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New ICT tools have the potential to bring dramatic improvements: the Global Project will foster the development of new tools and approaches to help decision makers and citizens develop a better knowledge of their society using statistical information.
The links between information and democracy
Although political scientists disagree about much, there is a widespread agreement on three key constraints to the organisation of a democracy:
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The inclusive constraint: all those voting should have equal entitlement to vote.
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The judgemental constraint: those voting should deliberate on the basis of common concerns about the issue.
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The dialogical constraint: they should conduct this deliberation in open and unforced dialogue.
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Of course evidence is a key part of the decision-making progress. And the parallels between the organisation of democracy and the need for a shared set of information about key issues of concern are clear. It is a natural corollary to argue that:
The inclusive constraint: all those voting should have equal access to the key information.
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The judgemental constraint: that information should relate to the key issues of common concern.
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The dialogical constraint: the information should have been constructed objectively and transparently.
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Initiatives and Activities
Istanbul, Turkey - OECD 2nd World Forum 2007, here was the first International Exhibition on "Innovative tools to transform information into knowledge " Forum participants were invited help us choose them by completing a questionnaire. The two selected exhibitors were "Swivel" and "Mapping Worlds".
Rome, Italy March 2007, a conference was organised on how to use Dynamic Graphics for Presenting Statistical Indicators, with the result that Adobe Flex was choosen as the most adapable tool for the creation dynamic graphics for the OECD Factbook 2008. This is a concrete example of how successful the use of new ICT technology can display statistical data in a meaningful way, and to reach out to new audiences with clear and easy to understand charts. See for example the Investment in ICT the dyamic charts
Stockholm, Sweden May 2008, a conference on International Seminar on Innovative Approaches to turning Statistics into Knowledge, Stockholm, 26-27 May, 2008
was jointly organised by Statistics Sweden and the OECD aims to contribute to the development of tools to help people transform statistics into knowledge and decisions. Held in the context of the OECD Global Project on “Measuring the Progress of Societies”, it contributed to one of the goals quoted in the Istanbul Declaration: "produce a broader, shared, public understanding of changing conditions, while highlighting areas of significant change or inadequate knowledge".
Trentino, Italy July 2008, there was a WebValley 2008 training school. The formula was to create a team of enthusiast and motivated high school students tutored by IRST researchers. The goal is to develop in 3 weeks a new web-based prototype for data analysis and management. This year the students worked on finding web based ICT solutions for the Global Project on Measuring the Progress of Societies. This WebValley 2008 technical lab was hosted in the beautiful small village of Luserna in Trentino, on the Italian Alps from the June 23 to July 12 2008.The project results: http://ict4progress.fbk.eu.
Paris, France June 2009, Data designed for decisions conference was held in Paris on the 18-20 June 2009. Speakers and participants investigated selection, visualisation, interpretation and communication of data, and how it can be effectively used to take decision based on evidence, help understand complex issues, make data relevant at a personal level and close the gap between objective measurement and perception.
Washington, DC, USA July 2009, an innovative and dynamic conference on Innovative Approaches to Turn Statistics into Knowledge www.oecd.org/progress/ict/statknowledge July 15-16, 2009 - was held jointly by the OECD, US Census Bureau and World Bank. This seminar focused on the art of making statistics understandable and appealing to modern audiences. Leading-edge products were showcased and interesting discussions were envisaged.
ICT4Progress.org
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ICT4Progress.org has been created in response to the Global Project on Measuring the Progress of Societies, reflected on the real need for of a community and collaboration website to allow the sharing of tools, applications, codes and ideas.
The intention is not to present numbers and data only, but also to stimulate the ICT community to share innovative tools that can make a difference in understanding the global challenges that await us and the future generations.
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This site is also for anyone from anywhere in the world, who wants to pick-up and use these new technologies and ideas.
Wikiprogress
Wikiprogress is a new global platform to understand and debate measures of progress. it will be constructed with collaboration from all areas of society, read more on this Brief Overview.
We aim to work together with you to build this innovative new Wiki Platform, which will incorporate the normal wiki functionalities along with statistics, allowing for dynamic and innovative graphs, maps and storytelling functionalities. Wikiprogress.org is the place to go and visit to understand and debate global measures of progress. It is open to all citizens, experts, initiatives and societies from around the World. Constructed with a "bridge" like vision to connect the voice of the citizens to the attention of politicians and policy makers.
Wikiprogress was officially launched in Busan, Korea at the OECD 3rd World Forum, in October 2009.
So please, find it now and contribute to design, build, share, change and measure progress
Wikigender
Using the latest Web 2.0 technologies Wikigender www.wikigender.org is a project initiated by the OECD Development Centre to facilitate the exchange and improve the knowledge about gender-related issues around the world. A special focus of this project is to collect empirical evidence and to identify adequate statistics and measurement tools of gender equality. In this respect, Wikigender serves as a pilot project for the Global Project on Measuring the Progress of Societies.
Wikigender aims to highlight the importance of social institutions such as norms, traditions and cultural practices that impact on gender equality. Wikigender is open to everyone. You can access all resources provided on this website and use its contents for your own personal needs, be it a research project on gender equality or simply your own interest in finding out more about this topic.
OECD eXplorer
OECD eXplorer which was developed jointly by the OECD and the National Centre for Visual Analytics (NCVA) at Linköping University, Sweden.
This is a powerful, interactive tool for comparing and analysing regional statistics. It combines maps and other graphics via the Internet, to increase the user’s understanding of regional differences and structures across and within countries.
The BBC News in its article - An exciting stats website? Believe it - has defined it like: "A new online tool puts the power of information in the hands of anyone who's interested, and turns data into animation". Try it now !
Activities and outputs
Here is the list of our plans of action which we hope to implement over the next two years Activities and outputs over the biennium 2008-2009
Web Standards and Recommendations’
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The Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange (SDMX) initiative goal is to develop and promote technical standards, content-oriented guidelines and related implementation tools to foster greater efficiency for the exchange of statistical information.
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The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative is an open organisation engaged in the development of interoperable online metadata standards to facilitate the finding, sharing and management of information in order to support a broad range of purposes and business models. |
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The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) aims to develop protocols and guidelines that ensure long-term growth for the Web, sharing information, commerce, communication, and collective understanding. |
Some technical tools and some inspirational websites;
www.opendatafoundation.org
www.gapminder.org
http://www.adobe.com/products/flex/
www.dataplace.org
www.swivel.com
www.flex.org
www.mappingworlds.com
www.devinfo.org
www.paradiso-fp7.eu
www.purposecampaigns.com
www.dataplace.in
This page shortcut: www.oecd.org/progress/ict
Contact us: progress@oecd.org
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