Standardized and comparable indicators are vital for evidence-based policy making. Countries at all levels of socio-economic development are greatly benefitted by appropriate data tracking and analysis. ICT related indicators pose unique challenges to effectively measure, particularly when making trans-national or global comparisons. In many developing countries, collecting and analyzing this information is challenging. For this reason, increasing emphasis on these points has been seen at the international and global level.

This workshop will focus on the regional implementation of the ICT related components of standard measurement models, including indicator definition and measurement models. Index computation, context and use in policy making will also be discussed. In addition, the appropriate use and supplementation of these measurement models via benchmarking and target metric analysis will be discussed. Case studies at the national level will also be examined, in order to highlight lessons learned and best practices. By addressing these issues, attendees will acquire increased capacity to implement currently established measurement models in a globally and regionally-appropriate way.

The main objective of the Workshop is to examine Information Society measurement models presently available to the ESCWA region, focusing on standardization of methodologies and normalization. The workshop will discuss possible improvements to the currently established models to facilitate better benchmarking between ESCWA member countries, and region-to-region comparability.