The Canadian Census Data Discovery Partnership (CCDDP), a SSHRC funded (2021-2023) pan-Canadian research project to improve Census data discovery and open access for historical data, is proud to share its first project update with the research community and public at-large.

Building on the past and forging new partnerships

The formation of the CCDDP’s inaugural Steering Committee, chaired by Leanne Trimble, University of Toronto Libraries, represents the launch of the CCDDP’s core mandate and responsibilities. The Committee meets monthly to guide the project’s direction and oversee progress towards the project’s goals.

The formation of three working groups (the Census Inventory Working Group, the User Needs Working Group, and the Project Communications Working Group) will support the CCDDP by focusing research efforts and building upon the project’s goal to develop a Canadian census data discovery portal.

In addition, new student research assistants have been hired at Concordia University, the University of Toronto, and the University of Ottawa. Thanks to all those that have joined the team!

Forging New Partnerships

The CCDDP is pleased to announce that Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has joined as a project partner. We invite you to read the partnership announcement.

Together, the CCDDP User Needs Working Group and its collaborators are delighted to announce the planning of a Census data discovery workshop entitled “Disseminating Census Data: Learning From Experience”, which will be held virtually in February 2022. This CCDDP workshop will be structured as a two-part panel session with topics presented around sustainability of census data projects, census data portal design, and microdata privacy and access, for project members and invited collaborators. A paper, synthesizing lessons learned from the workshop, will be produced and made public in 2022-2023.

During the fall of 2021, CCDDP project consultation updates were presented at the National Training of the Data Liberation Initiative (DLI), a consortium of academic libraries and Statistics Canada to improve access to data for use in research. An update and ongoing plans for the project were also presented at the Government Information Day(s) 2021 conference in December.

We look forward to sharing more announcements and updates in the coming months. If you wish to stay informed about the CCDDP project and related Census data discovery updates, please join our new project email listserv.

Committee and Working Group Updates

The Canadian Census Data Discovery Partnership (CCDDP) is proud to share its first research project update. From September to now, four working groups and committees were constituted to work on this project. The following provides a general overview of the work of each of these groups:

Steering Committee, chaired by Leanne Trimble (University of Toronto)

Mandate: responsible for leading the CCDDP project. This committee meets monthly to guide the project’s direction and oversee progress towards the project’s goals.

Updates:

  • In the early months of the project, the steering committee formed three working groups (User Needs, Inventory, and Communications) and are working with the User Needs Working Group to form an External Advisory Committee
  • In the months ahead the steering committee will provide support for these working groups as they work towards project deliverables.

Census Inventory Working Group, chaired by Leanne Trimble (University of Toronto)

Mandate: responsible for the completion of the census inventory, ensuring that it meets the requirements of the project and the needs of the discovery portal.

Updates:

  • Students have been hired at Concordia and University of Toronto and the inventory working group is overseeing their work on the inventory.
  • The working group will be collaborating with the User Needs Working Group to seek input on the census inventory (including equity, diversity and inclusion principles, and inventory structure, metadata, and taxonomies) and adjust the inventory as needed to meet user needs and their identified priorities.

User Needs Working Group, chaired by Susan Mowers (University of Ottawa)

Mandate: responsible for working with census data stakeholders to carry out user needs consultations around census data discovery, and subsequently, discovery portal design and development, for the CCDDP project.

Updates:

  • A student has been hired at the University of Ottawa to assist with user needs research and numerous stakeholder consultations.
  • In collaboration with the other project committees, the working group has begun reaching out to stakeholders on specific topics:
    • Postsecondary user needs for census data discovery: Presentation and consultation held November 24, 2022 at DLI national training.
    • Census portal managers: a subgroup is meeting to plan a February workshop: Disseminating Census Data: Learning from Experience. A synthesis paper will be produced and made public.
    • Obtaining stakeholder feedback to complete our review of census portals

Communications Committee, chaired by Katie Cuyler (University of Alberta)

Mandate: Responsible for managing and coordinating communications for the CCDDP project.

Updates:

  • Assisting committees and working groups in their communication needs. Created announcement of Library and Archives Canada signing on as a project partner.
  • Working with the User Needs Working Group on stakeholder strategy and consultation events.
  • Created the CDDP-PDDR-L Listserv for interested census community members to stay abreast of project updates and share information.