FINDICATOR.FI — The Society at Large

1. FINDICATOR.FI —The Society at Large Dr Ulla Rosenström Policy-analysis Unit

2. Indicators are much wanted but less often used • Indicators have been around for a good while, but the indicator industry has really boomed in the past 20 years • Most initiaves have concentrated on indicator development, selection and data collection • Most processes are technocratic and specialist driven • Lately many have asked ”who is actually using the indicators?”

3. Despite the doubts… • The Finnish Prime Minister’s Office decided to launch a new indicator project in 2007 • Linked with a growing effort to strengthen the evidence-based policy-making culture within the Finnish Government. • monitoring of the Government Programme with indicator-based policy-analysis. • Finland participates in the OECD Global Project, "Measuring the Progress of Societies" • The PMO did not want another set of indicators without realistic opportunities for use, hence a feasibility study was conducted. • Preliminary study on need for indicator service and qualities of a smoothly functioning service • Drafting started in autumn 2008 as joint project between Statistics Finland and the PM’s Office

4. So, who is using the indicators? Why or why not? 20 interviews in spring 2008: Members of the parliament Assistants of the MPs Civil servants Journalists Teachers Researchers Regional decision-makers Consultants Press officers

5. Five central problems emerged: • ”There is a lot information, but I can’t find it” • ”The information is too old” • ”Information does not match the user needs” • ”The information is too complicated” • ”The information is not policy relevant”

6. 1. ” There is a lot information, but I can’t find it”

7. 2. ” The information is too old”

8. How important is it to have up-to-date information? As fast as the statistics are collected The whole point with information in the Internet Extremely important Must have! Statistics must be found when published, within 6 months Must have something new everyday, must find it Super important Monthly, the next update should be indicated clearly Very important, currently terrible time lags Continous updates, the updating must be obvious

9. Timeliness of data production has not improved Source: Modified after Rosenström and Lyytimäki 2006.

10. 3. ”The information is too complicated” Imagenary data!

11. 4. ”Information does not match the user needs”

12. 5. ”The information is not policy relevant”

13. Findicator was set up in response to a need • Information can be found from the Findicator. Special focus on marketing and dissemination. • The indicators are timely:up-dated directly from a database. The service highlights the most recent updates. • The users have been engaged in the development process. Increased interest, commitment, pre-marketing. • The information is not complicated and the service is easy to use. The graphs are pretty. • The policy relevance is ensured by the involvement of the users, the Prime Minister’s Office and a feedback function.

14. SEARCH THE FIVE MOST RECENTLY UPDATED INDICATORS CAN BE BROWSED THROUGH THEMES OR GOVERNMENT POLICIES IN THE ORDER OF UPDATES IN ALPHABETHICAL ORDER THE FIVE MOST POPULAR INDICATORS LAST WEEK

15. LAST UPDATE – NEXT UPDATE ALTHOUGH GENERATED AUTOMATICALLY FROM A DATABASE, THE GRAPH IS BEAUTIFUL! SHOW TABLE OPEN IN EXCEL MAGNIFY

16. LINKS TO FURTHER INFORMATION ANALYSIS AND DESCRIPTION

17. The Findicator.fi in a nutshell • Joint project between the Prime Minister’s Office and Statistics Finland • Measures the progress of the Finnish society with about 100 indicators • Improves the availability and accessibility of indicator-like information • Supports evidence-informed decision-making • The Findicator is not only about indicators —technology, frequent updates, and links to further sources of information are equally important • The choice of the indicators is based on existing international and national sets, although a number of politicians, their assistants, civil servants and statisticians participated in the selection process as well

18. Findicator was published on 14 October 2009 14 650 visitors and 179 149 downloads during first day Currently approx. 5 000 visitors and 20000 downloads every month International award: Best Use of New Technology (Oct. 2009, OECD) 25.10.2014

21. Contacts Steering Group Chairman Heli Mikkelä, Director, Information Services, Statistics Finland heli.mikkela@stat.fi, tel. +358 9 1734 3200 Secretary to the Steering Group Findicator Coordinator Laura Mäkelä, Coordinator, Information Services, Statistics Finland laura.makela@tilastokeskus.fi, tel. +358 9 1734 2941 Chairman of Contact Person Network Sirpa Kekkonen, Counsellor sirpa.kekkonen@vnk.fi, tel. +358 9 1602 2145 Secretary to the Contact Person Network Ulla Rosenström, Senior Specialist ulla.rosenstrom@vnk.fi, tel. +358 9 1602 2353 25.10.2014

22. Future plans for the Findicator • Service provision in Swedish and English to be expanded by end of 2011 • Usability study spring 2011 • New framework? (OECD) • New indicators (e.g. Information society) • New Government spring 2011 will affect the structure, also new indicators?

23. Beyond the GDP-movement in Finland • Finnish Government Programme goal • Working group 1.10.2010-31.5.2011 • The Genuine Progress Index is not a useful measure for decision-making • Working group recommendations: • Improve the Findicator • Strenghten knowledge brokerage > a new structure • Regular dissemination of relevant well-being information by concise leaflets and seminars

24. Thank you!