Month: October 2009

Categories
Online Resource (Free)

American Community Survey Data 2006 – 2008

The US Census Bureau has just released new data:

“on a wide range of socioeconomic, housing and demographic characteristics for communities across the nation, part of an ongoing statistical portrait of America.

Among dozens of topics covered in the survey are educational attainment, commute times, housing characteristics, occupation, language ability and various other social, economic and housing topics.”

The data are available from the American FactFinder website at http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DatasetMainPageServlet?_program=ACS&_submenuId=&_lang=en&_ts=

Categories
News Online Resource (Free)

New report from Asia Foundation: Afghanistan in 2009.

The Asia Foundation has released its  fifth
survey of the Afghan people -
Afghanistan in 2009: a survey of the Afghan people.
From the Asia Foundation website: "Aiming to provide 
the Afghan citizenry,policy makers and influential actors in 
government, civil society, and
the international community with useful, actionable information, 
the 2009 Survey of the Afghan People is a comprehensive assessment
of national perception in key policy areas. These areas include: 
security, economy, governance, democratic values, and women and society. 
The 2009 fieldwork was conducted during June 17-July 6, 
prior to the August 20 elections, and builds upon previous surveys 
conducted in 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2008. 
Its value can be found in its rigorous methodology and
reliable consistency in measuring public perceptions on a range of
crucial issues each year."
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Uncategorized

New WHO report examines health risks

“Global life expectancy could be increased by nearly five years by

addressing five factors affecting health – childhood underweight, unsafe sex,

alcohol use, lack of safe water, sanitation and hygiene, and high blood

pressure, according to a report published by WHO today.”

Read the story from the Vancouver Sun here

WHO news release

Link to index page – GLOBAL HEALTH RISKS: Mortality and burden of disease attributable to selected major risks

Categories
Online Resource (Free)

Data Visualizer at the World Bank

The World Bank has just launched a new website that features a “publicly accessible tool for data visualization,”  called the Data Visualizer.

“The time series used in Data Visualizer is a subset of 2009 World Development Indicators database. It contains 49 indicators for 209 countries and 18 aggregates from 1960-2007. Data includes social, economic, financial, information & technology, and environmental indicators.”

Basically, countries or economic regions are represented as brightly coloured bubbles on a chart and you can choose from a list of variables for both the x and the y axis.  The bubbles move around as you drag the time slider across the bottom of the chart – representing change over time.   If you play around with the Visualizer you can probably figure out the basics of using it and interpreting the data, but apparently there are more advanced features that you might miss.  Fortunately the World Bank has also put together a freely downloadable  instructional video for users that will allow you to maximize this great free tool.

Categories
News Online Resource (Free)

2009 Eurostat Regional Yearbook now available

The Yearbook presents a statistical portrait of life in the regions of the European Union’s member states, candidate countries and the EFTA countries. A broad set of regional data is presented on the following themes: population, European cities, labour market, gross domestic product, household accounts, structural business statistics, information society, science, technology and innovation, education, tourism and agriculture. Available in 2 parts.

Part 1

Part 2

Categories
Online Resource (Free) Print Resource

New report: Hidden Costs of Energy: Unpriced Consequences of Energy Production and Use

From National Academies Press website: “Hidden Costs of Energy defines and evaluates key external costs and benefits that are associated with the production, distribution, and use of energy, but not reflected in market prices. In aggregate, the damage estimates presented here are substantial, and reflect damages from air pollution associated with electricity generation, motor vehicle transportation, and heat generation. The book also considers other effects not quantified in dollar amounts, such as damages from climate change, effects of some air pollutants such as mercury, and risks to national security.

While not a comprehensive guide to policy, this analysis indicates that major initiatives to further reduce other emissions, improve energy efficiency, or shift to a cleaner electricity-generating mix could substantially reduce the damages of external effects. A first step in minimizing the adverse consequences of new energy technologies is to better understand these external effects and damages. Hidden Costs of Energy will therefore be a vital informational tool for government policy makers, scientists, and economists in even the earliest stages of research and development on energy technologies.”

For full report (available on the National Academies website)  scroll down towards the bottom of the page.

Categories
Online Resource (Free) Website

Free content at the EU digital bookstore

The EU online bookstore has traditionally been a “for fee” site, but has just now added a very large chunk of free materials to its database, including “all official EU publications since 1952.”  Free publications are clearly labelled and are available for immediate PDF download.

Categories
News

Update on BC Treaty Commission – Common Table Report released

After 16 years of negotiations, the BC Treaty Commission asks Harper to step in – article from Globe and Mail.

The BC Treaty Commission’s annual report for 2009 is available online.

On October 13, 2009, the BC Treaty Commission released the  Common Table Report, which captures the 13 days of discussions in 2008 among the governments of Canada and British Columbia and more than 60 First Nations. Included are 21 opportunities the parties agreed to explore further to move treaty negotiations forward.

Categories
Website

UK Security Services records at the National Archive

The UK National Archives has just put up a database with materials from the Security Services:

“Some of these files were kept about individuals; others were gathered on groups in which the Security Service took an interest. The files contain information about communists, Soviet intelligence agents and officers, right-wing extremists, Italian espionage activities and suspected agents, Czech refugees, suspected spies, pacifists, German agents and intelligence officers.

The majority of these files are from 1939-45, but there are a considerable number from the inter- and post-war periods.”

Note, not every result is freely available – most items are only available for a fee and there is currently no way to limit your results to free materials.  That being said, the range of materials in the collection is impressive:  spy diaries, Hitler’s passport,  and  files on prominent UK communists and eminent physicists and more.

Categories
Online Resource (Free)

Another government data mash-up: Australia

The Australian government has just launched a free website offering up a wide array of government datasets.  Topics include business, community, education, geography, transportation,  society,  safety and the environment.   You can search the database or browse by category or latest added.

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