New subject: Sign our open letter to Census Bureau leadership about ACS data

2 May 2019

There may be some who are interested in this. I apologize if it has 
already crossed your desk.

-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: 	Sign our open letter to Census Bureau leadership about ACS data
Date: 	Thu, 2 May 2019 16:05:03 +0000
From: 	Steven Ruggles &lt;ipums(a)umn.edu&gt;
Reply-To: 	Steven Ruggles &lt;ipums(a)umn.edu&gt;
To: 	edc(a)berwyned.com

IPUMS Census and Survey Data
*IPUMS Census and Survey Data *

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Dear IPUMS User,

I know many of you have been following developments in Census 2020 and 
the proposed citizenship questions. Several sessions at the Population 
Association of America (PAA) covered many aspects of Census 2020 
planning and were well-attended with lively discussions. I’m writing to 
you today about plans for the American Community Survey (ACS). Please 
join me in asking the Census Bureau to clarify their plans for ACS 
disclosure avoidance control and dissemination. We want to protect the 
usability of the important public use data that we all use in our work.

*Here's the short version: please sign our open letter 
<https://ipums.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=775cbf39c77535e784cdfd6f9&id=0222dbb69f&e=36b61efbdf>

to the Census Bureau asking for transparency in changes to the ACS*. For 
the long version, please keep reading and visit our webpage on this 
topic 
<https://ipums.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=775cbf39c77535e784cdfd6f9&id=f6acb67c09&e=36b61efbdf>.

The Census Bureau is planning an extensive revision of procedures for 
ensuring the confidentiality of public use data, based on a method known 
as "differential privacy." The new disclosure avoidance system will rely 
on injecting noise into the data, and the new procedures may reduce or 
even eliminate the usability of public use data for many common research 
and policy applications. For more information, see our recent working 
paper 
<https://ipums.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=775cbf39c77535e784cdfd6f9&id=322a2fd9db&e=36b61efbdf>

and forthcoming article 
<https://ipums.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=775cbf39c77535e784cdfd6f9&id=f1bb775c87&e=36b61efbdf>.

The American Community Survey (ACS) is the single most important 
statistical source in the social sciences. They generate 9,000 articles 
a year, and a new paper appears about every hour. If these data become 
unusable, unreliable or available only through restricted-access 
environments because of the new confidentiality measures, that would 
have profound consequences across many areas of demographic, economic, 
and policy research.

Acknowledging the importance of the ACS data, we are seeking 
clarification and engagement with the research community from the Census 
Bureau. Our open letter 
<https://ipums.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=775cbf39c77535e784cdfd6f9&id=f257c84869&e=36b61efbdf>

requests:

 1. A public timeline for changes to the ACS summary files and microdata.
 2. Engagement with the research community in advance of any changes.
 3. Public versions of new noise-infused ACS summary files and microdata
    for 2005-2017 so that researchers can assess their usefulness by
    replicating existing studies.

If you support these requests, please sign our letter 
<https://ipums.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=775cbf39c77535e784cdfd6f9&id=9710166dfb&e=36b61efbdf>.

Thank you,

Steven Ruggles
IPUMS Director
Regents Professor of History and Population Studies

IPUMS 
<https://ipums.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=775cbf39c77535e784cdfd6f9&id=c094a4d994&e=36b61efbdf>

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Fwd: Sign our open letter to Census Bureau leadership about ACS data