Analysis of methodological issues and new ICT indicators for Latin America and the Caribbean. Methodological and harmonization issues in household and business surveys on ICT and recommendations for developing ICT in education indicators

Fifth meeting of the SCA-ECLAC. Colombia, Bogotá, 10-13 August 2009

This document is the result of the activities of the group of experts formed during the fifth Workshop on Information Society Measurement in Latin America and the Caribbean, Rio de Janeiro, 6-8 April 2009, organized by OSILAC.

Composed of one representative from each of the four SCA-ECLAC and OSILAC subgroups of experts on ICT statistics (households subgroup: Mexico; businesses subgroup: Argentina; e-government subgroup:  Colombia; education subgroup: Dominican Republic), the group of experts held a working meeting at ECLAC headquarters in Santiago, Chile, on 11-12 May 2009.

The meeting reviewed methodological and harmonization issues that were raised during the revision  of  the Compendium of practices on the implementation of ICT questions in household and business  surveys.  In  addition,  it  discussed  a  proposal  to  develop  indicators  for  the  eLAC  goals, particularly those related to education and e-government.

The  members  of  the  group  of  experts  then  developed  a  technical  file  for  each  of  the  ICT indicators  proposed by the Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development. These files document the formulation, calculation and main characteristics of each indicator, which together constitute an important input for continuing the ICT harmonized measurement process under way in the national statistics offices of the region’s countries.

Lastly,  those  responsible  for  each  of  the  topics  of  discussion  prepared  an  assessment  with observations and recommendations, which appear in this report. After review by the participants at the fifth workshop, the document will be presented at the fifth Meeting of the Statistical Conference of the Americas of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, to be held in Bogotá on 10-
13 August 2009, as a result of progress made by the ICT working groups of the Statistical Conference and
OSILAC.

Sections I and II of this document review issues related to methodology and the harmonization of ICT  information in household and business surveys, respectively. The discussion on household and business indicators was launched at the first meeting of OSILAC, in November 2004, which produced a list of core ICT indicators of the Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development, endorsed by the United Nations Statistical Commission at its thirty-eight session in February 2007. A revised and expanded list was presented in February 2009 to the fortieth session of the United Nations Statistical Conference.

Section   III   reviews   the   proposed   ICT   in   education   indicators   and   the   methodological recommendations for the harmonization of information, based on a list of core indicators proposed by the United  Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO),  headed by the education indicator designated by the Partnership. The review contains the proposals made in the region during meetings held by OSILAC and Red Latinoamericana de Portales Educativos [Latin American Network of Educational Portals] (RELPE) with education specialists and experts from the region’s national statistics offices.

The section reviewing the list of ICT in e-government indicators proposed by the Partnership’s working group on e-government and developed by the Economic Commission for Africa, as well as the recommendations on methodology and harmonization of information, will be presented at a later date as these items are still under discussion.