Final Workshop Internet as Source of Statistical Data

Samenvatting

Information and communication technologies (hereafter ICT) are perceived as an essential enabler of economic growth and a promising basis for applications and services that could increase the quality of life of European citizens. The European Commission is very actively engaged in promoting and supporting the deployment of ICT. The recently adopted Digital Agenda emphasises the importance of creating a digital single market and ensures that the digital era can deliver on its promises of empowerment and emancipation. As a society, we have surpassed the stage that ICT is merely interesting - it is hugely important.
The deployment of ICT is thus a very important goal in its own right. In order to implement a robust policy on ICT, one needs both solid and actual facts on the real developments. Policy makers are therefore continuously monitoring and analysing the take-up of ICT based applications and services by various social actors, and the impact that such deployments are having on social and economic activities. One major challenge in this particular policy field is that the developments go very fast, and that effects often appear suddenly (due to the non-linear diffusion patterns). For instance, it was only four years ago that the iPhone was introduced and six years that YouTube was launched. However, traditional statistics generally take quite some time to prepare. Thus, by the time they capture the uptake of new applications -if they capture them at all- the diffusion has already reached the critical point and mass adoption has already occurred.
It is here that ICT comes to the rescue since it is not only a goal in itself but also a mean to measure the latest trends. Citizens and enterprises increasingly leave behind 'digital footprints'. This builds up during various economic and social activities mediated in whole or part over the Internet. We can 'mine' these footprints to describe - in near real-time - a wide range of socio-economic phenomena. In other words, we use the Internet itself as an information source to complement or substitute traditional statistics.

The research and the team
This document revolves around a study on the (im) possibilities of the use of internet as a data source for statistics. The study was financed by the European Commission - DG Information Society and Media - and carried out in 2011.

Authors and acknowledgements
The research was mainly conducted by Dialogic innovatie & interactie. The main authors of this document were Reg Brennenraedts (Dialogic) and Robbin te Velde (Dialogic). However, there is a vast amount of people and organisations who have contributed heavily to both the report and/or the research: ipoque, Digital Architects, Dr. Faye Fangfei and others.

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