Heiðrún Sigurðardóttir, IT and Dissemination, Statistics Iceland, Heidrun.Sigurdardottir@statice.is and Þorbjörg Magnúsdóttir, IT and Dissemination, Statistics Iceland,Thorbjorg.Magnusdottir@statice.is

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Information services have largely improved during the last decades. Statistics Iceland publishes almost all its content on the web and most statistical institutes spend a lot of time and energy making statistics more easily accessible. How far should we go attempting to satisfy user needs? There are various tools and techniques available today to interact with users on the web, e.g. Wiki and blog, social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter and user comments. What is the best way to reach users? And is user involvement something we really want?
Statistics Iceland will make an attempt to involve users on the website by allowing them to make comments on the site, both regarding news items and web tables. The purpose of the experiment is to find out whether user involvement can help us improve our website, both regarding content and structure as well as bringing us one step closer to the user. Will a statistical institute benefit from such direct user involvement or is it more pain than gain? The results of the experiment will be discussed.