Download all the data in Community Insight at LSOA level

You can now download all the data (more than 900 datasets) in Community Insight for every Lower Layer Super Output Area (LSOA) in the country. In addition to being able to explore data within Community Insight, we hope that access to all the raw data in one place will make further analysis even easier.

How will the All Data Download work?

You can now download a CSV file which contains all the data in Community Insight for all LSOAs in the country. This file will be updated on a quarterly basis, so that you always have the latest data at your fingertips. We will send a mailout to all users every time the file is updated to keep you in the loop.

The CSV file (roughly 300 MB in size) can be found on the Reports tab

All Data download on Community Insight

What does the file contain?

The file contains data for all the indicators in Community Insight at LSOA level, as well as the associated metadata (e.g. name, description, date, source).

How to find the LSOAs  you care about

In Column B, we have included the local authority names. Filter this column to search only for the local authorities you are interested in, in order to make the file more manageable.

If you need a reminder of how LSOAs are defined and how they are created check out this handy geographies guide 

 

Further analysis

The All Data Download makes further analysis easier outside of Community Insight. For example anybody within your organisation could very quickly and easily:

  • Use Excel or other visualisation tools to produce your own charts and tables for use in your analysis
  • Identify which (if any) of your LSOAs are in the 10% most deprived nationally for the index of multiple deprivation.

And of course the analysts among us could delve a lot further into the data, using the Rank command in Excel for benchmarking or using conditional formatting to see whether the areas you care about score relatively high or low compared to other areas, as a couple of examples.

We would love to know how you are using the All Data Download and if you have any ideas and tips to share with the rest of Community Insight user base, please tell us on support@ocsi.co.uk

 

Download data for all your stock groups

If you want to download data for all your existing stock groups in Community Insight, you can use the dashboard export feature.

Learn how to export data from the dashboard

Full guidance & feedback

For more information on using the All Data Download, please read through the Knowledge Base.

If you have any thoughts & feedback on this new functionality then do get in touch. We’d love to hear how you are going to use the All Data Download and if there is anything we can do to make the process of accessing and analysing the data any easier.

You can get in touch with the Support Team on support@ocsi.co.uk or on 01273 810270.

 

Better communication around report generation

We have made some improvements to the way that Community Insight manages and communicates the status of report generation. Previously, when you requested a report for a stock group, it would show as report pending. However, if the stock group area was not valid (e.g. because it was too small) and unable to create a report, then the report would remain pending indefinitely.  This was understandably frustrating and to remedy this, we have improved the status messages so that if a stock group is not valid, this is now highlighted, so that you can edit the stock group and generate a new report.

Why do reports get stuck pending?

Generating a report should take roughly 10 -15 minutes. If the report has been pending for a lot longer than this, there may be a problem with the way the stock group was created or there may be a backlog of reports waiting to be generated.

Stock group too small to produce data

When you create a stock group by drawing on the map, you can draw an area as large or small as you like. However, in order to generate a report, the area must be large enough to produce data. For this,  the area must cover at least 50% of the residential postcodes in at least one output area. On average an output area has an average population of about 310 residents. If you are not familiar with output areas or statistical geographies then check out this handy beginners guide to statistical geographies.

 

An output area in Teeside

An output area in Teeside

A lot of reports have been requested at once

Sometimes your reports will show as pending for a long time if a large number of reports have been generated at once, in which case your reports will be added to a queue. While we cannot prevent this from happening, we have improved the way we monitor this to ensure that we can step in and speed up the process if necessary.

New status Updates

You will see the following changes when generating reports in Community Insight.

Immediately after creating a stock group, the Report button will read as Report Unavailable and not be clickable until the area has been successfully created (this should take a couple of minutes).

report unavailable

If the area you have created is too small, the Report button will read as Area failed. You will not be able to generate a report for that area. You then need to edit the area so that it is large enough to generate a report.

Area failed

If the area has been successfully created, you will see the Request  Report button.

Request report

Once clicked, it will read Report Pending until the report is generated and published in the Reports tab

How to fix a stock group that is too small

If you do create an area which is too small and you see the Area Failed text, then you can just edit the area and expand it until it is large enough to create data.

Get in touch!

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us on support@ocsi.co.uk or give us a call on 01273 810270

Local differences in internet engagement

What are the local differences in how people engage with the internet?

Digital Exclusion is not a new topic. We know that even today, when people in the UK check their smartphones, on average, every 12 minutes of the waking day, there is still a proportion of the population that lack access to the internet and the skills to be able to use it (as well as those people who actively choose to disengage with the internet).

We also know that many of those that are digitally excluded are already likely to experience other challenges, such as the elderly, unemployed, people with disabilities and those in social housing. However, there is a lack of data available at a local level on those groups that are digitally excluded and where they are.

Beyond the issue of digital exclusion, greater insight into how different people are using the internet can only be a good thing, and another tool that communications team can use to ensure that their messages are being delivered in the right way to the right people. This information could be used across the public and third sector to identify the most appropriate channels to communicate through, measure uptake of digital services and target digital literacy programmes.

The ESRC Consumer Data research Centre (CDRC) at UCL has developed a Classification of Internet Use – how people living in different parts of the country interact with the internet. Although this dataset alone doesn’t fill the data gap and can’t answer all questions relating to digital skills, it is great to see datasets that tackle this issue at small area level. It is equally great that the data is updated regularly, providing an up-to-date picture of internet use, as well as insights into how areas are changing over time.

These datasets are now available for you to use in Community Insight.

About the data

The classification uses data from the British Population Survey (BPS), which provides information on the behavioural characteristics of the population regarding various aspects of internet use. These are linked with demographic data from the Census and supplemented with data from online retailers and infrastructure data from Ofcom on download speed.

Every LSOA in England has been classified into 10 groups, detailed below.

IUC (1)

CDRC have also produced a pen portrait for each of these groups, providing a profile of how each group interacts with the internet in regards to e.g typical hardware owned, how often they use the internet and the extent to which they use the internet for communication and entertainment.

Of course, some caution should be taken when using this data in isolation to target services, as whole LSOAs are being assigned single classification types and there will likely be notable differences in internet behaviours within an LSOA.

How to access the data

You can download the raw data at LSOA level and Pen Portraits directly from the CDRC website once you have registered for an account. You can also explore the data in interactive maps from CDRC too without registering for an account.

We have also added each of these classifications into Community Insight. As we have mentioned previously, these datasets give a really important insight into how people engage with the internet – but they are not the whole story.

Ewithdrawn (1)

To add these datasets to your maps and dashboard, use the Manage Indicators functionality. Search the Unassigned theme for ‘Internet User Classification’. You will be able to add each of the 10 groups to your maps and dashboards as individual indicators.

If you have any questions on these datasets, or suggestions for new ones to add, please get in touch on support@ocsi.co.uk