unlocking public opinion poll data in canada may 27, 2009 iassist 2009 michelle edwards, phd,...

Unlocking Public Opinion Poll Data in Canada

May 27, 2009IASSIST 2009

Michelle Edwards, PhD, University of GuelphJane Fry, Carleton University

ODESIODESI

Ontario Data Documentation, Extraction Service and Infrastructure Initiative

Available to 20 OCUL (Ontario Council of University Libraries) universities since March 2008

ODESIODESI

• Houses 9394 metadata records from DLI, Canadian Gallup Polls, Canadian Opinion Research Archive (CORA), and ICPSR (April 17, 2009)

• Infrastructure is maintained by Scholars Portal – one of the world’s outstanding collections of scholarly resources

ODESIODESI

• Files are marked-up based on the Best Practices Document, DDI 2.x

• Data is provided to the community using 2 Nesstar servers housed behind a Load balancer.

ODESIODESI

• Files are available in Canada’s two official languages: English and French

• If the survey was conducted in both languages

So what?So what?

Making data available to a broad academic community

NOT NEW!We’re using DDI

NOT NEW!We’re distributing the data with a

Nesstar server

NOT NEW!

What is new?What is new?

People are taking notice

Institutions are taking notice

Researchers are taking notice

What is new?What is new?

They ALL want to participate!

Canadian Public Opinion DataCanadian Public Opinion Data

In the past, very few academic institutions had access:

• Carleton University maintained the Canadian Gallup Poll data

• Wilfrid Laurier University received an endowment from IPSOS-REID (formerly Angus-REID)

Canadian Public Opinion DataCanadian Public Opinion Data

Each of these institutions were able to access and make data available to their own members

• If you wanted the data and were not a member, you needed to contact

• Each institution was given licensing rights to their respective collections

Putting it all togetherPutting it all together

• Institutions are willing to share their public opinion poll data

• Infrastructure in place to share the data

• Natural Fit – only enhance ODESI’s collection

Making Data AccessibleMaking Data Accessible

• DLI data – restricted to DLI institutions

• Public Opinion Poll data – some is restricted and some is open to the world

• Want this service to be open and accessible

Making Data AccessibleMaking Data Accessible

• Create a new search

• Search is based on Metadata

• Search is open to the world

ODESI Search InterfaceODESI Search Interface

• Uses the DDI elements

• Uses MarkLogic XML Server

• Customized user interface

ODESI Search InterfaceODESI Search Interface

• Search for “GST” in variable for ODESI collection

• Search for “Internet”

ODESI Search InterfaceODESI Search Interface

ODESI Search InterfaceODESI Search Interface

• Select survey – see matching variables on right

ODESI Search InterfaceODESI Search Interface

• Select Variable to view frequency in Nesstar

• Select view categories to view frequency in Search

ODESI Search InterfaceODESI Search Interface

• Searches the DDI elements using MarkLogic

• In front of Nesstar

• Allows unrestricted access and search of Metadata

Canadian Public Opinion DataCanadian Public Opinion Data

• Canadian Gallup Polls

• Angus-Reid

• Other sources:• Canadian Opinion Research

Archive (CORA)• ICPSR

Canadian Public Opinion DataCanadian Public Opinion Data

• ODESI Search allows users to search ALL public opinion poll metadata

• What happens with ICPSR – not everyone is a member…

ODESI & ICPSRODESI & ICPSR

• Search for “public opinion” and “Canada”

ODESI & ICPSRODESI & ICPSR

• View Survey• No matching variables

ODESI & ICPSRODESI & ICPSR

• View in ICPSR

ODESI & Public Opinion Poll DataODESI & Public Opinion Poll Data

• Opened access to Canadian Public Opinion Poll Data

• Increased data awareness and access to our academic community

ContactsContacts

A. Michelle EdwardsUniversity of Guelph

edwardsm@uoguelph.ca

Jane FryCarleton Universityjanefry@gmail.com