Table-Oriented Reference and Working Libraries for Economic and Social Research

面向表格的经济和社会研究参考和工作图书馆

• 批准号: 8801669
• 负责人: Richard Ruggles
• 金额: $ 22.01万
• 依托单位: Prospect Research Corporation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1988
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1988-09-01 至 1990-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=8801669&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Table; Oriented; Reference; Working; Libraries

Statistical offices have always had the problem of how to distribute the data they generate. Despite advances in computer composition, printed publications remain expensive and time consuming to produce. Printed media also do not easily lend themselves to re-use in extracts, newly generated tables, or calculations. Data provided on computer tape not only require access to a mainframe computer, they also generally involve investment in specialized ad hoc programming services. With the spread of personal computers, some statistical offices are providing their data on diskettes that can be read by these machines. However such diskettes are often simple downloads from mainframe computer tapes, and most users do not have the programming support needed to utilize the data or to understand and analyze them in the absence of extensive accompanying documentation. As a result, sales have been small and the productive use of data much curtailed. The research carried out under Phase I of the present project successfully tested the feasibility of developing a form of electronic publishing that would integrate statistical data with their documentation so that users could read the output directly, as in a printed publication, and the computer could utilize it directly for processing and analytic purposes. Phase I also successfully developed prototype software that would allow users to list, retrieve, and browse through tabular data and documentation, make extracts from them, and print them out or translate them into forms suitable for processing by other software packages. The recommended award will support the final (Phase II) stage of a project funded under the Small Business Innovation Research Program. Phase II will be concerned with advancing the accomplishments of Phase I into a generalized reference library system capable of serving the varied dissemination practices of different statistical agencies, providing facilities for retrieving and merging data from different databases, including bases containing diverse types of data, and furnishing processing and analytic tools that meet the needs of the casual user at the same time as they satisfy the more complex requirements of advanced users, including data providers. Phase II will also be concerned with creating modifications to the basic software that adapt its operating characteristics and special features to the changing landscape of computer technology and electronic publishing. The products and services to be developed under Phase II research will be undertaken in cooperation with statistical offices of various sorts both at home and abroad. The resultant technology will thereafter be offered to such data sources via direct sale or leasing arrangements. Since large corporations face many of the same data handling problems as statistical offices in the public sector, extension of the technology to corporate users will be explored.

统计部门一直面临如何分配其生成的数据的问题。尽管计算机写作取得了进步，但印刷出版物的制作仍然昂贵且耗时。印刷媒体也不容易在摘录、新生成的表格或计算中重复使用。计算机磁带上提供的数据不仅需要访问大型计算机，而且通常还涉及对专门的临时编程服务的投资。 随着个人计算机的普及，一些统计机构将数据存储在可由这些机器读取的软盘上。然而，此类软盘通常是从大型计算机磁带上简单下载的，并且大多数用户在缺乏大量随附文档的情况下不具备利用数据或理解和分析数据所需的编程支持。结果，销售额很小，数据的生产性使用也大大减少。 本项目第一阶段进行的研究成功测试了开发一种电子出版形式的可行性，该电子出版形式将统计数据与其文档相结合，以便用户可以像印刷出版物一样直接阅读输出，而计算机可以直接利用它进行处理和分析。第一阶段还成功开发了原型软件，该软件允许用户列出、检索和浏览表格数据和文档，从中进行摘录，并将其打印出来或将其翻译成适合其他软件包处理的形式。 推荐的奖项将支持小企业创新研究计划资助的项目的最后（第二阶段）阶段。第二阶段将致力于将第一阶段的成果推进到一个通用参考图书馆系统，该系统能够服务于不同统计机构的不同传播实践，提供从不同数据库检索和合并数据的设施，包括包含不同类型数据的数据库，并提供处理和分析工具，在满足临时用户需求的同时，满足高级用户（包括数据提供者）更复杂的要求。第二阶段还将涉及对基本软件进行修改，使其操作特性和特殊功能适应计算机技术和电子出版不断变化的格局。 第二阶段研究开发的产品和服务将与国内外各类统计机构合作进行。随后，所得技术将通过直接销售或租赁安排提供给此类数据源。由于大型企业面临许多与公共部门统计机构相同的数据处理问题，因此将探索将该技术扩展到企业用户。