IPUMS News, Year 2000

Contents of this page

Enhanced Extract System

Sun Microsystems Grant

Minnesota Population Center

www.ipums.org

1920 PUMS release

IPUMS documentation now out of print

Access to multi-state extracts on 5% samples

IPUMS-International

New contemporary U.S. data

International Microdata Access Group (IMAG)

1880 complete count file available soon

Enhanced Extract System Installed 

The new, enhanced IPUMS extract system -- which has been available in a beta test version for the past year -- was installed on the main production site on August 18, 2000. A key feature of the new system - one that is quickly apparent to users - is the ability to retrieve and modify previous extract requests. Less obvious to users are the efficiency enhancements resulting from the more powerful hardware used to run the system, made possible by a grant from Sun Microsystems.

Users registered to use either of the previous extract systems will not have to reregister to use the new extract system. Extract requests less than a month old - whether submitted through the old production system or the beta system - have been retained. Data, codebook and command files for these extracts are now available from a user-specific summary site and will remain available for a two-week transition period. To access these files, click on either the Download Extracts" link under "Data" (on the menu on the left) or on the "Get Data" button (on the blue navigation bar at the top). After September 1^st, 2000, all extract request files will be retained so users can modify them for resubmission. However, the data, codebook and command files will revert to a one-week retention period.

If you encounter any problems with this new site, please report them to ipums@pop.umn.edu.

Sun Microsystems Equipment Grant 

The Historical Census Project is the recipient of an Academic Equipment Grant from Sun Microsystems to help develop and distribute the world's largest international census database. The grant, in the form of high-performance computers and storage space, will be used to integrate and distribute census samples of individuals and households from eleven countries on six continents. The computing power required by the project will easily be provided by the computers in the grant. For more details, click here.

Minnesota Population Center 

The IPUMS project has moved from the History department to the new Minnesota Population Center! Come visit our website. 

www.ipums.org  

The IPUMS project has a new URL.  You can access the IPUMS website at www.ipums.org (or you can continue to use the old URL: www.ipums.umn.edu). 

1920 PUMS release 

The complete 1% sample for the 1920 census has been released. 

IPUMS documentation now out of print 

The print version of the IPUMS documentation is now out of print.   You may still order IPUMS documentation on the web for free or on CDRom for $25 per CD.   Email your CDRom orders to ipums@pop.umn.edu.

Access to multi-state extracts on 5% samples 

If your research requires running extract requests against the 5% samples – and you’re tired of running 50 separate extracts – you can now get special user access which will allow you to run multi-state, 5% sample extracts.  Simply email the IPUMS User Support staff (ipums@pop.umn.edu) with a one-sentence description of your research project and they will change your access. 

NOTE: Extracts get large quickly when drawn from the 5% samples.  You must keep your data file to under 600 mb -- either by limiting variables or selecting cases -- since  the extract system will not write a file larger than that.  When it hits the 600 mb limit, it finishes writing the case it is on and then simply stops with no warning and no indication of how many cases were left unwritten. We are working on an extract system feature that will estimate the size of the data file before you submit the extract request.  Until this feature is ready, researchers are advised to do a test on the 1% files and then eliminate variables or cases if this test extract is larger than 120 mb.

IPUMS-International 

The Historical Census Project has been awarded a 5-year grant from the National Science Foundation to expand the scope of the IPUMS.  In its first phase, the new project will incorporate current and historical census data from seven foreign countries. Some of the data  under consideration for phase I are:

International partners in this new enterprise  include:  International Microdata Access Group (IMAG, see the following feature); the Australian Consortium for Political and Social Research Incorporated (ACPSRI)  Latin American and Caribbean Demographic Center (CELADE); Norwegian Historical Data Center (NHCD); University of Texas Population Studies Center; African Census Analysis Project, Population Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania; Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and Survey Research (CCSR), University of Manchester (UK).

New contemporary U.S. data 

IPUMS-International will incorporate additonal data for the U.S.  The public use sample from  the 2000 census, along with the American Community Survey from 2000 to 2002 and 528 monthly samples of the Current Population Survey from 1964-2004, will be added to the IPUMS.  With these additions, the database will have a much stronger contemporary focus than the current IPUMS and will be especially useful for national and local studies addressing policy questions.

International Microdata Access Group (IMAG) 

IMAG is one of the international partners cooperating with the Historical Census Project on the development of IPUMS-International.   IMAG was formed by an international group of scholars who work with population data.  Its mission is to preserve original population data, microdata, and their supporting documentation, and to improve access to these data.  For further information, contact Dr. Lisa Y. Dillon,  Institute of Canadian Studies, 52 University Street, P.O. Box 450, Stn. A, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1N 6N5 (ldillon@uottawa.ca).

1880 complete count file available soon 

The Historical Census Project has a cooperative agreement with the Church of the Latter Day Saints to make 100% of the 1880 census available to academic researchers.  For the first time, this allows linking of cases from 1870 and potentially 1900 samples.  A preliminary version will be available in September 2000.  This project is supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.