The Web-COSI project aims to foster citizen engagement in new measures of societal progress beyond GDP. Over 24 months, it will: 1) Map existing initiatives and best practices in community involvement in progress statistics. 2) Conduct online campaigns and develop a Wiki of progress statistics to integrate official and non-official citizen-generated data. 3) Organize workshops, focus groups, and a final conference to promote discussion and disseminate methods for measuring well-being. The project aims to better integrate top-down and bottom-up approaches to statistics through open data tools and an extensive outreach strategy across stakeholders from academia to citizens. It seeks synergies with other EU projects measuring well-being indicators

1. First CAPS Concertartion Meeting
Bruxelles, 4 February 2014
Web-COSI
Web COmmunities for Statistics for Social Innovation
www.webcosi.eu
Donatella Fazio, Istat
Web-COSI Scientific Coordinator

2. Web-COSI purpose
Web COmmunities for Statistics for Social Innovation
CSA project (1/2014-12/2015)
Web-COSI is built upon the increasing trust in collectively-generated
statistics based on the idea that collaborate through crowd sourced platforms
can contribute to produce better statistics beyond GDP empowering the use of
non official data.
fostering the engagement of citizens and society at large in the area of
new measures of societal progress and well-being
using the opportunities given by Web2.0
carrying out specific initiatives and target on-line campaigns
implementing tools for collecting/producing/visualizing information and
data for a better integration of official and non-official statistics
enforcing the use of locally generated grassroots data
developing of a Wiki of progress statistics

3. Web-COSI consortium
• ISTAT the Italian National Statistical Institute (coordinator)
• OECD the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
• LUNARIA the Lunaria- Social Promotion Association
• i-GENIUS the World Community of Social Entrepreneurs
The consortium sees the collaboration among two relevant Institutions – Istat and
OECD- and two young civil society organisations - Lunaria and i-geniusrepresenting society at large. Bridging the top-down and bottom-up approaches
All partners are fully involved on beyond GDP debate representing stakeholders’
different perspectives and participating to important national and international
initiatives related to progress statistics.

4. Web-COSI project
KOM Rome, 9 January 2014
The project will carry out its 24 months activities
Ø starting from the mapping of beyond GDP existing initiatives and distilling the best
practices of the involvement of the communities for the progress statistics (experiences
carried on by the NSIs, by civil society organisations and by social entrepreneurs to steer
venture capital)
Ø in the next months the work plan will carry on specific initiatives and target on- line
campaigns with the aim to empower the engagement of communities in the debate on
progress statistics, reaching a high level of citizens’ involvement at the end of the project
Ø the development of a Wiki of progress statistics, at mid term of the project, will constitute
a tool to manage for the collection of civil society grass root locally generated non-official
data to integrate with official data
Ø 5 stocktaking and reporting documents on the involvements of communities on statistics
beyond GDP in Europe and abroad will be delivered
Ø communication and dissemination open events will be organised: 5 workshops, 4 focus
groups and a final conference

5. Web-COSI OUTPUTS
2014
J
Digital Initiatives
Webinar on well-being & societal progress initiatives in Europe
Webinar to promote and disseminate the most incisive contents and methods implemented
by civil society for societal innovation in the field of collecting statistics on well-being
Webinar on making data more accessible for society at large
Set up of a European Wikiprogress University Programme
Set up of an interactive crowd-sourced map of initiatives in Europe and in the World
Citizens campaign and ‘youth section’ and data visualisation competition on the
Wikiprogress platform (report)
A short film for YouTube and social media distribution to showcase better practice
examples with reference to the needs defined in the data gathering process
Tools
Wikipedia of progress statistics
Open Events
Workshop on well-being and societal progress crowd sourcing initiatives in Europe
Workshop on the involvement of the communities for the statistics. The development of
Wikipedia of Progress Statistics
Workshop to create new methods and develop existing methods on creating critical mass
on the usage of data for driving social entrepreneurship initiatives
Workshop to promote and disseminate the contents and methods implemented by civil
society for societal innovation in the field of collecting statistics on well-being
EU Seminar comprising social entrepreneurs and EU policy makers to explore the
findings of the data and consultations in order to explore implications for policy
Four focus groups of social entrepreneurs in four EU locations to gain a sample
perspective on how data can be best utilised in their locality
Final Conference
Documents
Report on mapping initiatives best practice, the results of citizen dialogue on well-being
and societal progress
Report on better practice models in a variety of areas related to social entrepreneurship
(e.g. health, education, community cohesion) and on the mapping exercise
Report on the NSIs experiences and best practices, focus on EU level
Report on the potential in civil society participation in the definition of statistics for
societal progress beyond GDP, leading to suggestions to civil society networks and EU
policy makers
Document to outline the European dimension, in a global perspective, on the involvement
of communities at large for official and non official statistics on well-being and societal
progress
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6. Web-COSI activities impact
Ø The digital activities of the project will be carried on Wikiprogress.org and on www.webcosi.eu and on
the other Internet platforms managed by the partners, using social networks, online discussions, blogs,
eBrief and an extensive network and local grassroots partnerships creating synergies in order to
impact towards a growing integration of top-down and bottom-up approaches for better statistics
beyond GDP
Ø A strong communication strategy on the work on going will be carried out through videos and short
films for social media distribution connecting with the diverse categories of the stakeholders (from the
academia, the business world, the civil society organisations and the producers of data to the citizens
and society at large)
Ø The project will take advantage from the results of on-going or just completed related EU FP7
initiatives and Eurostat initiatives. Connections and interactions with other projects will be fostered.
SYNERGIES WITH CAPS PROJECTS
The usage and comprehension of statistics measuring well being and societal progress
is at the basis for the description of the context in which actions to create solutions for
the social needs are requested.
Ø The Wiki of progress statistics released by the project as open source can be
considered by CAPS projects as an opportunity for setting the framework on which they
want to operate for social innovation.
Ø Moreover the Wiki stat can be used by the other CAPS projects representing a
selected COMMUNITY OF USERS.
Ø In this perspective the participation to Web-COSI events and on-line discussions is
strongly welcomed.

7. THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION
Donatella Fazio dofazio@istat.it