Digital Government:

Project Update - December, 2000

1. NASS BRIEFING. A briefing for NASS management and researchers was held on December 7, 2000. The response, I believe, was extremely positive, and steps are underway to turn the system over to NASS for further experimentation and eventual implementation.

The current prototype remains available at niss.cnidr.org.

2. ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETING. We are in the process of scheduling a meeting of the advisory council for the project, which consists of Steven Cohen (BLS), Martin David (Wisconsin; co-chair) Carol House (NASS), Marilyn McMillen (NCES), Sarah Nusser (Iowa State; co-chair), Alvan Zarate (NCHS) and Laura Zayatz (Census). The probable date and location are February 5, 2001, in DC.

3. PRESENTATION

4. TECHNICAL REPORT (available at www.niss.org/dg/technicalreports.html)

5. DATA QUALITY WORKSHOP. The NISS affiliates program held a workshop on data quality on November 30 - December 1, 2000. The workshop was co-sponsored by NISS affiliate Telcordia Technologies, and attended by more than 50 statisticians, computer scientists and domain experts. One principal finding of the workshop was that there are important scientific connections between data quality and data confidentiality. (Record linkage is one of the more obvious components of this connection.) Additional information about the workshop (including, by the end of the month, the workshop report) is available at www.niss.org/dqworkshop.html.

6. NISS NEWSLETTER. The January, 2001, issue (Volume 1, Number 3) is available
on the NISS Web site: www.niss.org/newsletter.html.