What?
We have created a range of mock ups to give you an idea of our vision for the 2011 Census pages and products. This includes graphic design elements, navigation changes and an overall simplification of the way you get Census data.
Why?
From feedback we've received and web site analytics, we know that your experience could be improved. This is your chance to have your say about our ideas, and add yours!
When?
We aim to launch the redesign in the second half of 2011.
Feedback
Help us to tailor these new ideas to best meet your needs by giving us feedback - either leave a comment below, or give us more detailed information via a quick online survey
NB. The online survey will be closed on the 15th November 2010.
#1: Aidan @ Census product design
Hi Bruce,
Thanks for your questions. While options 1 and 2 are not currently being planned for the 2011 product investigations are currently underway into providing a recode request service for the TableBuilder Pro product. While this functionality has not yet been implemented some of the early stages are looking promising. I believe this would go some way to fulfilling your needs and the needs of many of our TableBuilder clients.
#2: Bruce
Re: TableBuilder Pro
1) Can you add an option to specify the population for the table (to reduce the number of unwanted cells)? Preferably using a set of 'and' criteria across more than one variable.
2) Can we define variables across more than one level of the hierarchy? Eg a count of the number of boys aged under 16 in the household, or the sum of income of each person (based on income range midpoints).
3) If option 2) is not possible within the interface, can you setup a process where we can put in requests for you to define new derived variables and add them into the system?
#3: Aidan @ Census Support
Hi Niall,
Thank you for your comments. Part of the design concept was to use a snap shot of Census data as a path way to our range of products. The rest of the QuickStats product is still undergoing a fair bit of review and may not end up being a tabbed format. There will however be some new and interesting tables in the QuickStats and some incorporated visual elements.
Regards
Aidan
#4: Aidan @ Census Support
Thanks for your feedback Anna,
At the time of the publication release the design of the full range of products and navigation was largely conceptual. We would love to hear how you would like to navigate, access and use Census data so we can make it easier to access the data come the release of the 2011 Census.
Regards
Aidan
#5: Aidan @ Census Support
Hi Maurice,
Thank you for your comments. The navigation and and design of these pages has progressed quite a bit since the release on BetaWorks thanks largely to suggestions from Census data users and feedback we have received from the mock ups. We are aiming to strike a balance between providing useful pathways into the data and maintaining accessibility while providing flexibility to access the full Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS). We would welcome any further suggestions you may have to improve navigation or usability. Feel free to contact us at census.software@abs.gov.au.
Regards
Aidan
#6: Niall
I think you should leave QuickStats as they are.
They're quick and you don't have to click tabs etc. You seem to be pandering to people who don't understand statistics. What's the point? They won't be able to read a bar graph either.
#7: Anna
QuickStats looks good. Otherwise, because of very limited functionality in the prototype I am unable to tell whether the new design will be easier to use.
#8: Maurice
Hi there,
The prototype really doesn't look friendly or new? I was expecting something much easier to navigate, the colors and particularly the liquid layout makes it look very uninspiring on my 22 inch monitor. As web designer I personally stay away from liquid layouts, especially now that monitors are getting bigger and cheaper. Technically speaking you shouldn't have more than 15 - 25 words per line of text, otherwise the sentence starts becoming a chore. Look at any book, magazine or newspaper and you'll see they will at least put the text into columns.
#9: Aidan @ Census Support
Thanks for your feedback Crystal.
Regarding issue two that you raised, come release of our 2011 product range there will be a variety of download options for the data. These will include Excel and CSV. We are looking at providing the geographic shape files and boundaries for people to use in mapping applications and are investigating KML overlays to use in Google Maps. We would like to encourage people to use, share and mash up Census data. As an aside there are also some thoughts about providing SDMX output (XML) as a download option as this is now available in the new version of TableBuilder.
Regards,
Aidan
#10: Jo @ Census Support
There are a variety of different pieces of work going on to address accessibility needs;
Our goal is for QuickStats and Community Profiles to be accessible.
In particular, making these accessible for people who;
- are vision impaired,
- use a mobile device like an iphone, ipad or Blackberry
- use voice activated software,
- have a slow internet network connection
We plan to do this through a variety of ways;
- considering accessibility in all aspects of our design - implement accessibility guidelines - things like alt-text, dealing with images and maps, heading markup etc
- testing with relevant user groups who are vision impaired, use mobile devices etc.
Our Betaworks prototype was not accessible and does not scale well as some users have so rightly pointed out to us! There is an incompleteness about this design prototype as it was only intended to get feedback about the overall design concept. Usability testing will assist us in addressing some more of the detailed formatting kind of issues.
Please let us know if you would like to be involved further in design or testing by emailing us at census.software@abs.gov.au
thanks
Jo
#11: Jo @ Census Support
Thanks for your suggestion Eva about using plain, simple language. We are aiming to do this in QuickStats which is for our less statistical users. You may have noticed in the 2011.0 publication we tried to make it an easy, enjoyable read with plain English!
For the tabs in QuickStats we have come up with the following ideas;
Summary
People (I agree with your suggestion, persons is the statistical term)
Cultural Diversity (this has been suggested to replace Ethnicity and seems to be used commonly in schools etc)
Work (this includes paid and unpaid work so includes those who look after kids etc)
Families
Dwellings (This is a tricky one as it covers all types of places where people live or are staying - hospitals, caravans etc so we can't just put houses)
Look forward to thoughts on these names.
thanks, Jo
#12: Eva
Please don't replace the word "people" with "persons". It really isn't necessary. Use plain English that people are familiar with, rather than bureaucracy-speak (OK, so you ARE a bureaucracy, I know!), but it doesn't mean you have to read like one :)
Otherwise, nice work!
#13: Crystal
2 issues I'd like to raise:
1 - it would be great if any redesign of the site could be 'friendly' with the various mashup services eg yahoo, and
2. have you considered providing a mobile compliant version of the site in view of the proliferation of portable internet access devices - especially since the main site is optimised for such a large screen resolution?
#14: Jo @ Census Support
Thanks for the feedback Frank.
Creating data for customised areas is currently available via CDATA Online and TableBuilder products, and will continue for the 2011 versions (with CDATA Online being replaced by TableBuilder Basic). I agree that for Community Profile type tables and QuickStats it would be great to customise and aggregate areas. We have looked into it but we're not quite there yet development wise for automated functionality. Something we'll be working on for 2016.
#15: Frank
One of the challenges is I often want data for half a dozen regions, (SLA's, SSD's and etc using the old terminology).
It would be great to be able to select data for multiple geographic regions via some automated process. Maybe this is an extension of the customised regions where you click to report as a whole (single table) or for each area individually.
#16: Clare
Hi guys! This looks fantastic, especially the new QuickStats. I would guess that you'll probably get feedback asking for more variables to be displayed, but I personally think that less is more as long as the displayed stats are the 'most wanted', as it were.
Also, TableBuilder Basic, and Pro - love it! Replacing those millions of Census tables with one product was definitely the best direction in my humble opinion.
Can't wait to see all those stats I'm helping to collect turn up in this slick looking format.
Clare Miller, SA Indigenous Strategy Manager (though always CP&S at heart)
#17: Jo @ Census Support
Thanks Lindy. At this stage all the boundary files will be published and we are investigating various mapping formats and ways to integrate into the output systems.
Have you seen our Datapacks product from 2006?{ Link }
Watch this space for a request for involvement in further consultations in the future, if you're interested.
Also, we're planning a series of Analytical products around a range of topics as part of the product range for 2011.
{ Link }
#18: Lindy
This is terrific progress. Balancing the statistics with the maps and other images brings research into the contemporary environment of blending technology with numbers.
I would like to read about theoretical backgrounds a little more - not only about defining the concepts, but also about the theoretical approach adopted to frame the research.
One question of interest: Are you including geo-spacial data or only geographical boundaries.
#19: Steve @ Census Support
Hi Bruce,
Thanks for your feedback regarding having custom variables in TableBuilder.
Yes - This is something we are looking into for our 2011 TableBuilder product, allowing users the ability to create custom areas\data from an imported file and also the ability to export them, so they can share them with other people.
Regards
Steve
Census Support
#20: Steve @ Census Support
Hi Mary-Anne,
Thanks for your feedback regarding the colours. We are very happy you found it easier to use.
Regards
Steve
Census Support
#21: Darren @ Census Support
Hi Gai
Thanks for your feedback.
Thematic Maps will still be available in 2011.
We agree, viewing Census data thematically on a map (through products like MapStats) was a great way to visualise differences in the data. The feedback we received from users is that they wanted to be able to download the data behind the map and take it away.
In 2011, TableBuilder Basic will let you do this. You will be able to choose which topic you are interested in and customise the geographic areas you want on your map. Once you've tailored the map to your specifications you'll be able to export the image - or take the data (and boundaries) away in a wide range of formats.
For more information on the exciting 2011 Census outputs see the 2011.0 Information Paper: Census of Population and Housing - Proposed Products and Services - available from www.abs.gov.au
Regards
Darren Giles - Census Support
#22: Maureen
Looks good to me. Looks as though it will be clearer for Older People to understand.
#23: Bruce
It would be very useful to have the ability to define custom variables in TableBuilder. These would be of two types:
1) Summary variables based on the intersection a number of other variables (just cross-tabbing the variables leads to excessively large tables).
2) More complicated variables which aggregate information across the different levels. For example, calculating household equivalent income from the income ranges given by each person, together with summary information on the numbers of people with different characteristics in the household.
One approach might be to get advanced users to define and test their own variables using SAS or similar code in RADL, and then for ABS staff to add these to the main file.
#24: Mary-Anne
I like the colour change from green to blue along the top, and the interactive box with the interesting stats is great too. Page looks v easy to use.
#25: Gai
Well done - looks much easier to navigate.
Just one question: where is MapStats?