues relating to statistical
releases are welcomed and encouraged
• Responses should be addressed to the "Public
enquiries" contact given in the "Enquiries"
section of the publication
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69. PRACTICAL SESSION
In small groups, please briefly review the
statistical commentary in this homelessness
publication…
Questions:
1. What do you like about the statistical
commentary?
2. What don’t you like? How can we
improve?
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