Statistics Canada's publishing initiatives

Canadians are increasingly using mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, to access Government of Canada information and services.

To keep pace with this demand and to better serve users, Statistics Canada is now in the early stages of developing a mobile application to modernize the way data are published.

This consultation helped us gain insight on users' online behaviours and preferences and will support the agency's objectives to provide information in multiple formats and from multiple access points.

Respondent profile

When asked which user group they identify with, 49% of respondents identified in the program, policy and advocacy group, 18% as the education and research group, 18% as members of the general population, 10% as businesses, 7% as data services, 6% as other, and 1% as media.

Results

The 1004 responses to the consultation revealed that 44% of users read the news online in the early morning (5:00am to 8:30am); 44% in the morning (8:30am to 12:00pm); 18% in the afternoon (12:00pm to 5:00pm); 30% in the early evening (5:00pm to 9:00pm); 24% in the evening (9:00pm to midnight); and 3% overnight (midnight to 5:00am).

Furthermore, it was shown that the most important features or functionalities if Statistics Canada had a mobile application would be to ability to search for content (74%), save content (48%), share content (46%), receive notifications (44%), and be able to read offline (37%).

Respondents mobile applications preferences are that 54% would download a Statistics Canada mobile application; 63% would like to be notified of relevant news stories as they are published; 44% prefer mobile notifications over email notifications; and 40% prefer to download a mobile application on their mobile device to access news information, rather than navigate to a website.

Finally, 53% of respondents answered that they want to be notified if Statistics Canada publishes new data or articles throughout the day.