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ESCAP Statistics Division
ESCAP Statistics Division
 
Committee on Statistics, 11th Session | WGSE, 11th session    
Working Group of Statistical Experts, 11th Session
Bangkok, 23-26 November 1999
Recommendations of the ESCAP Working Party on the Application of New Technology to Population Data
Note by the secretariat1/
Contents

ABBREVIATIONS

  1. INTRODUCTION
    1. Institutional framework
    2. Project activities
    3. Action by the Working Group
  • MAJOR SUBSTANTIVE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE WORKING PARTY
    1. Major Recommendations of the First Meeting of the Working Party,held in Bangkok from 24 to 26 September 1997
    2. Major Recommendations of the Second Meeting of the Working Party, held in Singapore from 1 to 3 April 1998
    3. Major Recommendations of the Third Meeting of the Working Party, held in Bali from 7 to 9 January 1999
    4. Major Recommendations of the Fourth Meeting of the Working Party, held in Manila from 7 to 9 July 1999
    5. Recommendations of the Workshop on Application of New Information Technology to Population Data, held in Bangkok from 12 to 20 October 1999
    6. Major Recommendations of the Fifth Meeting of the Working Party, held in Bangkok on 21 October 1999
    		•
    1/ This document has been issued without formal editing.
    ABBREVIATIONS
    CAPI Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing
    CARS Classifications and Related Systems.
    CATI Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing
    EA Enumeration Area
    FASTAB Flexible and Swift Tabulation
    GIS Geographic Information System
    GPS Global Positioning System
    HTML HyperText Markup Language
    ICR Intelligent Character Recognition
    IT Information technology
    LAN Local Area Network
    NSO National Statistical Office
    OCR Optical Character Recognition
    OMR Optical Mark Recognition/Reader
    PC Personal Computer
    PDF Portable Document Format
    SIAP Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific
    TCDC Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries
    UNSD United Nations Statistics Division
    I. INTRODUCTION
    1. The project on Application of New Technology in Population Data Collection, Processing, Dissemination and Presentation (RAS/96/P12) is being implemented by the secretariat of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) with financial support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Its implementation was initiated in 1997 with the establishment of a Working Party on Application of New Technology to Population Data.
    2. The project aims at improving the capabilities of member and associate member countries of ESCAP in the application of modern information technology (IT) in population statistics production and dissemination.
    A.  Institutional framework
    3. The Statistics Division of ESCAP, as the executing agency, in April 1997 established a Working Party on the application of new technology in population data to guide and steer the activities undertaken by the project. The Working Party consists of experts from nine countries/areas: Australia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Japan, Macau, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The tenure of the Working Party was fixed as 1997-1999, during which period it was expected to meet frequently and report to the ESCAP Committee on Statistics.
    B.  Project activities
    Working Party Meetings
    4. During 1997-1999 the Working Party held five meetings in which it identified priorities for the project activities and provided guidance on their implementation. Each of the first four meetings also focused on a particular technology area for which the members contributed technical papers, while the fifth meeting reviewed experience with the workshop which preceded it. Table 1 lists the Working Party meetings.
    Table 1: Working Party Meetings and their focus
    Meeting and Venue Dates Focus Host Chairperson
    First 
    (Bangkok)    		 24-26 September 1997 Recent developments in the application of IT to population data  ESCAP Mr Tomas Africa
    Second 
    (Singapore)    		 1-3 April 1998 Internet applications at various stages of population data collection and dissemination Department of Statistics, Singapore Mr Paul Cheung
    Third 
    (Bali)    		 7-9 Jan. 1999 Population data capture, coding, verification and workflow Statistics Indonesia Mr Sihar Lumbantobing
    Fourth 
    (Manila)    		 6-9 July 1999 Mapping and related technologies National Statistics Office, Philippines Mr Tomas Africa
    Fifth
    (Bangkok)    		 21 October 1999 Project activities and review of the Workshop held during 12-20 October 1999 ESCAP Mr David Archer
    Guidelines
    5.

    The Working Party recommended that three self-contained guidelines be produced with a view to benefiting developing countries. The three guidelines to be produced are:

    1. Guidelines on the application of new technology to population data collection and capture (Coordinator: Indonesia)
    2. Guidelines on the application of modern mapping and GIS technologies in census operations (Coordinator: Bangladesh)
    3. Guidelines on the application of new information technology to population data dissemination (Coordinator: New Zealand).  

    The revised manuscripts of the above guidelines are expected to be available in December 1999

    Pilot applications
    6.

    The Working Party selected three pilot applications to be undertaken by three NSOs. The results and experiences of those applications will be shared with other countries in the region. These are:

    1. Uses of Global Positioning System (GPS) for preparation of census enumeration area maps - Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics
    2. Imaging technology - Statistics Indonesia
    3. Uses of GIS for census operations and dissemination - Philippines National Statistics Office
    7. The revised manuscripts of the reports of the above three pilots are expected to be available in December 1999.
    Newsletters
    8. Country experiences in the effective utilization of information technology in population data are shared through a regional newsletter. Three issues of the newsletter have already been released.
    Website
    9. The project website is as follows: http://www.unescap.org/stat/pop-it/. It contains all documents of the Working Party meetings and other outputs of the project. Its aim is to promote effective utilization of information technology to population data.
    Awareness package on the application of modern technology to population data
    10. A multimedia awareness/training package is also expected to be produced for promoting effective and efficient utilization of IT in population censuses and surveys. The Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP), which is the statistical training arm of ESCAP, is coordinating its production.   The material developed would be based on the outputs of the project, among others, and be used in current and future regional and national training courses.
    ESCAP Survey on Application of Information Technology to Population Data Collection, Processing and Dissemination
    11. Under the guidance of the Working Party, the ESCAP secretariat conducted the survey in 1998. A questionnaire was sent to all 56 national statistical offices in the ESCAP region in April 1998; Last responses had been received by November 1998, when the results of the survey were presented to the eleventh session of the Committee on Statistics. The results were subsequently published in the project newsletter.
    Workshop on the Application of IT to Population Data
    12. The Working Party decided that the Workshop should be held in October 1999. It also determined the strategy, organizational arrangements and technology focus for the Workshop, its broad objectives and the material to be used, its duration, and the nature of participation. The Workshop was held during 12-20 October 1999 and was attended by 32 participants and 9 members of the Working Party from 24 countries/areas2/. The Workshop greatly benefited from the presentations and demonstrations made not only by the members of the Working Party but also by representatives from 10 private sector organizations. There was a unanimous agreement among all participants that the workshop was highly beneficial and that its objectives were fully realized. All participants stated that the exposure to the possibilities in the use of new information technology was the primary benefit; even countries which did not currently have very advanced use of IT capabilities learned a great deal and looked forward to future possible uses. The experience of some of the countries in the use of various technologies that was shared in the workshop was also cited as being beneficial. These provided real life examples of benefits gained, problems faced and limitations as to the application of some of the software, in NSOs that were still lacking in technology. Common concerns such as budgetary limitations faced by many NSOs made these presentations relevant.
    2/ Australia, Bangladesh, Fiji, Hong Kong, China, India, Indonesia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Samoa, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Viet Nam.
    CD-ROM
    13. The first edition of a CD-ROM containing material available from the project, including papers submitted to the meetings of the Working Party, available manuscripts of the guidelines and reports of the pilot applications, will be published in December 1999. The final edition, to be released in the year 2000, will contain these documents, revised as necessary, as well as the awareness package.
    C.  Action by the Working Group
    14. The Committee on Statistics, at its eleventh session in November 1998, asked the Working Group of Statistical Experts to review the outcome and recommendations of the Working Party. In doing so, the Working Group may wish to pay particular attention to the Working Party's recommendation that it hold a final (sixth) meeting towards the end of the year 2000, and to its deliberations on continuing the modality of technical cooperation established by the project.
    II.  MAJOR SUBSTANTIVE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE WORKING PARTY
    15. The remainder of this document highlights the substantive recommendations that emerged from the meetings of the Working Party and the Workshop held in October 1999.
    A. Major Recommendations of the First Meeting of the Working Party, held in Bangkok from 24 to 26 September 1997
    A.1. Noting that the external financial assistance for developing countries for the 2000 round of population censuses was likely to be at a reduced level compared to the past, the Working Party recommended that cooperation between countries in planning and conducting census and related activities should be enhanced.
    A.2. Recognizing that the parent organizations of some of its members were engaged in a wide range of evaluations of technology options for various aspects of population data processing, the Working Party recommended that the results of such evaluations should be shared.
    A.3. The Working Party recommended that a careful assessment should be made of all available options in meeting equipment requirements for census operations, including rental of equipment and outsourcing of some of the tasks.
    A.4.

    The Working Party identified three core areas as the major focus of the project, as follows:

    1. GIS in census and survey applications
    2. Imaging and data capture technology
    3. Application of Internet based technology
    A.5. As the Internet could be used at various stages of population data collection and dissemination, the Working Party decided to focus its second session on the topic and related issues.
    A.6.

    In light of its major focus the Working Party decided that the topics and the sites of the three pilot applications to be undertaken should be as follows:

    1. Imaging technology - Indonesia
    2. Use of GIS for census operations and dissemination - Philippines
    3. Use of GPS for preparation of census enumeration area maps - Bangladesh
    A.7. In view of New Zealand's expertise in several relevant technological areas, the Working Party recommended that it should be invited to nominate an expert to serve as a member of the Working Party.
    A.8. The Working Party recommended that a sub-group should be formed to review the imaging technologies and facilitate their selection and deployment. It should include Australia, Japan, New Zealand and Singapore, with Indonesia as its convener. In addition the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) should be invited to participate.
    A.9. The Working Party recommended that the secretariat should conduct a survey to assess the use of information technology in population data collection, processing and dissemination. The results of the survey would be submitted to the ESCAP Committee on Statistics in 1998, after a review by the Working Party.
    A.10.

    The Working Party recommended that five issues of the project Newsletter be produced with the following focus:

    1. Introduction to the project - proceedings of the 1st meeting of the Working Party
    2. Internet
    3. GIS (including GPS and satellite imagery)
    4. Imaging, data capture and hand-held devices
    5. Summary and evaluation of the project
    A.11. The Working Party recommended that the following three sets of guidelines be produced under the project as follows:
     
    Topic Coordinator
    a. Dissemination  Secretariat3/
    b. Mapping Bangladesh/Philippines
    c. Data entry, capture, processing and archiving Indonesia

    3/ Subsequently, New Zealand volunteered and was designated as coordinator for the guidelines on population data dissemination.
    A.12. The Working Party recommended that each set of guidelines should draw from technology practices in the countries and provide options for their implementation.
    A.13.

    The Working Party recommended the following provisional timetable for its future meetings to be held at suitable venues:

    1. second meeting - as early as possible but not later than early April 1998
    2. third meeting - September 1998
    3. fourth meeting - first half of 1999
    A.14. The Working Party noted that further meetings might be possible if savings anticipated in the project materialize.
    B. Major Recommendations of the Second Meeting of the Working Party, held in Singapore from 1 to 3 April 1998
    B.1. Expressing appreciation to New Zealand of its acceptance to become a member of the Working Party, the Working Party amended its "Mode of Functioning" to reflect the enlargement of its membership.
    B.2. The Working Party requested the secretariat to dedicate a section to the Working Party at the Statistics Division's website, featuring the newsletter, meeting documents, recommendations, guidelines and other work done in the project.
    B.3. Welcoming the recruitment of a programme assistant for the project, the Working Party requested the secretariat to start collecting links to sites and documents concerning IT applications to population data.
    B.4. It also asked the secretariat to investigate the possibility of establishing at its website a repository of documents on population data technologies.
    Recommendations on the use of Internet
    B.5. Noting the positive experiences of Singapore and other countries in using the Internet in data dissemination, the Working Party encouraged in general all statistical offices to establish an effective Internet presence, and use it innovatively in census and survey operations.
    B.6. The Working Party noted the innovative efforts of some countries in using the Internet for data collection and encouraged them to share their experiences with other countries.
    B.7. The Working Party recommended the NSOs to adopt an incremental and modular approach for developing a website, especially when resources were limited.
    B.8. Noting that several advanced NSOs were depending on e-mail for their daily communications which had significantly increased their productivity, the Working Party recommended an extensive use of e-mail and other Internet applications by all NSOs in census planning, document sharing, data transfer and other related functions.
    B.9. The Working Party noted that to achieve maximum benefits from the new technologies, changes might be necessary, among other things, in organizational structures, coordination arrangements and individual responsibilities. It recommended that NSOs should take a critical look at the population data operations as a whole with a view to reengineering them to meet the requirements and opportunities of Internet technologies. It stressed that systematic training of staff was essential to instill a holistic approach that took the technology into account from the beginning.
    B.10. The Working Party recommended that metadata be included as an essential component at census websites as they added considerably to the value of population data. The metadata could include such information as the general organization of the census, coverage, census forms, instructions to field workers, methods followed in derivation of numeric results, accuracy, sampling methodology, and references to published reports.
    B.11. Recognizing that there was a glut of information competing for users' attention, the Working Party felt that it was necessary to promote statistical websites by using all available means, including announcements on national and global search engines.
    B.12. Discussing other ways to increase the visibility of population data, the Working Party recommended equipping websites with a search facility, preferably the types allowing open text searches; it further recommended systematic use of HTML metakeys and descriptive titles that were automatically picked up by referencing engines and crawlers.
    B.13. Mindful that a large number of Internet users in developing countries were behind a narrow bandwidth connection, the Working Party cautioned authors not to include large graphics components on pages that made download times prohibitive. The Working Party emphasized that it was important for the developers to test web pages with low-end browsers that did not support graphics, and provided a text-only alternative.
    B.14. The Working Party noted that the development of electronic commerce technologies and secure data encryption had opened up new possibilities for commercial statistical products. It urged NSOs to consider that new area as another means of data dissemination.
    B.15. Noting the benefits of the Internet in making statistics available to users faster and in greater depth than previously, the Working Party recommended that statistical offices streamline their release approval/authorization processes to match the significant progress achieved in the technical dissemination process.
    B.16. The Working Party noted that a number of software, applications, and solutions had been developed by NSOs which could be shared among the countries/areas of the region. It recommended that such software and applications which might be available for distribution be listed on the ESCAP homepage. The Working Party expressed its gratitude to the Singapore Department of Statistics for identifying FASTAB as a product which could be shared in the region.
    B.17. Recognizing the importance of the influence of policy and decision makers in prioritization for budget allocations, the Working Party recommended that an awareness package should be prepared and that its content should stress the importance and purpose of census taking including the necessity of making available census data quickly go the users. The content of the package could focus on strategies and application of technology in the various phases of census operations with a focus on speed processing and timely dissemination of census data. The package could be in the form of a short video with supporting documents, which should be made available for the 2000 round of censuses.
    C. Major Recommendations of the Third Meeting of the Working Party,
    held in Bali from 7 to 9 January 1999
    C.1. In view of the recommendation of the mid-term review of the project that a workshop be convened in October 1999, the Working Party stressed the importance of producing outputs well ahead of the workshop.
    C.2. In reviewing and revising the outlines of the three guidelines in the light of its previous discussions on their scope and the pressing time constraint, the Working Party recommended that the titles of the three guidelines be as follows:
    • "Guidelines on the application of new information technology to population data dissemination"
    • "Guidelines on the application of modern mapping and GIS technologies in census operations"
    • "Guidelines on the application of new technology to population data collection and capture"
    C.3.

    The Working Party agreed that technology sections of all three guidelines should deal with the following issues, for which the material presented in the Working Party meetings offered a good starting point:

    1. Explain concepts necessary to understand the technology and the objectives of applying it
    2. Cover requirements for planning and training to put the technology in place and maintain it; cover also issues related to daily operation and management
    3. Contain advice for estimating total costs involved in applying the technology
    4. Contain consolidated good country practices in introducing and applying the technology.
    C.4. In reviewing the results of the survey conducted by the secretariat on application of IT to population data, the Working Party noted that it provided valuable information and an useful analysis of the state of IT application in the region. The secretariat document revealed a wide gap between developed and developing countries in applying information technology, and again confirmed the importance of achieving the project objectives. The Working Party recommended that the three guidelines to be prepared under the project should take into account the survey results and focus on the apparent needs of the developing countries. Nevertheless, the considerable progress made by NSOs in applying IT in their latest censuses and surveys allowed the Working Party to take an optimistic view that developing countries were able to seize many opportunities offered by new IT.
    C.5. The Working Party praised the quality of the contributed papers made available to the meeting and noted that they formed a significant repository of applied technology information that should be made available in formats required by the developing countries.
    C.6. The Working Party recommended that an item be introduced on the agenda of the eleventh session of the Working Group of Statistical Experts to discuss the outcome of the activities of the Working Party.
    C.7. The Working Party welcomed the introduction by the projects's Mid-Term Review of a training workshop, tentatively in October 1999, as a channel to make the project outputs available to a wider audience, and recommended that:
    • The broad objective of the Workshop would be to sensitize participants to the opportunities that modern information technology provided in population data operations and to improve the guidelines produced under the project.
    • It should be targeted at IT and statistical managers who had influence on the selection of technologies for census and survey operations
    • apart from conventional lectures, the participants should be given hands-on opportunities and time to test and study new applications
    • Working Party members should act as resource persons in the workshop and would be responsible for organizing vendor demonstrations in areas they worked on
    • the guidelines and pilot applications be used among the training material for the Workshop
    • the workshop should be held in a venue where participants had new technology readily accessible
    • the secretariat use its own knowledge about the countries and the results of the survey to choose participating countries
    • the resource persons of the workshop should take into account the survey results in preparing their inputs and presentations
    C.8. The Working Party agreed that the participants of the workshop would benefit from product demonstrations by representatives of hardware and software providers, but noted that such opportunities should not be restricted to particular organizations.
    C.9. The Working Party noted the observation that the issue of developing an awareness/training package for promoting effective and efficient utilization of IT in population censuses and surveys needed reconsideration. It proposed that SIAP should reorient the aim of the package for the purposes of training NSOs in new technology applications. The material developed would be based on the outputs of the project, among others, and be used in current and future regional and national training courses.
    C.10. The Working Party recommended that the project outputs should also be made available to a wider audience by disseminating them on CD-ROM, and be used in national as well as SIAP's institutional and outreach training programmes.
    D. Major Recommendations of the Fourth Meeting of the Working Party, held in Manila from 7 to 9 July 1999
    D.1. The Working Party agreed that the statistical offices were not the major mapping agencies in the countries and therefore did not have primary responsibility to produce digital maps. However, the use of maps for statistical purposes made it necessary for the statistical offices to play an active role in coordinating efforts to produce digitized maps where they were not available. The meeting noted that Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, through its project, had in fact been instrumental in bringing together the major agencies of the government to coordinate efforts to produce maps in digital formats and to use the same for GIS applications.
    D.2. The Working Party emphasized the importance of having all guidelines in their final draft formats before the Workshop, which was to be held in October 1999. It noted that the Workshop would be used as a test audience for the guidelines and that they were likely to require some level of editing after the Workshop.
    D.3. The Working Party made specific observations and recommendations on the three guidelines. It agreed that it was not in a position to recommend any of the covered technologies prescriptively or to endorse any particular brand name. It accepted that the guidelines would not be official United Nations publications, and that they would still be subject to the standard United Nations disclaimers.
    D.4. The Working Party confirmed that the content requirements that had been set for the guidelines in the previous meeting were still valid.
    D.5. The Working Party also confirmed that the guidelines needed to contain advice for estimating total costs involved in applying the technology. It acknowledged, however, that it was difficult in some cases to indicate exact monetary costs for applications, especially if they had been developed over a period of time in-house involving an institutional learning process. The Working Party recommended the inclusion in the guidelines, wherever applicable, of alternative ways of acquiring cited technologies, including the use of public domain software, purchase and leasing of equipment and software, in-house development, and partial or full outsourcing of related tasks.
    Recommendations on pilot applications
    D.6. The Working Party expressed its satisfaction with the progress made on the three pilot studies and stressed that their reports should be completed before the end of September 1999. However, to receive comments from the members of the Working Party, the draft manuscript should be circulated via e-mail by 15 September 1999.
    D.7. In discussing the formats of the reports of the pilot projects, the Working Party recommended that each report should include the statement of the problem, situate the problem within the main activity that it was part of, place the problem in the sequence of events, provide details on the approach and methodology adopted, describe the experience, describe measures adopted for solving the problems that were encountered, and report on lessons learned. It was informed that in each pilot project document the deliverable outputs were identified and that the recommended common features of the report format were consistent with them.
    D.8. The Working Party recommended that to the extent possible, the experience of the pilot projects be incorporated into the guidelines to be produced under its guidance.
    D.9. The Working Party decided that the Workshop, scheduled from 12-20 October 1999, should utilize papers produced for the Working Party meetings, experiences collected in the three pilot applications developed, and the three guidelines as core material for the Workshop. To make a distinction that the Workshop had a limited scope as opposed to general IT training, the Working Party decided to name it as "Workshop on application of new information technology to population data". Notwithstanding, the Working Party agreed that it was paramount to include in the Workshop sections that facilitated the understanding of the overall role of new technology in conducting censuses and surveys.
    D.10. The Working Party decided on the outline for the Workshop and appointed organizers and allocated time for each module.
    D.11. The Working Party agreed that some sessions could benefit from relevant product demonstrations and asked members to extend their expertise to assist the organizers and the secretariat in proposing and choosing the candidates for them.
    D.12. The Working Party discussed the development of an awareness package on the application of modern technology to population data. The Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP) had been designated to develop the package in close cooperation with the Statistics Division of ESCAP and the members of the Working Party.
    D.13. The Working Party agreed on the proposed texts concerning the problem definition, the objective and the target group for the package. The suggestion was made to add the point that the decision-makers had to be aware of the fast moving techniques and should take measures to stay up-to-date.
    D.14. The Working Party decided that the awareness package should have the form of a multimedia-presentation which could be disseminated via Internet, video tape, CD-ROM or diskette. The three guidelines might, after their completion, be transferred (in HTML- or PDF-format) to a CD-ROM, with inclusion of navigation functions for better readability.
    D.15. The Working Party recommended that only one CD-ROM presentation be released by the ESCAP secretariat, containing the various outputs of the project, such as guidelines, and the awareness package prepared by SIAP.
    E.  Recommendations of the Workshop on Application of New Information Technology to Population Data, held in Bangkok from 12 to 20 October 1999
    General, IT management
    E.1. The Workshop agreed that the conduct of censuses and surveys was necessarily becoming increasingly technology intensive. It recommended that national statistical offices keep abreast of the latest information technology by continuously monitoring technology evolution and by upgrading production and office systems periodically.
    E.2. Appreciating the excellent cooperation and contribution received during the project, the Workshop recommended that technologically advanced offices continue to share with others their experiences in adopting new information technologies.
    E.3. Noting that modern data capture technologies (OMR, OCR/ICR, CAPI, CATI, Internet data collection) had uses in many sectors, the Workshop recommended that in order to keep IT applications cost-effective, census and survey organizations should collaborate, among themselves and with other agencies, in the procurement and post-census use of the equipment and software.
    E.4. The Workshop noted that for many countries budgetary constraints hampered the effective application of new technology. It requested the bilateral and multilateral donor agencies to increase their assistance to developing countries for IT applications, and recommended that the technical cooperation among developing countries (TCDC) modality be promoted for an enhanced sharing of IT experience and skills through expert visits and study tours.
    E.5. The Workshop recommended that statistical offices upgrade their organizational IT knowledge and create a modern IT culture, and develop prudent procurement methods to match the skilful and articulate marketing techniques of private sector vendors.
    E.6. The Workshop recommended that Governments should take into account in their procurement rules the overall costs and benefits that each technology alternative offered in the long term, and not take decisions solely on the bid price for a particular application.
    E.7. The Workshop emphasized that it was crucial for senior management in the national statistical offices to increase its awareness of trends in information technology and the associated costs and benefits, and to improve related management skills.
    E.8. The Workshop recommended that national statistical offices should ensure that any vendor being considered for the supply of new technology systems was able to substantiate its claims. Statistical offices should have a benchmark drawn up addressing their requirements, before the commencement of the evaluation process. They should also ensure that staff evaluating potential systems and vendors have a good knowledge of the requirements and of the technology being evaluated.
    E.9. The Workshop recommended that NSOs and census organizations make full use of the opportunities that new information technology offered in the conduct of censuses. They should bear in mind that no stage of a census could now be planned and executed without taking technology into account and that new technology had merged certain stages in the census operation. The Workshop recommended that census organizations make corresponding changes in their organizational and management structures, and adjust the resources available for IT procurement, recruitment of skilled staff, and training of existing staff.
    E.10. Given that statistical offices had to take the whole range of census operations into consideration while assessing the implementation of new technology applications, the Workshop recommended the application of quality management strategies as a useful method for control of the whole process. Further, the interoperability of the various components to be chosen required special attention, not only with regard to the operational aspects but also in terms of the integrity of the huge masses of data to be processed.
    E.11. Recognizing that many developing countries were using public domain software packages, the Workshop recommended that ESCAP should promote sharing of experiences on the use of such packages with a view to maximizing the benefits of those applications.
    E.12. The Workshop recommended that statistical offices should avoid procuring hardware and software that did not run under common operating systems, that did not provide integration with other systems, that was not easily extendable, that had no indication of long-term support and that was likely to lead to dependency on one vendor.
    E.13. Noting that electronic format had many advantages over hard copy format, the Workshop recommended that statistical offices should aim at digitizing census and survey information as early as possible. That would involve greater utilization of existing electronic records (administrative records), adoption of computer-aided interview technologies, and scanning of census forms immediately after enumeration. Electronic format minimized manual handling of forms and allow maximum flexibility in data verification and editing.
    E.14. The Workshop noted that it was essential for statistical offices to ensure, as part of the evaluation process, that selected vendors have the commitment and capacity to train the statistical office staff in the hardware or software, and to provide continuing service and support.
    E.15. Considering scarce resources, especially in the small developing countries and areas, the Workshop recommended that on a subregional level governments should find ways to cooperate in the purchase and utilization of expensive current technology, e.g., by sharing the cost of acquisition and responsibility for operation and maintenance of such equipment. Further, the Workshop recommended that governments of developed countries and areas, which operate such advanced-technology systems, should make their use available to developing countries in the region, preferably at nominal or no cost.
    E.16. The Workshop noted that language capabilities of data capture and dissemination software were important in many countries. In the area of data capture, the OCR/ICR engines achieved very high recognition rates for hand-written characters in a limited number of languages; that efficiency was not matched for numerous other languages in Asia. Similarly, many NSOs required bi- or multilingual capabilities for data tabulation and dissemination software. The Workshop recommended that the NSOs express language capability as one of the prerequisites for software acquisition, and recommended that the software developers expend efforts in incorporating local language and multilingual capabilities in their products. In that regard, it was noted that the Workshop had provided an excellent opportunity for the vendors to better understand the needs of the NSOs and also explain some of the features of their products which were of interest to the NSOs.
    E.17. The Workshop recommended that further technical meetings be held after the 2000 and 2001 censuses to share information on technology lessons learned, and to promote effective data utilization and dissemination.
    E.18. To facilitate exchange of experiences, ideas and information on resourcing and other topics, it was recommended that an e-mail based discussion group be established.
    Data collection and capture
    E.19. As the current data capture technology provided increasingly powerful means of handling data on numerous topics for large collections, the pressure for expanding the scope of the census was mounting. The Workshop cautioned that in considering those demands, census statisticians must not ignore the operational aspects of actual data collection in the field, the skill levels required for data collection and handling, and the technical requirements.
    E.20. The application of IT would also assist countries in improving the management of errors and coding of captured information from censuses and surveys. The Workshop recommended that greater sharing of information should be promoted in those areas, including computer-assisted coding.
    E.21. The Workshop recognized that selection of data capture technology was a crucial success factor in census taking. It advised census organizations to assess carefully all costs, including the implications for various census operations, involved in the selection, procurement, operation, maintenance and management of capture technology.
    E.22. The Workshop recommended the conduct of at least one and preferably two major tests using real forms, real enumerators and real respondents to test systems. Testing was needed for:
    • the selection of the preferred technology
    • refinement and improvements in the technology
    • development of procedures and arrangements related to the implementation of the technology
    • the building of awareness within management about how the new technology should be handled
    • calculation of the resources needed for the main event
    • preparation of the content, schedule, and methodology of training to be carried out.
    E.23. The Workshop recommended that census organizations make full use of the flexibility that was offered by new imaging and recognition technologies, for instance by planning for an early release of results for the most important topics.
    E.24. The Workshop recommended that census organizations evaluate data capture solutions carefully taking into account country circumstances. Evaluation results obtained elsewhere were not necessarily directly applicable, due to differences in handwriting patterns, questionnaire design, and availability of quality paper, ink and printing facilities. It noted that competitive benchmark testing had become a standard evaluation method in large census organizations all over the world.
    E.25. Noting that the available character recognition software was developed for universal use and that the turn-key OCR/ICR solutions were restricted to data capture (and did not cover the whole census operation), the Workshop recommended that software developers incorporate in character recognition applications statistical features, such as classifications that assisted in data coding.
    E.26. The Workshop recommended that statistical organizations planning to use OCR/ICR should develop procedures to control the quality of recognition. It was particularly important to search and check for non-random bias caused by systematic recognition errors.
    E.27. The Workshop agreed that imaging should not be used simply as a data capture replacement technology, and recommended that statistical organizations identify which other census processes were affected and determine how they could be made more efficient and cost-effective.
    E.28. The Workshop recommended that census and survey offices should consider outsourcing as an option for implementing elements of censuses and surveys. It noted that the feasibility of outsourcing depended on national circumstances, the organization's own resources and skills, and the availability of external partners. It heard of the experiences of the Singapore Department of Statistics in developing an innovative multi-mode data capture system for the year 2000 census by using several external developers. The Workshop noted that the multi-vendor approach required clear delineation of responsibilities for system development and support, which could be conveniently achieved by using a prime contractor approach.
    Guidelines
    E.29. The Workshop identified several areas where the guidelines on data collection and capture could be improved and requested the Working Party to implement the changes where possible.
    Data warehousing, databases, data archiving
    E.30. The Workshop noted that data warehousing was a new technology with high potential for increasing the value of census and survey data by linking them to other data holdings. Data warehouses provided access to a variety of different databases and created the possibility of combining statistical data from various statistical surveys. The Workshop, however, recommended that NSOs develop these data warehouses in a modular fashion and to keep long term needs prominently in mind: "Start small, but think big".
    E.31. Noting that getting the data models correct was probably the most important success factor in the implementation of a data warehouse, the Workshop strongly recommended the sharing of data models amongst the statistical offices.
    Data Dissemination
    E.32. The Workshop recognized that the evolution of information technology was not only continuously offering opportunities for increasing operational efficiency, but was also affecting the requirements of data users. The Workshop recommended that statistical offices should periodically assess the needs and perceptions of the users in order to be able to deliver census and survey results through channels and formats that customers expected.
    E.33. Noting that the Internet was a cost-effective dissemination mode both for data providers and users, the Workshop recommended that NSOs should establish and develop web sites as a major data and information dissemination channel.
    E.34. The Workshop noted the variety of web sites available from statistical organizations and recommended that organizations investigating the option of setting up a site of their own should evaluate the features of other sites.
    E.35. The Workshop recommended that NSOs start the development of web sites from simple structures and designs that allowed expansion of the site in a modular fashion, and provided accessibility to users with narrow bandwidth.
    E.36. The Workshop noted that small island countries did not have the skills as yet to develop their own web sites; the cost was also a major factor. The Workshop recommended that countries which did not yet have their own web site should look at the feasibility of acquiring space on another organization's server, or on a server in another country. The Workshop recommended that this information be included in the draft Guidelines.
    Mapping and GIS
    E.37. Noting that maps were the best way to illustrate spatial features of population, the Workshop recommended that statistical offices create new products that utilize digitized maps. It also noted that maps were essential in census planning, field work and operations monitoring, and that in the long run, geographic information systems were a feasible option for creating accurate multi-purpose maps.
    E.38. Noting that GPS (Global Positioning System) offered a cost-effective option for determining spatial coordinates, the Workshop recommended that NSOs should consider this technology option for improving the accuracy of area maps required in census and survey field work.
    E.39. The Workshop emphasized the need for promoting training on special topics related to the application of IT to census and survey operations.
    F. Major Recommendations of the Fifth Meeting of the Working Party, held in Bangkok on 21 October 1999
    F.1. The Working Party expressed satisfaction that by all accounts the Workshop had been highly successful and that its impact was quite visible in the intervention and the comments made by the participants.
    F.2. The Working Party noted that the project RAS/96/P12 had very effectively contributed to the sharing of information and interaction on the application of new technology to population data. It recommended that arrangements for such interaction should continue and that the Working Party should hold its final meeting toward the end of the year 2000, possibly in October. Since project funds would be available in the year 2000, the Working Party agreed to continue functioning until its final meeting.
    F.3. The Working Party recommended that the report to the Working Group of Statistical Experts should include the recommendations of the Workshop, as well as those arising from the five meetings of the Working Party.
    F.4. The Working Party extensively deliberated on its own future. It was felt that the regional cooperation in promoting effective application of new technology to population data should be continued. It felt that the Working Party had very successfully discharged its terms of reference and indeed had gone beyond them in terms of achievements. It recommended that the final meeting of the Working Party should focus on analysis, dissemination, and storage of population data.
    F.5. The Working Party also deliberated on ways of continuing the modality of technical cooperation already established by the project, by such means as forming a working group of experts on the application of new technology to population data open to all members and associate members of ESCAP. It suggested that at the sixth meeting other countries should be invited as observers. It recommended that these ideas be considered at the eleventh session of the Working Group of Statistical Experts for comments and endorsement.
    		 
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