Manual for the Production of Statistics on the Information Economy
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Type of work: Handbook/Primer/Guide
Categories:
Development | Digital Divide | e-Readiness | ICT4DAbstract:
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is a founding member of the global Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development (see http://measuring-ict.unctad.org), which promotes the measurement of the information society at the international level. One of the key achievements of the Partnership is the development of a core list of ICT indicators for the production of internationally comparable statistics, which was endorsed by the United Nations Statistical Commission at its 38th session in March 2007. The UN Statistical Commission encouraged countries to use that list in their data collection programmes and a first version of the Manual for the Production of Statistics on the Information Economy was published at the end of 2007. UNCTAD prepared this Manual to guide statisticians from developing countries in all steps involved in the production and dissemination of business ICT statistics.
To reflect the evolving nature of many ICTs, the core list of ICT indicators was revised in late 2008. UNCTAD and the UN Statistics Division (UNSD) collaborated to subject the Manual for the Production of Statistics on the Information Economy to an extensive consultation process. Through this process, national and international experts have provided detailed feedback and suggestions aimed at making the Manual as practical a tool as possible for staff of national statistical organizations responsible for measuring the information economy. The process was supported by members of the Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development and an expert group meeting was held in Geneva in May 2008. Further discussions on the Manual were facilitated by an online forum hosted by the UNSD and moderated by UNCTAD.
This second edition of the Manual for the Production of Statistics on the Information Economy will be introduced to the 40th UN Commission for Statistics in February 2009. It is a valuable tool in our common efforts towards enhancing the availability of internationally comparable indicators of the information economy.
