Annotations for Data Almanac 2006
Baker & Taylor
The Data Almanac takes America's most popular reference book, the Almanac, and extends it by publishing the underlying data. Hundreds of topical facts in the printed text are supplemented by a CD-ROM with a huge collection of general interest databases including data from the U.S. Census and the most recent U.S. Birth and Death databases. User-friendly software program allows the reader to query the databases at ultra fast speed.
The Data Almanac takes America's most popular reference book and multiplies it by the power of your imagination. For 280 years Almanacs have published information on every facet of life. The Data Almanac goes one step further by publishing the underlying
Harmony Book Pub
Low Cost Access: The Data Almanac contains public domain databases that may be freely distributed because of America's Freedom of Information Act. Though this data is free it is not cheap. Computer disks must be purchased from different government agencies at varying prices. To purchase the databases contained on The Data Almanac CD-ROM the reader would have to spend 15 times as much money - $750.Some of the databases packaged with The Data Almanac require the user to buy a computer programs to use them which may cost up to $3,500. The Data Almanac not only contains the data but a demonstration copy of the lightning fast program QStat and an instruction manual. All for $49.95. Lightning Speed: Even the largest databases packaged with the Data Almanac can be analyzed at lightning speeds. For example, the for million births in the 2002 Birth database can be analyzed in under 15 seconds on a typical notebook computer. Convenience: Typically when users obtain public domain databases they must learn to use different computer programs supplied by different government agencies. In some cases they must buy a separate program from a private company. With The Data Almanac the user only needs to learn to use one user-friendly tool. Customization: If any of the statistical tables in The Data Almanac's printed text interest you it is possible to load a small file of instructions used to create that table. For example one table shows the detailed breakdown of America's weapon's exports to Middle Eastern Countries. Want to run the same table for Latin America? You can load the table definition and change the countries that are included.