Some time ago I fell into the niche overlap of statistics, data management and computer programming. At the intersection of these three fields are two standards and one confused guy from Australia.

A lot of the work and research I do into open standards revolves around using DDI and SDMX for data capture and sharing. If you have issues working with these standards and are in Canberra, I’m probably as good person to talk to as I’m pretty experienced with them, and usually have lots of free time to sit down, drink beer and discuss data.

Data Documentation Initiative (DDI) is an effort to create an international standard for describing data from the social, behavioral, and economic sciences. Expressed in XML, the DDI metadataspecification now supports the entire research data life cycle. DDI metadata accompanies and enables data conceptualization, collection, processing, distribution, discovery, analysis, repurposing, and archiving. (from the DDI Website)

Statistical Data and Metadata eXchange (SDMX) is an initiative to foster standards for the exchange of statistical information. (From the SDMX Website)