StatsUserNet, the Royal Statistical Society’s interactive website for all users of official statistics, has just celebrated its first anniversary.
Launched in February 2012 with support from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the UK Statistics Authority, it now has over 1,700 members signed up to around 25 communities of interest. Members come from a wide range of sectors, including central and local government, academia, business, the voluntary sector and the general public.
StatsUserNet has a number of aims which include:
A variety of topic-based communities is already up and running and has hosted discussions on high-profile areas such as inflation measures, national well-being, the Census and health.
Each community provides the facility to host online discussions, post blogs, deposit documents in a library and post details of forthcoming events. It is also possible to develop micro websites linked to a community, as has been done by the Health Statistics User Group. Overall, StatsUserNet provides a useful and free resource for user groups.
Dev Virdee, user engagement manager on the programme, is keen for any users of statistics to engage with the site. ‘It is easy to register – go to www.statsusernet.org.uk, provide your email and set a password, and then sign up to any communities that you have an interest in,’ he explains. ‘You will then be able to play an active part. However, even without signing up, you should be able to observe many of the ongoing discussions and see existing documents and blogs.’
He adds: ‘If your area of interest is not covered, please contact us to discuss whether a new community needs to be established, or to extend the scope of an existing one.’
For further information, please email info@statsusernet.org.uk