Measuring the Information Society

OECD releases Guide to Measuring the Information Society 2009

Paris: 8 July 2009

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has published the 2009 edition of the Guide to Measuring the Information Society. The announcement states:

“The newly released Guide to the Information Society 2009 covers the definition of industries producing ICT goods and services (the "ICT sector"), a classification for ICT goods, the definitions of e-commerce and Internet transactions, and model questionnaires and methodologies for measuring ICT use and e-commerce by businesses and households/individuals.”

The Guide refers to public sector information on pages 60 and 61.

Guide to Measuring the Information Society

The OECD's Working Party on Indicators for the Information Society has agreed on a number of standards for measuring the information society. They are:

• The definition of industries producing ICT goods and services (the "ICT sector") (2009)
• A classification of ICT products (goods and services) (2009)
• The definition of a "Content and media" sector (2007)
• A classification of Content and media products (2009)
• Definitions of electronic commerce and Internet commerce transactions (2002)
• Model questionnaires and methodologies for measuring ICT use and e-commerce by businesses, households and individuals (2005)

These statistical standards - along with other information on information society measurement - have been brought together in the Guide to Measuring the Information Society.

The Guide was first published in 2005 and has been largely revised over the period 2007 to 2009. Both the 2005 and 2009 versions have been published.

Annex 3: Member countries’ ICT statistics collection work web-based inventory