subscription the users are provided access to only the agreed types of information.
20. Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is a special application of direct access methodology. Through establishment of reliable communications network EDI may be extensively used for exchange of data between various national offices inter-government, as well as international agencies.
4-0.0. Dissemination considerations 4-1-0. Primary dissemination
21. When the data compiled by the data generating agency is disseminated by itself it is termed as primary dissemination. Most of the dissemination carried out by the NSOs and international agencies falls into this category.
processing, data transformation and presentation changes etc. However, if this data is disseminated in its original primary dissemination form then it will be termed as secondary dissemination and special permission from the primary disseminator must be obtained for such dissemination. , ■,
4-3.0- Timeliness
23. One of the major objectives of data compilation has to be timely dissemination of the compiled data for appropriate planning and decision making.
Population and housing censuses are taken for wide-ranging medium to long-term country planning, but in the African region typically, the detailed census results are disseminated after two to five years delay. Adequate resources must be made available for timely and exhaustive dissemination of any kind of statistics needed for planning.
24. A casual user of statistical information does not appreciate long delays in data compilations and refinements and would rather prefer quick and easy access to rudimentary statistics. More "accurate"
data is essential for completion of time series and model-building but an alternative "second-best"
product (like the preliminary census results etc.), should be made available without a longish time-lag.
4.4-0- Conf identialifcy
25. As discussed earlier, normally only aggregated data are released for dissemination. However, when need arises micro-level data related to individuals and enterprises etc., may only be released when it is certain that individual units, cannot be identified through association of information.
4-5-0- Marketing of dissemination products
26. In the African region, so far very little effort has been directed towards marketing of the statistical information to the potential users. Lack of dissemination products through delay in processing of
information has been a major factor in not exploiting
advertising firms, mass media,, libraries and students
etc. ;
; 27. Conferences, seminars, workshops and advertising are essential in iaunching of new statistical dissemination products. In this connection
monthly/quarterly statistical product bulletins (appetizers!) providing details such as:
New product (highlights);
topic, period and scope of coverage;
- mode of availability;
subscription details, etc., are of vital importance.
4-6.0. Product planning and dissemination target
28. Most of the current dissemination products are being produced due to the legislative demands expected of these agencies. Alternative/additional products have to be carefully designed to meet the user needs of the target group. For example CD-ROM product for the type of user who is interested in manipulation of massive amount of information and of course the user has to be equipped with the necessary tools to fully utilize the disseminated product,
29. There are many potential users who are not aware of existence of and the ease of access to various types of statistics which they can be interested in.
National statistical offices must evaluate their potential market and according plan the dissemination products, for example pamphlets and pocket-sized booklets for the casual user and more detailed products for the researchers and statistical departments of other ministries.
30. Apart from dissemination to the international agencies as part of mutual agreements, international and regional dissemination may successfully be utilized for instance for export promotion, to attract foreign investments and for development of intra-regional trade and consequently regional economic
groups.
associated definitions, footnotes, limitations/constraints, data sources, methodologies (regarding projections and estimates, and missing data etc.), classifications, labels and titles and if distributed in the form of dissemination data-bases, all the necessary documentation, instructions and related computer programs etc. Provision of complete meta information relating to the data becomes doubly important when micro-level data is distributed in its semi-processed form and is expected to be further processed and disseminated. It is important that
internationally accepted classifications are used and if special circumstances dictate the usage of non-standard classifications then it is important that
"conversion-tables" with sufficient explanations are also disseminated so that the information may be interpreted correctly.
4-8.0- Data-exchange interfaces
32. Traditionally, the data dissemination being the 11 end-product", of the chain of compilation procedures it has not been planned as a product suitable for re-compi1ation but lately due to extens ive usage of micro-computers and the ease of data portability across various systems the disseminated products have frequently been used as input to the other host data bases.
33. Now-a-days distributed products are also accompanied with some sort of "linkage kit" which enables transfer of data between the disseminated product and other data bases for completion or comparison.
4-9.0. Computer viruses
34. Finally, due to the ease of wide-ranging dissemination specially through the electronic media, a word of caution regarding of-discussed computer viruses must be made. One must always be prudent in ensuring that the floppy disk received are virus-free before embarking upon copying and using these disks onto the host computers.
DATA / INDICATORS TO BE INCLUDED IN