CoSSI - Codebook for Statistical Information or Something More?
Heikki Rouhuvirta · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2009
The starting point of the presentation is to examine the character of statistical information, the way in which data and metadata are interconnected in statistical information and how the entity formed by them can be modelled. The focus of interest is statistical information itself - what we actually mean when we talk about statistical information. CoSSI (Common Structure of Statistical Information) is a model created for statistical information. Within its framework different parts of statistical information are combined conceptually as one complete entity. The CoSSI model defines the structures of statistical data (matrices and tables), statistical metadata, quality declarations and publications. XML DTDs have been selected as the technical means for implementing these structures. The CoSSI model also contain the language versioning necessary for statistics in international use. After the short introduction to the CoSSI model its usability is examined in the statistics production and dissemination of statistics, as well as in the scientific research use of statistical data. Finally the relation and compatibility of CoSSI and DDI are examined.