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Affordable Health Care for America Act

America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009:  “To provide affordable, quality health care for all Americans and reduce
the growth in health care spending, and for other purposes.”

Read the New York Times story regarding the US groundbreaking legislation here

See the actual 1017 page Bill that was introduced in the House here – From the Library of Congress site – H.R. 3200 I.H. and the final report of the bill (H.R.  3200 R.I.H) here (Takes a while to download – 2454 pages)

Definitions:

Introduced in House:  “This phrase indicates that a bill has been introduced in either the House or the Senate. In the Senate, any number of senators may introduce a single bill; in the House, a limit of 25 representatives may cosponsor a bill. Many bills are actually committee bills and therefore are introduced under the name of the (sub)committee’s chairperson as a formality”. – GPO site

Reported in House:  “This phrase accompanies a committee’s report of its findings and recommendations to the parent house after it has examined a bill. The version of the bill as reported includes changes, if any, that have been recommended by the committee.” GPO site

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Canadian Parliamentary Information and Research Service

Ever wondered how MPs and Senators research issues?  Did you know that the Library of Parliament has a research service for parliamentarians – the Parliamentary Information & Research Service (PIRS)?  Or that  PIRS provides free public access to its publications?  Click here to view the list of available research publications.

“PIRS (responds) to questions that require research and analysis on legal, economic, scientific, or social science matters. Researchers obtain and analyze material, and write letters, short notes and longer research papers at the request of Senators and Members of the House of Commons.”

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Pricing water for efficiency and responsibility: OECD Reports

The OECD announced today that three separate studies support that conclusion that “putting the right price on water will encourage people to waste less, pollute less, and invest more in water infrastructure.”  In the view of the OECD, the “right price” is one that reflects the true cost of the water they consume  – both drinking water, water for agricultural uses,  and any other water uses that ultimately require treatment and/or disposal.

You can find the free OECD summary of its studies here:  http://www.oecd.org/document/47/0,3343,en_2649_37465_36146415_1_1_1_1,00.html

The studies themselves are “for fee” publications to the general public.  These are, however, freely  available to current UBC students, faculty and staff members and patrons working at UBC Library workstations via the subscription database SourceOECD.  You will find our link to SourceOECD here. Note, the OECD does provide free access to a wide range of its smaller reports, including water pricing details “for Australia, the European Union, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Turkey and the United States.”

The studies are:

1) Pricing Water Resources and Water and Sanitation Services

2) Sustainable Management of Water Resources in Agriculture

3) Innovative Financing Mechanisms for the Water Sector

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News Website

HotDocs DocLibrary – Dept of Canadian Heritage

“This site is supported by the Department of Canadian Heritage. It provides free access to a large growing collection of documentary films from Canadian film makers. These include materials from National Film Board. Materials can be searched or browsed by topic. There are also playlists for films by young film makers and a section designed for school and college use. A wide range of topics relating to social, political, economic and world events are covered. They include an emphasis on the history, culture and society of Canada, the anthropology of Canadian ethnic groups and Canadian perspectives on world events.  Information on copyright and technical requirements is given on the website.” – Intute

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OECD: Going for Growth 2010

The OECD released one of its flagship economic policy publications today: Going for Growth 2010

“First published in 2005, this annual report provides an overview of structural policy developments in OECD countries from a comparative perspective.”

Not surprisingly, given the title, this year’s report focuses on the “modest, uneasy, yet much-welcome recovery” that most OECD member countries are projected to enjoy in the upcoming year.   Chapters that are freely available for downloading cover 1) “ Responding to the Crisis while Protecting Long-term Growth“; 2) Responding to the Going for Growth Policy Priorities: an Overview of Progress since 2005; 3) Country Notes ; 4) Structural Policy Indicators; 5) A Family Affair: Intergenerational Social Mobility across OECD Countries.

Note, two chapters are not freely available from the OECD website:  6) Getting it Right: Prudential Regulation & Competition in Banking; 7) Going for Growth in Brazil, China, India, Indonesia & South Africa.  ***UBC students, faculty & staff, and patrons using UBC Library workstations do have access to the complete publication, including chapters 6 & 7 through the subscription database SourceOECD.*** 

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Update: Google Public Data Explorer

We noted Google’s public data search feature in a November 2009 post and today we have an update for you.  Google Labs has just launched “an experimental visualization tool” called Google Public Data Explorer – designed to “help people comprehend data and statistics through rich visualizations.  With the Data Explorer, you can mash up data using line graphs, bar graphs, maps and bubble charts.”

Google data providers are the World Bank, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the US Census Bureau, the OECD, the California Dept of Education, Eurostat, the US Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, so the Explorer has the potential to deliver high quality statistics on a vast array of socio-economic topics and for most geographic regions of the world.  Click here for more information about this resource from the Google Labs blog.

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Online Resource (Free)

Don’t forget IGOs when looking for sources

Intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) conduct surveys; publish  research findings; collect and disseminate high quality statistics;  produce reports, articles, newsletters, and much more.   In short,  IGOs can be a terrific resource for you when conducting your own research.  Examples:

Imagine you are looking for articles and data related to education and gender inequality.

  • You wouldn’t want to miss the World Bank’s “Key Issues” page on Girl’s Education.   This part of the Bank’s site offers links to its (freely downloadable) publications and statistics on the topic.
  • Also: check out UNICEF’s “Basic Education and Gender Equality” section.   Provides press releases, publications,  and podcasts.
  • The United Nations has established a special initiative to tackle girls education in particular – the  “Girls Education Initiative.”  Provides press releases, publications, video & audio programs, and links to findings from the GAP Report (Gender Achievements & Prospects in Education).
  • While these groups don’t have subject pages for this topic, they are all working on related projects, conducting research and publishing materials on gender and access to education: the International Labour Organization (ILO); UNESCO; and the Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Another Example:  Imagine you are looking for facts & figures related to telecommunications/broadband access and usage around the world.

  • The OECD has a “Broadband Portal” that brings together all the organization’s statistics related to broadband – including number of subscribers per 100 inhabitants, penetration rates, cable modem coverage, DSL coverage, broadband pricing, speeds and more.   Also links to OECD telecommunication indicators and telecom reports.
  • The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has a wide array of free telecommunication  statistics
  • UNESCO maintains a portal for websites that provide statistics related to our “information society.”  Includes links to the OECD and ITU as noted above, and other useful sites such as country statistical agencies; related EU/Europa sites and sites from scholarly societies/institutes

For further information on IGOs and what they can add to your research efforts check out our guide to Intergovernmental Organizations. Features a Google Custom Search Engine that will allow you to search the sites for more than 30 high quality/reputable  IGOs from a single search box.

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News Website

Count down to the 2010 US Census

An interesting article from the NY Times documents the difficulties in tracking people in large metropolitan cities  such as New York.

Also the 2010 Census website has detailed information about the upcoming US census.

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Data Links

Data.gov. uk – “Launched in 2010 this official UK government site seeks to increase greater transparency and accountability by providing free open access to many government datasets and official statistics. These cover all areas of government policy ranging from health, to the economy, crime rates and education. Users can search by theme or keyword or browse the latest additions. There is also a section with new apps and widgets. The site also includes a blog, twitter feed and forum where users can share ideas on new applications, mash ups and uses of government data. Copyright and technical information is on the website.”-Intute

http://data.gov.uk/

Guardian’s DataBlog

“The Guardian’s DataBlog contains links to a range of data via their datastore ( a directory of all the statistics that they post and publish pertaining to current affairs) which can be downloaded in various formats incl. MS Excel. This site (which compliments the Guardina’s ‘free-our-data’ campaign) has links to Environmental data, US data, in addition to a range of -easy-to-use visualisation and sharing Web 2.0 tools and APIs. The Blog also acts as a discussion forum for data in the public domain.” – Intute

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog

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New databases from UN system organizations

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU)  is “the oldest international organization in the UN family….(providing leadership) for information and communication technology issues.”  The ITU has just launched its “History of ITU Portal” which contains ITU historical documents from radio, telegraph and telephone conferences.  Note, the process of digitization is currently underway and as of this date much of the proposed content has yet to be launched online.  Still, it’s worth noting for now and will be a terrific resource once the project is complete.   The site also provides a link to ITU statistics, which are freely available.

The FAO (Food & Agriculture Organization) has just launched a Gender and Land Rights Database which “puts the spotlight on one of the major stumbling blocks to rural development – widespread inequalities between men and women in their access to land….. (It)  offers up-to-date information on how men and women in 78 countries differ in their legal rights and access to land (and)  provides policymakers and other users with a better picture of the major social, economic, political and cultural factors which affect access to land and enforcement of women’s land rights.”

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