Yesterday Statistics SA held the second of nine user workshops scheduled for May. In the same month, StatsOnline, the two-way communication tool that allows users to access data via Stats SA's website, celebrated its second year of operation.
These two seemingly unrelated events are linked by their relationship to one of Stats SA's central responsibilities: the promotion of statistical literacy.
Over the past few years, use of statistical data by legislators, administrators, planners, policy makers and researchers - both in and out of government - has increased considerably, with official statistics often being placed at the centre of controversy and debate.
This latest round of workshops for regular users of statistical data takes place under the overall theme of promoting statistical literacy. One workshop will be held in each of South Africa's provinces, where senior statisticians and methodologists will present the main areas of Stats SA's work.
At the Gauteng workshop, which was held yesterday, users were provided with an in-depth examination of local government statistics, small and large economic sample surveys, consumer and producer price indices, and the compilation of national accounts (including gross domestic product).
Presenters also explained how planning for the 2011 population census was being undertaken, what was happening in the collection of labour market statistics through the labour force survey, and how data on poverty were being compiled and consolidated.
In terms of overall data governance and improvement of data quality, users were introduced to the South African Statistical Quality Assessment Framework and the National Statistics System and its functions.
However, introducing users to the range of Stats SA's activities must be accompanied by information on how to access data and information. StatsOnline is at the centre of this, with the website being the main tool for data dissemination.
This service has grown rapidly over its two years of existence: when StatsOnline was launched two years back, the website was recording 60 000 visits a month. Two years later, visits average 166 000 a month, with almost 95 000 publications downloaded from the site each month.
The free StatsOnline weekly newsletter, which provides key findings from the latest statistical publications, the forthcoming week's scheduled publications and other statistical news, has more than 8 000 subscribers.
More than 14 000 users are registered for Web access to time-series data, which reflects selected economic and social statistics over specified time spans. These series are provided in three different formats, including PX Web, which enables users to select the time series and variables required on screen.
StatsOnline is more than a channel for data dissemination: it is a two-way communication tool.
Visitors can search for the statistical publication that contains the information required by entering a keyword or selecting a category from a list, and then download the relevant publication. They can access the large selection of data collected from Census 2001 and Census 1996.
This includes electronic data, publications, maps, metadata and general information.
Users of statistics can browse the key indicators provided, which have a quick overview of the most recent statistics released, and include links to more detailed publications. At a glance they can determine the number of unemployed people in South Africa or the latest number of officially recorded marriages.
Visitors to the website can access more than 3 400 statistical publications, and choose from 26 different categories of information when browsing for statistical publications.
The publishing output of Stats SA has always been considerable although questions were in the past raised over how useful some of the statistical series were.
Statistics on StatsOnline services provided some interesting answers to these questions.
During the course of 2005, for example, Stats SA released more than 270 separate publications, more than one publication every working day of the year. StatsOnline attracted more than 3 800 visitors a day and almost 500 000 publications were downloaded from the website.
These are the indicators of a growing statistical literacy in society, and the increasing centrality of statistical data in evidence-based decision making, and the monitoring of social and economic development.