Objective

The objective of Quetelet.net was the serialization and dissemination of Belgian statistical data by creating a database of innovative data. Concretely, paper data, which have taken many forms over the years, have been implemented in a computer tool capable of providing the answer to the quantified question in a few clicks.

The “Quetelet.net” application thus presents three major innovations :

  • It permits to examine series over the long term. In Belgium, in criminal matters, there are several statistical series published between 1831 and today, in various formats (papier, .pdf, excel, html). These statistical series were encoded in the “Quetelet.net” tool
  • The second innovation relates to the very characteristics of the database. This one is programmed in MySQL language and is generically designed. We can therefore encode any type of encrypted data : judicial statistics, election results, economic indicators, etc. The system manages any format .csv. For flipcharts, it was therefore necessary to go through two intermediate phases of copying the tables : digitize the "paper" tables and copy them into Excel.
  • Finally, the system makes it possible to atomize the traditional statistical tables and to give direct access to figures, defined by all these variables. It is therefore possible to query the figures directly without having to review all the tables for the years considered..

Methodology

Before being able to encode this data in the database, it was first necessary to go through a phase of analysis and understanding of all the variables that defined the figures ; the objective of the tool being to make the understanding of these statistics accessible to everyone. This conceptualization phase was essential and necessary for the proper functioning of the application.. After the tables have been encoded, that each number has received the definition ad hoc, it was imperative to check the encoding, and correct the errors that had inevitably slipped in at one point in the process.

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Partners

Federal scientific establishments:

INCC : Expertise criminologique

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State Archives : Expertise en « numérisation et communication »

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Public services:

Statbel : Expertise in the production and dissemination of statistics

Criminal Policy Service : Expertise in the production and dissemination of statistics

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Research centers:
Centre d’histoire du droit et de la justice: Historical and documentary expertise logoCHDJ2
Precise: Database expertise logoprecise
Cita: Organizational expertiselogocita
Vakgroep Nieuwste Geschiedenis: Historical and documentary expertise. logougent