EMBARGOED UNTIL: AUG. 9, 1995 (WEDNESDAY) Public Information Office CB95-148 301-457-2794 301-457-4067 (TDD) CENSUS BUREAU EXPANDS ELECTRONIC DATA DISSEMINATION EMBARGOED UNTIL: AUG. 9, 1995 (WEDNESDAY) - As part of its stepped-up effort to dramatically expand Americans' access to official demographic and economic information, the Commerce Department's Census Bureau today announced plans to expand electronic dissemination of its data. The Internet, along with other electronic delivery systems, will gradually become the primary sources for Census Bureau statistics. As with its early adaptation and use of the CD-ROM, the Census Bureau has been one of the pioneer federal agencies using the Internet to disseminate its vast storehouse of information. On average, the bureau is now receiving approximately 50,000 inquiries per day from customers who access its Internet site. The Census Bureau's Internet site was established in 1994 as part of the Administration's government reinvention program and was a recipient of Vice President Gore's "Hammer" Award for improving government operations. "These changes respond to the Vice President's National Performance Review directive to deliver more census data faster, to more people, and electronically. It is our hope that Americans eventually will be able to directly access a vast, largely untapped demographic and economic data base, downloading just the data they need for just the geographic areas they need," Census Bureau Director Martha Farnsworth Riche said. "The new dissemination plan will allow for quicker release of detailed data many people want. In the past, issuing tables and analyses in printed reports could add months to the process. And since we could only print a selection, users still might not get the data they wanted. A major advantage of this initiative is that it will allow users to receive data files on demand and to create their own reports rapidly," she added. This future system will be accessible to the widest possible array of users through the Internet and all available intermediaries, including the bureau's network of 1,800 State Data Centers and their affiliates, Census Information Centers and similar groups, libraries, universities, and private firms. In response to customer suggestions, the agency is redesigning its printed reports to make them more user friendly. In the near future, most of these short analyses of policy-relevant issues will be disseminated via the Internet. "We will work with census data users and the communities they serve to continue our efforts to meet their needs and expectations," Director Riche said. "We recognize that not all data users have access to the Internet and we intend to make sure that people not on the information highway still have access to the data they need." The bureau already has discontinued some printed reports and begun implementing this new data dissemination plan. Some of the discontinued reports include the annual reports in its governments' finance and employment series, current industrial reports, and monthly population estimates. The bureau will keep data users informed about information available and upcoming additions to the Internet. Non-Internet consumers can still obtain extracts of data from the electronic files available on CD-ROM, floppy diskette, or as computer printouts on a reimbursable basis. Under the plan, CD-ROM will be used for archival purposes and to publish large collections of similar data (e.g., monthly foreign trade data) and reports, extended and more detailed historical data, and public-use microdata. Some transactions may include a fee for service--for example, for customized file extracts and graphical summaries. The Census Bureau's plan calls for development and implementation of the full system in time to disseminate the results of Census 2000. Plans already are under way to disseminate most of the data from the 1997 Economic and Agriculture censuses electronically. The Census Bureau's electronic dissemination program is one of several coordinated efforts underway at the Department of Commerce's Economics and Statistics Administration to improve and expand data dissemination. The bureau invites the general public to communicate its comments and suggestions to: comments@census.gov on Internet; the Census-BEA Electronic Forum (301-457-2310); CENDATA (via CompuServe's "User Feedback"); telephone 301-457-4094, or mail (John C. Kavaliunas, Office of Director, Room 3682, U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, DC 20233).
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