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AI Threats to Official Statistics

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Photo by Galina Nelyubova. Barry Johnson and Aaron R. Williams Introduction As we noted in our recent posting, AI tools can help the federal statistical system (FSS) overcome many operational challenges. This post explores the… 

Part 2: Is Data Privacy Dead? The Answer Must be No

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Photo by lilartsy. Claire McKay Bowen and Aaron R. Williams An ex-DOGE member reportedly stole two Social Security databases that “…include records for more than 500 million living and dead Americans, including Social Security numbers,… 

Part 1: Is Data Privacy Dead? The Answer Must be No

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Photo by Jonathan Richard. Claire McKay Bowen and Aaron R. Williams “Data privacy is dead.” As data governance and privacy researchers and instructors in higher education, we often hear this. For one of us, it has… 

New Data Sources to Improve Federal Statistics

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Photo by Stephen Dawson. Barry Johnson In our last post, we discussed the origin and evolution of federal statistics and noted that, as survey response rates have declined and user expectations have evolved, agencies are… 

APDU 2025 by the numbers…

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2025 was a challenging year for public data, but the deep engagement of the data user community has been a silver lining. As threats to public data grew, so did data user engagement. We witnessed… 

Where Do Official Statistics Come From?

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Photo by U.S. Census Bureau. Barry Johnson In previous posts, we’ve raised the point that federal statistics are the essential—though often unrecognized—ingredients that impact all aspects of our lives: from determining whether we need a… 

Two Ideas to Support and Reward Data Collectors

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Photo by Markus Spiske. Claire McKay Bowen and Aaron R. Williams The collection of data that fuels everything from advanced research to everyday decision making is, by many measures, underappreciated and insufficiently rewarded. In research,… 

A Day in the Life with Federal Government Data

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Photo by Xi Lipton. Claire McKay Bowen and Aaron R. Williams Government data shape and improve our lives from the moment we wake up until the moment we go to sleep. Here’s a quick look… 

Driving While Looking Through a Shattered Rearview Mirror

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Photo by Alexey Demidov Aaron R. Williams and Claire McKay Bowen Deciphering the economy is difficult even under ideal circumstances. “Monetary policy is like driving while looking through the rearview mirror” is a popular expression…