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Part of the Arts and Humanities Data Service and the UK Data Archive. Funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee and the Arts and Humanities Research Board.Part of the Arts and Humanities Data Service and the UK Data Archive. Funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee and the Arts and Humanities Research Board.
Stuck on the Census: UK Historical Censuses
Online
Mark Merry
Gustavo de Souza
Cressida Chappell
Hamish JamesHistory Data Service
ESSHA 2002 - © History Data Service
Introduction
“Stuck on the Census…”
We’re stuck on the census because:
• A lot of people still want to use census data• Current data delivery systems are unwieldy and
inconvenient• Census data is being used in the same old way
- most HDS users use census data for local studies- in teaching, census data is used to teach statistical
or computing methods, rather than historical methods or 19th century social/economic history
ESSHA 2002 - © History Data Service
Introduction“…UK Historical Censuses Online”
The solution:
• A new data extraction system and delivery system, brought to census users by the Contemporary and Historical Census Collection Project (CHCC)
• Flexible system designed to allow users to extract whatever data matches their own criteria
• Subsetting- national scale research- sampling on criteria other than geography- ‘all labourers living in towns’ or ‘all women aged over 60 years
in London’
ESSHA 2002 - © History Data Service
Project Objectives
• To promote effective student use of networked services across learning and teaching
• To increase the census user base in learning and teaching, and to build new user communities
• To improve awareness about the contexts in which census data can be used in learning and teaching
• To improve access to primary data sources by linking together data extraction, visualisation and exploration tools
• To reduce the work needed by tutors to use census data in learning and teaching
ESSHA 2002 - © History Data Service
Project Partners
• MIMAS, University of Manchester• School of Geography, University of Leeds• Cathie Marsh Centre, University of Manchester• History Data Service, University of Essex• LTSN Subject Centre for History, Classics and Archaeology,
University of Glasgow• UK Data Archive, University of EssexTo reduce the work
needed by tutors to use census data in learning and teaching
ESSHA 2002 - © History Data Service
Project Funders/Timetable
• HDS responsible for the data delivery system, which is only one component of the whole project
• The whole project is funded by the JISC for 3 years (October 2000 – September 2003) as part of an initiative to enhance JISC services for learning and teaching
• Data delivery system: prototype October 2001
- testing in conjunction with learning and teaching materials
• Live system: June 2002
ESSHA 2002 - © History Data Service
Machine Readable 19th Century UK Census Data
HDS individual level data:
• 1881 Census of England, Wales and Scotland
- 100% sample created by the Genealogical Society of Utah
-Revised/enriched version created by Future of Work team at the University of Essex History Department
• 1851 Census of England, Wales and Scotland
- 2% national sample created by Dr Michael Anderson
In the future:• 40 small area sample studies created by academics
ESSHA 2002 - © History Data Service
Machine Readable 19th Century UK Census Data
HDS aggregate level data:
• Great Britain Historical Database (1841-1939)- Employment; demography; mortality; marriage; trade union statistics; poor law statistics; small debt statistics
In the future:• Digest of Welsh Historical Statistics (1570-1975)
- Religion; education; tourism; elections; crime; housing; transport; iron and steel; coal; agriculture; wages; labour; population
• Database of Irish Historical Statistics (1821-1972)- Housing; literacy; vital statistics; emigration; religion; population; famine relief; agriculture; age; language; industry; trade; occupations
ESSHA 2002 - © History Data Service
Reason for the popularity of census data: a common set of information available for each individual in the whole country
good practiceSource to Resource: 1881 Census
ESSHA 2002 - © History Data Service
good practiceSource to Resource: 1881 Census
ESSHA 2002 - © History Data Service
Census Learning and Teaching Extraction System
• Flexibility to handle requests for data based upon all manner of querying upon any of the fields
• Ability to extract data from more than one dataset at the same time
• Flexibility to handle requests for individual and aggregate level data separately, and at the same time
• Dynamically generated interface based upon the datasets being queried
• Ability to extract data from distributed datasets (data held in different collections in different places at the same time)
ESSHA 2002 - © History Data Service
Census Learning and Teaching Extraction System
ESSHA 2002 - © History Data Service
Census Learning and Teaching Extraction System
ESSHA 2002 - © History Data Service
Census Learning and Teaching Extraction System
ESSHA 2002 - © History Data Service
Census Learning and Teaching Extraction System
ESSHA 2002 - © History Data Service
Census Learning and Teaching Extraction System
ESSHA 2002 - © History Data Service
Census Learning and Teaching Extraction System
ESSHA 2002 - © History Data Service
Census Learning and Teaching Extraction System
ESSHA 2002 - © History Data Service
Census Learning and Teaching Extraction System
ESSHA 2002 - © History Data Service
Census Learning and Teaching Extraction System
ESSHA 2002 - © History Data Service
Summary: State of Play
• Data delivery system currently being completed• Administration system being built to allow administrators to
upload new datasets and input metadata• Launch in June 2002
good practice
ESSHA 2002 - © History Data Service
Links
• History Data Service: http://hds.essex.ac.uk• CHCC Project: http://www.chcc.ac.uk• LTSN Subject Centre for History, Classics and Archaeology:
http://www.hca.ltsn.ac.uk• Census Information Gateway: http://www.census.ac.uk