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Users' Manual

 

User’s Manual to the OISTU Knowledge Base

This User’s Manual provides general information on the OISTU Statistics Database, on the ‘Reports and Studies’ section as well as on the ‘IS institutions’ section. Within the introduction of the Statistics Database there are two sub-chapters which describe the usage of the database and the main categories of indicators.

 

1. General Information on the OISTU Statistics Database

The OISTU Statistics Database provides comparable and comprehensive information about the state of information society uptake in 19 countries:

  • New Member States
  • Acceding Countries
  • Candidate Countries
  • Western Balkan Countries.

The sources of the statistical information are the main international data sources. The data cover background information, IST-specific Lisbon indicators, ICT-sector related data, physical infrastructure, human ICT infrastructure, IS Content and eServices. The coverage of the data begins where possible from 2000 and the database is quarterly updated. Please note that below the retrieved statistical tables the ‘Last Updated by OISTU’ category indicates the last date when the figures were modified due to the availability of more recent data of the original source, thus it does not refer to the last date of data revision, as it is conducted quarterly. Please also note that the dataset is constrained by the availability of the figures, especially in the case of Western Balkan countries.

1.1. How to extract data from the OISTU Statistics Database

The data inquiry can be done according to the followings:

  • By country (or country groups: EU10, EU15, EU27, NMSACC, SEE, COH)
  • By indicator
  • By year

In the output table the two-letter ISO codes (ISO 3166 alpha-2) are used for the countries . The order of the countries is alphabetical, based on the original written form of the name of each country.

Multiple choices of indicators, countries and years are possible.

Please note that – in the case of singular indicator choice - below the requested data, the following information is indicated in order to ensure the clarity of the database:

  • source of the data
  • last update
  • notes (specific information on the given indicator in the case of certain countries)
  • methodology description (if it is given by the original data source).

1.2 Description of the dataset

The major categories of the indicators are the following:

  • Background data: representing major economic trends and selected key Lisbon indicators.
  • IST-specific Lisbon indicators: providing a brief comparative picture on the status of the main competitiveness related IS indicators in the NMS and ACC.
  • ICT-sector related data: showing the figures of production, employment, output and exports of ICT sectors based on the NACE category selection.
  • Physical infrastructure: presenting evidence on access and penetration of IST in the given countries (both availability and usage indicators for IST in the household and corporate sector are included).
  • Human ICT infrastructure: data regarding the human factor for the spread of Information Society, such as digital literacy indicators of the population and eSkills are included here.
  • IS Content and eServices: major internationally comparable data available regarding the various types of eContent and eServices: most important public (eGovernment), partly public-private (eHealth, eLearning) and private (eBusiness, eCommerce) services. Both availability and usage indicators are included.

 

2. General Information on the ‘Reports and Studies’ section

The Reports and Studies section is a collection of publicly available national and international reports, particularly (but not exclusively) the ones specific to the New Member States and the Candidate and Acceding Countries. Only English language versions are considered, the sources of reports are international organisations, national reports from governments and other public sources, EU bodies (e.g. DG INFSO) and related research institutions (e.g. IPTS DG JRC) and other research institutions.

The thematic division across the studies is the following and inquiry can be done according to these categories:

  • Background: major economic trends relevant for the development of information economy and society (macroeconomic, regional and structural issues, the Lisbon process, etc)
  • General Information Economy and Society related reports: those that cannot be categorised into the smaller categories below.
  • The ICT sector and its development: ICT activity index, FDI, innovation, R&D, etc.
  • Physical ICT infrastructure
    1. Availability, access, usage of physical infrastructure
    2. Telecommunication legislation, regulation, privatisation relevant for the information society
    3. Security issues and challenges
    4. Technological convergence issues
  • Human ICT infrastructure
    1. Digital literacy
    2. Broader aspects of eSkills (network literacy, learning capabilities, motivation, attitude etc)
  • Content and eServices provision and usage
    1. eGovernment
    2. eHealth
    3. eLearning
    4. eBusiness
  • Relevant impacts of information society
    1. Impact on growth and jobs
    2. Impact on public services and public administration
    3. Impact on social wellbeing, eInclusion

The geographical division across the studies is the following:

  • Global IST-related reports, benchmark analyses, annual reports, studies
  • EU-27 IST-related reports, benchmark analyses, annual reports, studies
  • Regional reports (NMS12+ACC, NMS10, SEE)
  • National level reports (by country)

Multiple choices of themes and countries are possible.

 

3. General Information on IS institutions section 

This part of the website provides the links of those major public and private institutions that are active in the formation of the information society uptake in the NMS and ACC. Key actors include relevant ministries but also communication authorities, other national actors, stakeholder think-tanks and research institutions are also linked.

The institutions are grouped according to their function, thus there are four sub-categories within this section:

  • Ministries
  • Communications Authorities
  • Research Centres
  • Other organisations (e.g. major representative associations, NGOs)

Multiple choices of institution categories and countries are possible. 
 
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