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IDSC Workshop: Comparability of DDI/SDMX

Organizers: Hilmar Schneider (University of Luxembourg and IZA), Georgios Tassoukis (IZA), Nikos Askitas (IZA)
Location:Wiesbaden
Date:June 18, 2008

Event Manager:
Ulrike Maurer (IZA)

IZA is pleased to announce the following workshop organized by the IZA Data Service Center (IDSC).
The event will take place at the Kurhaus Wiesbaden, Room "Carl von Ibell".

If you would like to participate in this workshop, please register no later than May 19, 2008 by sending an e-mail to database.manager@iza.org.

Program
The metadata standards DDI and SDMX are considered as the future standard for the documentation of survey data and time series in official statistics. The workshop will discuss the different application areas of these two metadata standards and provide more information on their characteristics, differences and similarities.

Another question to be answered is how these standards relate to each other and how to create correspondences between them. Some key variables will serve as examples.

Pascal Heus is an IT specialist who is experienced in management systems for micro data. Arofan Gregory is a technical expert for DDI and SDMX. As members of the management teams of the Open Data Foundation, both have been actively involved in the development of the DDI initiative.

Bibliography:
"DDI and SDMX: Complementary, Not Competing, Standards", A. Gregory, P. Heus, Open Data Foundation, July 2007

Wednesday, June 18:

13:30 - 14:00   Registration / Coffee / Tea
 
14:00 - 14:05   Welcome Address by Hilmar Schneider (IZA)
 
14:05 - 15:00   Pascal Heus (Open Data Foundation) and Arofan Gregory (Open Data Foundation)
"The Data Documentation Initiative (DDI)"
An introduction to the Data Documentation Initiative (DDI) that provides a general description of the specification, highlights its advantages, demonstrates a use case, describes the landscape of major DDI related agencies, and summarizes ongoing activities and available tools. The session will also cover the differences between version 2.0 and the newer version 3.0. A short overview to metadata, XML and related technologies will also be provided.
 
15:00 - 16:00   Arofan Gregory (Open Data Foundation) and Pascal Heus (Open Data Foundation)
"The Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange standard (SDMX)"
An introduction to the Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange standard (SDMX). This session will likewise provide a high level description and the major aspects of the specification. The presentation will also focus on how the SDMX standard and best practices can support the publication and exchange of statistical data and metadata using technologies such as web services and registries.
 
16:00 - 16:15   Coffee / Photo Session
 
16:15 - 17:15   Arofan Gregory (Open Data Foundation) and Pascal Heus (Open Data Foundation)
"Relation between SDMX and DDI and other standards"
This session will focus on the relation between DDI and SDMX and address specific issues such as:
- What are the correspondences between both standards: which information to capture in DDI or SDMX, what are the mappings between elements, what are the different metadata flavours?
- How can I translate the data from one standard into the other: explain the metadata path from survey microdata / aggregates to indicators / time series?
- Which tools, resources or techniques are available to use and/or combine both standards?
The presentation will also summarize the relationships to other standards such as ISO 11179, Dublin Core, ISO19115, XBRL, and others.
 
17:15 - 17:30   Discussion
 
17:30       Closing Remarks by Hilmar Schneider (IZA)
 

List of Participants

Nikos Askitas (IZA)
Anne Berngruber (IAB)
Jeanette Bohr (Centre for Survey Research and Methodology)
Helga Christians (Research Data Centre of the Statistical Offices of the Länder)
Sven Claußen (Federal Statistical Office)
Arofan Gregory (Open Data Foundation)
Imke Groeneveld (Institute for Educational Progress)
Pascal Heus (Open Data Foundation)
Edgar Jänsch (Federal Statistical Office)
Michel Knigge (Institute for Educational Progress)
Claudia Lehnert (IAB)
Julia Lewerenz (German Federal Employment Agency)
Jörg Mühlenhaupt (Research Data Centre of the Statistical Offices of the Länder)
Dana Müller (Research Data Centre at IAB)
Alexander Robitzsch (Institute for Educational Progress)
Frank Röder (Research Data Centre of the German Pension Fund)
Hilmar Schneider (IZA)
Ralf Schultzik (Institute for Educational Progress)
Michael Stegmann (Research Data Centre of the German Pension Fund)
Georgios Tassoukis (IZA)
Joachim Wackerow (Centre for Survey Research and Methodology)