Statistical archaeology, getting the data off the artefact and creating a new linked data collection
Justin Hayes, Census Support Service Manager at the UK Data Service updates us on the fascinating 1961 Census digitisation project.
We are delighted to report our progress on our pioneering ‘statistical archaeology’ project to retrieve information from the 1961 Census Small Area Statistics (SAS) from a large set of digital usa rcs data images, and make it available for digital analysis, using current software tools, for the first time.
The project is being developed in partnership with the Office for National Statistics, the UK Data Service and the University of Salford. We are retrieving data and metadata from aggregate statistical outputs from the 1961 Census contained in a set of approximately 141,807 digital images of tabular data taken from the microfilm and printed volumes in which it has been reposing, unavailable and unused, for over 50 years. None of the data are disclosive and we’ll deploy statistical disclosure control before they are made available in full.
The 1961 SAS were produced as part of the aggregate statistical outputs from the 1961 Census. population characteristics for a much larger number of much smaller areas than the main published outputs, the County Reports and Topic Reports, which are available as series of printed volumes in major libraries. The 1961 SAS, however, were only produced and supplied on request, mainly to local authorities and universities, and were never published or made available beyond the original microfilm supply media to organisations that purchased them.