The first meeting of the Working
Party on the Application of New Technology to
Population Data was organized by the Statistics
Division of ESCAP at Bangkok from 24 to 26 September
1997.
A.
Attendance
2.
The meeting was attended by
member experts from the following eight countries/areas:
Australia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Japan, Macau,
Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. An expert
from the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD),
Director of SIAP, and the ESCAP Adviser on Population
Data Processing and Database management assigned
to UNFPA/CST (Bangkok) also participated.
B.
Opening of the meeting
3.
The meeting was opened by Mr
Andrew J. Flatt, Director, Statistics Division,
ESCAP. In welcoming the meeting participants,
Mr Flatt invited the Working Party to review its
own terms of reference and outline a work plan
for the next two years. He thanked the donor,
UNFPA, for their generous funding to the project
under which the Working Party was established
for promoting effective utilization of modern
technology (IT) in population data collection,
processing, dissemination and presentation. The
meeting was a step towards initiating project
operations by identifying information technology
applications that could be implemented in selected
pilot countries. Basically some suitable applications
would be developed in the pilot countries based
primarily on existing commercial and public domain
software. Another task of the Working Party was
to discuss approaches to developing guidelines
that could be useful in increasing the effectiveness
of the use of information technology in population
statistics. In general, the Working Party would
be expected to technically guide the ESCAP secretariat
in the implementation of activities designed to
accomplish the objectives of the project. The
project activities were also expected to be strengthened
through contributions from the organizations represented
in the Working Party.
C.
Election of officers
4.
The Working Party elected Mr
Tomas Africa (Philippines) as Chairperson and
Mr Paul Cheung (Singapore) as Vice-Chairperson.
D.
Adoption of the agenda
5.
The Working Party adopted the following agenda:
Opening of the meeting.
Election of officers.
Adoption of the agenda.
Introduction to the
project.
Terms of reference of
the Working Party.
Recent developments
in the application of information technology
(IT) to population data collection, processing
and dissemination.
Development and
implementation of applications for population
data:
Selection of three
countries to develop and implement three
separate fields of IT applications.
Criteria for selecting
consultants for each field of IT application.
Work plan of the
Working Party on:
Guidelines, training
packages, newsletter and reports on each
application.
Meetings of the
Working Party.
Discussion of recommendations
for the secretariat and member countries.
Other matters.
Adoption of major recommendations.
6.
The list of documents available
to the Working Party is given in Annex 1.
II.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE MEETING
A.
Introduction to the Project
7.
Based on document STAT/WPA/1,
the secretariat provided a broad overview of the
project on application of new technology to population
data collection, processing, dissemination and
presentation. The Working Party noted that the
immediate objectives of the project included formulation
and dissemination of guidelines and recommendations,
development of applications utilizing modern technology
in three pilot countries, raising the awareness
of the role of computerization, and sharing of
information and experience among the countries
of the region. Population data would be the focus
of attention throughout the activities of the
project, being funded by the United Nations Population
Fund (UNFPA). The Working Party noted that the
project would offer excellent opportunities for
compiling best practices and for highlighting
various technology options that countries could
apply in the field of population statistics. The
outputs of the project would also play an important
role in assisting countries which face resource
constraints to assess various data processing
options for their future censuses and surveys.
8.
The Working Party on the Application
of New Technology was established in April 1997,
consisting of eight experts from selected countries/areas
as follows: Australia, Bangladesh, Indonesia,
Japan, Macau, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
The list of experts is given in Annex 2 of this
report. The Working Party recommended that during
its tenure (1997-1999) the Working Party should
meet frequently, in Bangkok or outside Thailand,
as appropriate, and report to the ESCAP Committee
on Statistics. The ESCAP secretariat, as the executing
agency, would service the meetings of the Working
Party.
B.
Terms of Reference of the Working Party
9.
Based on a secretariat note
STAT/WPA/2, the Working Party discussed its terms
of reference and mode of functioning. It adopted
the set of terms of reference as cited in section
F of this report. It also agreed with its mode
of functioning as suggested in document STAT/WPA/2
and appearing in Annex 3 to this report.
C.
Recent Developments in the Application of Information
Technology (IT) to Population Data Collection,
Processing and Dissemination
10.
The Working Party considered
papers contributed by experts from Australia (STAT/WPA/3.1),
Bangladesh (STAT/WPA/3.2), Indonesia (STAT/WPA/3.3),
Japan (STAT/WPA/3.4), Macau (STAT/WPA/3.5), Philippines
(STAT/WPA/3.6), Singapore (STAT/WPA/3.7), and
Thailand (STAT/WPA/3.8). It noted that population
data collected through censuses and surveys were
often underutilized as compared to their information
value, and was confident that the application
of appropriate IT was one way to attract new users.
The adoption of IT was equally crucial for the
National Statistical Offices (NSOs) in their efforts
to shorten the lag that commonly occurred between
the census taking and the release of census statistics.
In this context, one NSO attributed its earlier
than scheduled release of census statistics largely
to the successful adoption of modern information
technology. The adoption of on-line and off-line
communication technologies had made the physical
distance between the central and district offices
meaningless in many daily operations. On the other
hand, new data gathering techniques that combined
new technologies and electronic pooling of official
records made it possible to collect much of the
census information electronically; they had even
allowed the scrapping of some long-running surveys
completely.
11.
Information technology had changed
data dissemination remarkably during the past
decade. Data were still commonly disseminated
on diskettes, but during the past few years CD-ROMs
had become increasingly popular, helping the NSOs
to bring out large volumes of data to users sooner
and at a lower cost. The Working Party noted,
however, that a major hurdle in a wider adoption
of CD-ROM dissemination had been the difficulty
of organizing data and metadata in a structured
way; another obstacle was the development of a
retrieval interface. It also noted two simple
uses of CD-ROMs: they could be used for archiving
purposes and for publishing of scanned images
of publications, which did not require much structuring
of data or elaborate retrieval interfaces.
12.
The Working Party reviewed the
chain of population data operations from data
collection to data dissemination and decided to
focus on few areas where it saw emerging technologies
would make greater contributions, namely image
capturing, geographic information systems, including
the use of global positioning system for mapping
of enumeration areas, and the Internet. In spite
of the identified emerging technologies, the Working
Party recognized that database development remained
a core area where the statistical offices should
continue to invest. Well-structured databases
were essential for all downstream operations:
they facilitated tabulation of results, the development
of on-line and off-line dissemination tools and
packages, and provided solid starting points for
data analysis and sampling.
13.
Geographical information systems
(GIS) were a particularly useful technology in
population data operations. Maps and GIS had been
used in several countries to enhance the presentation
of the results from the previous census. Recognizing
the United Nations recommendation that the digitization
of maps for census purposes was best left to be
done outside the NSOs , the Working Party, however,
noted that some NSOs had to assume that responsibility
in the absence of appropriate government agencies
that could supply the digitized maps.
14.
The Working Party noted that
tremendous progress had been made in automatic
data editing; it however found no particular emerging
technologies in that area to experiment with.
15.
The Working Party noted that
the rapid evolution of individual components and
peripherals was likely to continue in the future,
delivering, among other improvements, faster processors,
larger and faster memory and storage devices,
new optical media, higher resolution monitors
and printers. In the next few years, the Working
Party anticipated that the remaining mainframe
computers would almost disappear in statistical
offices; they would be replaced by client-server-,
network-, and PC-based computing.
16.
Some early adopters of proprietary
groupware technologies were replacing them with
more open and connective systems based on Internet
protocols. For other NSOs, the Internet cum Intranet
environment was the natural first choice networking
solution. The Working Party welcomed the trend
that the Internet?s browser front-ends were becoming
a standard way of accessing information in local
Intranets, servers and local devices, such as
CD-ROMs. It noted that software houses were using
the Internet as a means to distribute software
commercially. They were also providing software
upgrades and bug fixes on-line.
17.
In line with the evolution of
technology in several key areas of census operations,
the Working Party noted that the year 2000 round
would obviously entail more information technology
than any previous census. New data collection
methods, such as Internet submission by e-mail
and interactive Web sites, computer-assisted telephone
interviewing (CATI), computer-assisted personal
interviewing (CAPI), and fax-back methods would
be applied. Also, an increased use of administrative
records and databases held by the governments
was anticipated in many NSOs. Data collection
by user submission was being tested for adoption
for use in the 2000 round censuses; particular
technologies involved were on-line Web page submission
and faxing of forms. The use of the Internet was
becoming increasingly feasible in many countries
as the network of local Internet service providers
(ISPs) was growing. The Internet would be increasingly
used as a dissemination medium for census and
other population statistics.
18.
A modern way to capture the
survey/census forms would be to convert them to
digital images, and then recognize the content
through optical mark recognition (OMR) or optical
character recognition (OCR). The Working Party
felt that of those two recognition approaches,
the OCR technology offered a more viable option
in most cases as it avoided the problems associated
with the special forms that were expensive to
print and difficult to prevent from smudging.
The OCR software had become much more versatile
during the past few years and could now be operated
easily in microcomputers.
19.
The Working Party emphasized
the importance of NSOs being alerted to the problems
that were bound to appear at the turn of the millennium.
All but the most recent hardware, software (whether
custom-made or commercial) and operating systems
were likely to be unable to handle the year 2000
properly, since only a two-digit provision was
commonly available to express or process the year.
20.
Finally, the Working Party recalled
several important general issues that were important
success factors in the adoption of IT. It recognized
that the benefits of the new technology could
usually be substantially increased if non-computerized
operations were also subjected to a redesign.
Another area to be incorporated in that holistic
technology approach was human resource development.
It also noted that often it took a long time for
the NSOs to make organizational and cultural adjustments
to adopt to new technologies. The Working Party
also emphasized the need for maintaining the respondents?
privacy at all stages of data operations, including
data transfers through public telephone systems.
D.
Development and Implementation of Applications
for Population Data
21.
Under agenda item 7 the Working
Party had before it document STAT/WPA/4 prepared
by the secretariat. The discussions were aimed
at selecting three countries to carry out three
different types of IT applications. The meeting
discussed extensively the criteria for selecting
the countries to undertake country studies under
the ESCAP project. It concluded that the funds
provided by ESCAP were meager and could be viewed
as seed money and that the country projects would
entail additional inputs from the national implementing
agencies in terms of human and other resources
in their implementation. Thus firm commitments
by the countries to undertake the studies were
important. It considered also that not only should
the work carried out under the pilot projects
directly benefit the country but that also the
lessons learned, and the applications and technology
tools developed, could be shared with other countries.
The Working Party also had before it four project
ideas that were prepared, upon the request of
the secretariat, by experts from four countries
represented in the Working Party. It was decided
that the meeting would hear those presentations
and discuss the project ideas, and improve upon
them where necessary. The meeting did not preclude
the selection of countries not represented in
the Working Party.
22.
The Working Party noted that
the project ideas were based on the secretariat's
suggestions to separate the application of new
technologies in three broad areas of application:
data collection, processing and dissemination.
The proposed project ideas touched upon several
technology applications, which could be grouped
under the following headings:
Image capture: to study
the use of modern technology for capturing
population census data;
Geographical information
system (GIS): for census operations and dissemination;
Global positioning system
(GPS): to upgrade enumeration area maps;
Database: Database development
of population statistics;
Dissemination
use of CD-ROM for archiving
population census data;
application of GIS in
dissemination of population census data
through CD-ROM;
use of computer assisted
telephone fax services for dissemination
of data;
designing and standardizing
population pages on the lnternet;
training: development
of computer based training on data collection
23.
The Working Party
reviewed the project ideas and discussed the characteristics
of the project which should be undertaken by the
three selected countries. It decided that those
issues emerging from the proposal which could
not be covered by the country studies would be
pursued by the Working Party. The meeting broadly
categorized the new technology into three broad
technology domains, namely, image capture, geographic
information systems and Internet applications.
The meeting considered that the proposal on data
capture as presented by the member from Indonesia
should be further developed as a country study
under the project. The proposal by the member
from Bangladesh on the use of global positioning
system and the proposal from the Philippines on
GlS for census operations and dissemination were
also accepted as country studies under the project,
subject to further development. The meeting requested
that the country projects should give due consideration
to the demonstration dimension so that their outputs
and experience could benefit other countries in
the region. The members of the Working Party were
encouraged to provide suggestions on features
which would improve on the usefulness of the proposed
pilot projects. The meeting decided that the countries
undertaking the projects should indicate their
external needs, both technical and otherwise,
in implementing the country project.
E.
Work Plan of the Working Party
24.
For the consideration
of agenda item 8 the meeting had before it a secretariat
note STAT/WPA/5 which listed activities to be
undertaken under the project, likely schedule
and the expected outputs. The Working Party concluded
with the work plan outlined in the document, and
made specific recommendations concerning the core
areas of focus in the project, topic and timing
of the next meeting, focus of the guidelines and
the newsletters. These recommendations are listed
in the next section.
F.
Major Recommendations of the Working Party
The major
recommendations adopted by the Working Party are
listed below.
1.
The Working Party
agreed on the following as its terms of reference:
The Working Party on the Application of New
Technology to Population Data shall perform
the following functions:
Play a pivotal role
in consolidating the experiences of the countries
in the application of new technology to population
data and in sharing them within the region.
Identify priorities
and provide guidance to the activities of
the project on the application of new technology
in population data collection, analysis, presentation
and dissemination.
Advise the secretariat
on the strategy, approach and modalities to
be adopted in undertaking project activities,
producing its outputs, and meeting the immediate
objectives.
Review and monitor progress
of the project activities and submit its observations,
suggestions and recommendations to the secretariat
and the Committee on Statistics.
Formulate procedures
and make arrangements for the active participation
of its members and their parent organizations
in the activities of the project and its outputs,
including the preparation of guidelines and
provision of technical advice to the pilot
countries.
Play the focal role,
and guide the secretariat as necessary, in
securing close cooperation and inputs to the
project activities from various national and
international organizations.
Determine the timing
provisional agenda for its own future meetings.
2.
It also agreed with
the mode of functioning of the Working Party suggested
in document STAT/WPA/2.
3.
Nothing 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.
4.
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.
5.
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.
6.
The Working Party
decided that the major focus of the project will
be on emerging information technology.
7.
The Working Party
approved the work plan outlined in document STAT/WPA/5,
with specific recommendations indicated below.
8.
The Working Party
identified 3 core areas as the major focus of
the project, as follows:
GIS in census
and survey applications
Imaging and data capture
technology
Application of Internet
based technology.
9.
As the Internet could
be used at various stages of population data collection
and dissemination, the Working Party decided to
focus its 2nd session on the topic and related
issues. In that meeting the Working Party will
also review the progress on various activities
of the project and consider a training proposal
to be prepared by SIAP.
10.
In light of its major
focus the Working Party decided that the topics
and the sites of the 3 pilot applications to be
undertaken should be as follows:
Imaging technology
- Indonesia
Use of GIS for census
operations and dissemination - Philippines
Use of GPS for preparation
of census enumeration area maps - Bangladesh
11.
The Working Party
authorized the secretariat to work together with
the pilot countries to finalize the project designs
in a standard format.
12.
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.
13.
The Working Party
recommended that a sub-group (?Working Group?)
should be formed to review the imaging technologies
and facilitate their selection and deployment.
It should include Australia, Japan, New Zealand
and Singapore. Indonesia will be the convenor
of this group. In addition UNSD should be invited
to participate.
14.
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 will
be submitted to the ESCAP Committee on Statistics
in 1998, after a review by the Working Party.
The survey should utilize experience from similar
exercises recently conducted by UNSD, UNFPA/CST;
in particular the GIS module from the previous
UNSD survey should be incorporated. The secretariat
will circulate a draft questionnaire to members
of the Working Party for further comments.
15.
The Working Party
recommended that 5 issues of the project Newsletter
be produced with the following focus:
Introduction to the
project - proceedings of the 1st meeting of
the Working Party
Internet
GIS (including GPS
and satellite imagery)
Imaging, data capture
and hand-held devices
Summary and evaluation
of the project
16.
Members of the Working
Party agreed to contribute material to the Newsletter,
while layout and editorial aspects would be handled
by the secretariat. It was agreed that one issue
of the newsletter will include the results of
the survey to be conducted by the secretariat.
The newsletter will also feature a summary of
each meeting of the Working Party.
17.
The Working Party
recommended that the following three sets of guidelines
be produced under the project as follows:
Topic
Coordinator
a)
Dissemination
Secretariat
b)
Mapping
Bangladesh/Philippines
c)
Data entry, capture,
processing and archiving
Indonesia
18.
The Working Party
recommended that each set of ?guidelines? should
draw from technology practices in the countries
and provide options for their implementation.
19.
The Working Party
recommended the following provisional timetable
for its future meetings to be held at suitable
venues:
2nd meeting - as early
as possible but not later than early April
1998
3rd meeting - September
1998
4th meeting - first
half of 1999
20.
The Working Party
noted that further meetings might be possible
if savings anticipated in the project materialize
Annex
1
List of
documents
Provisional agenda
STAT/WPA/L.1
Annotated provisional agenda
STAT/WPA/L.2
Application of new technology
in population data, collection Processing, Dissemination
and presentation: a brief synopsis of the project
STAT/WPA/1
Terms of reference of the Working
Party
STAT/WPA/2
Recent development
in the application of information technology to
population data:
Australia
STAT/WPA/3.1
Bangladesh
STAT/WPA/3.2
Indonesia
STAT/WPA/3.3
Japan
STAT/WPA/3.4
Macau
STAT/WPA/3.5
Philippines
STAT/WPA/3.6
Singapore
STAT/WPA/3.7
Thailand
STAT/WPA/3.8
Selection of
the applications and pilot countries
Indonesia
STAT/WPA/4.2
Philippines
STAT/WPA/4.3
Thailand
STAT/WPA/4.4
Work plan of the Working Party
STAT/WPA/5
Background
documents
Technical notes on population
statistics and information systems, May 1995
Technical notes on population
statistics and information systems, June 1996
How to improve census
information processing by Carlos Ellis
Three challenges for
effective utilization of the 2000 round census
data by Griffith Freeney
New techniques used for
massive data entry by Carlos Ellis
Proposed changes in the
international recommendations for population
and housing censuses by Sam Suharto
Innovative computer methods
for demographic enquiries and the dissemination
of population information by Arij Dekker
Census and survey data
processing in East and South-East Asia in
1990s: Issues and lessons learned (Draft)
by M. Nuri Ozsever
Annex
2
Members of
the ESCAP Working Party on Application of New
Technology to Population Data
Mr Rob Edmondson, Director,
Technology Application Population Statistics
Group, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Belconnen
A.C.T., Australia
Mr Mohammad Hamidul Hoque
Bhuiyan, Director, National Data Bank, Bangladesh
Bureau of Statistics, Ministry of Planning,
Bangladesh Secretariat, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Mr Sihar Lumbantobing,
Chief, Programme Research Development and
Documentation Division, Central Bureau of
Statistics, Jakarta, Indonesia
Mr Akihito Yamauchi, Assistant
Director, Population Census Division, Statistical
Survey Department, Statistics Bureau, Management
and Coordination Agency, Tokyo, Japan
Mr Ieong Meng Chao, Assistant
EDP Manager, Statistics and Census Department,
Macau
Mr Tomas P. Africa, Administrator,
National Statistics Office, Manila, Philippines
Mr Paul Cheung, Chief
Statistician, Department of Statistics, Ministry
of Trade and Industry, The Treasury, Singapore
Mr Neramit Dhanasakdi,
Socio Economic Statistician, Social Statistics
Division, National Statistical Office, Bangkok,
Thailand
Annex
3
Mode of Functioning
of the Working Party
The Working Party
will consist of eight experts from countries of
the ESCAP region, selected in consultation with
the respective national statistical offices. It
will be preferable for the same experts to be
present in all the meetings of the Working Party.
However, in the absence of the initially designated
expert, his/her organization may send an alternate.
Additional experts from the same country represented
on the Working Party may attend at the expense
of their own organizations. Observers from relevant
international and national organizations will
also be invited to participate in the meeting
of the working party. The tenure of the Working
Party will be 1997-1999 during which it will organize
at least four meetings. For each designated expert
(one per country) the cost of attendance in the
Working Party meetings will be borne by ESCAP,
as per rules and regulations of the United Nations.
