Tag: statistics

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New apps for US Government data

Sunlight Labs – “a non-profit, non partisan Washington, DC based organization focused on digitization of government data” has been running a contest to identify the top three websites offering applications that provide “easy access and understanding for the public” to US government data/information.  They all make it just a bit easier to access high quality data online.

The winners are:

First Prize: DataMasher.  This website allows you to select from a wide variety of data sets (mostly from Data.gov) and to then combine them into a personalized “mashup.”  Mashups take the form of tables and maps.   Examples of recent mashups are Health Care Coverage + Premiums; Unemployment + State Land Area; and Median Household Income + Median Monthly Mortgage Costs.

Second Prize:  GovPulse.  As mentioned in another blog entry below…this site provides a single search interface for all issues of the US Federal Register, from 1994 to present.

Third Prize: ThisWeKnow: This site provides access to “nationwide data sets from six different agencies in the data.gov catalog.”  In practice, users browse or search for specific American communities and then view a list of fast facts about those communities.  ThisWeKnow then provides links to the underlying data for each fast fact.

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Online Resource (Free)

Data.gov

Here’s another one-stop statistics search tool – this time from the Executive Branch of the US Federal Government.  “…Data.gov increases the ability of the public to easily find, download, and use datasets that are generated and held by the Federal Government. Data.gov provides descriptions of the Federal datasets (metadata), information about how to access the datasets, and tools that leverage government datasets. The data catalogs will continue to grow as datasets are added…”  Visitors to the site are encouraged to forward suggestions for future content.

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Online Resource (Free)

Social Science Data Search at Berkeley

The Doe & Moffitt Libraries at the University of California, Berkeley have recently launched a Google Custom Search engine on site that “targets 800+ academic, government agency, non-profit, and other web sites that provide high quality, downloadable statistical information and data sets. Emphasis is on data pertaining to the social sciences, health, developing countries, energy, natural resources, and the environment.”

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Online Resource (Free)

New look for U Michigan’s Document Center

The venerable University of Michigan Document Center website has just been relaunched with  an attractive redesign.   You can now search as well as browse topics and results lists feature a very helpful “filter by subtopic” feature.   All urls and rss feed addresses have been changed so you’ll want to update those if you link to/rely on them.

Speaking of the rss feed: a recent post features the excellent website maintained by FRASER – the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

  • “Provides monetary and banking statistics, 1896-1970, and can be used in conjunction with FRED to provide economic time series for the 20th Century
  • Web site also provides digitized version of early 20th Century Commerce Department documents, including Business Statistics, Survey of Current Business, Economic Indicators, and Economic Reports of the President.”
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Online Resource (Free)

OECD Statistical Narratives

The OECD has just launched a new page that it is calling “Statistical Narratives.” The aim of this page is to feature select statistical tables – usually from a topical subject – and present them with a brief explanatory article.  The result?  A sort of news feature mashed up with supporting data.  The articles are readable and go a long way to providing context for the statistics.  OECD hopes that the page will “build knowledge from statistics, as well as give users a sense of what statistics are available from the OECD.”

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Print Resource Subscription Database

New Database Trial

We’ve been lucky enough to get a 30 day trial to the IMF e-library which “contains publications from recent years as well as statistical resources: Balance of Payments, Direction of Trade, Government Finance Statistics, and International Financial Statistics.”  The trial expires July 22nd.  Please check it out and fill out the feedback form to let us know what you think.

Meanwhile, the IMF’s International Statistics are available via cd-rom at call no.: HG1 .I55 CD-ROM.  Note, this cd is mounted on the Data Services website and is limited to current UBC students, faculty & staff members.

You can also check out the print copies of the International Financial Statistics Yearbook at call no.: HG1 .I552

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Online Resource (Free)

International Demography stats from US Census Bureau

It’s always exciting to discover a reliable source of international statistics!  The US Census bureau has a great database of demographic indicators for “countries and areas of the world with a population of 5,000 or more.”  Indicators are:

  • Birth, death, and growth rates, migration rates, infant mortality, and life expectancy
  • Fertility rates
  • Total population and population by age and sex

And, always vital when dealing with sources of international statistics – the Census Bureau evaluate national census/survey results and accurately date them to ensure consistent  data across countries.   Data is currently available in table format; after July 1, 2009 you can also generate “population pyramids!”

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Crushing Statistics – StatsCan

Hmmm… let’s file this under “learn something new.” I must admit when I read this headline in StatsCan’s  The Daily, I was expecting to read an abstract about workplace safety or to find some sort of accident statistics table at the very least.  Not so.  Crushing in this circumstance refers to the amount of oilseeds crushed by canola producers in Canada – 320,201 metric tonnes in May 2009.

This oilseed data appears in the free monthly publication, Cereals and Oilseeds Review (22-007-X) along with “grain marketing data and commentary on the major Canadian grains and their products, exports and imports, cash and futures prices and domestic use data.  A monthly situation report provides industry highlights. Each issue is an up-to-date source of information for grain analysts, traders, agri-business and the farm community”   Note, the Review is usually available 2 months after its issue date. 

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