Conference Recap: Time Use Across the Life Course

Attendees from the recent Time Use Conference and Workshop in Maryland.

 

Over 100 students, faculty, and researchers gathered June 27 and 28, 2016 at the University of Maryland, College Park, for a conference on Time Use Across the Life Course,  funded by the Maryland Population Research Center at the University of Maryland and organized by Liana Sayer. Conference attendees came from the United States, Australia, Singapore, England, and Belgium.

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How Historical Data Become Public

Six Census Bureau employees sitting and working at desks
1950 Census Bureau employees photographing records from the 1900 census for storage on microfilm. Photo: U.S. Census Bureau

An enormous amount of information about the characteristics and activities of ordinary people is just waiting to make its debut for researchers to analyze — two billion people and their households, spanning over 100 countries, from 1703 to the present day. All these data will be available for computer analysis by the general public, for free, by 2018.

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Data Release Details: IPUMS-DHS now includes 90 surveys from 20 African countries and India

Smiling woman holding a baby
The time is now – mums waiting for family planning services. Photo by UK Department for International Development – CC 2.0

As of May 2016, IPUMS-DHS includes over 2000 integrated variables from 90 Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) in 21 countries, and allows researchers to select women, children, or births as their unit of analysis.

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The Case of the Missing Prostitutes in Late 19th Century London

Group of men in top hats and women in dresses standing together in a Haymarket
Image: Prostitutes offer their services in the Haymarket, engraving by an unnamed artist. From London Labour and the London Poor: Volume Four by Henry Mayhew.

Where are all the prostitutes in the census records of London 1881? In her book, Prostitution and Victorian Society: Women Class and the State , Judith Walkowitz says that a 19th century city like London (where prostitution was legal) had one prostitute per 36 inhabitants. Based on the 1881 London population records, that amounts to about 24,000 prostitutes. The coded occupations in 1881 London data, however, show no signs of prostitutes anywhere.

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Addressing the Importance of Data

Flags of member nations flying at United Nations Headquarters
Flags of member nations flying at United Nations Headquarters. UN Photo/Joao Araujo Pinto. www.unmultimedia.org/photo/

In April, MPC Director of Data Integration Matt Sobek was invited to speak at an event for the United Nations’ 49th Session of the Commission on Population and Development. The special session, “The Data Revolution in Action: National and International Experiences with Microdata Dissemination and Public Use,” was created to show attendees examples of national and international organizations distributing data for public use.

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