Thread by @AlexUsherHESA

So I have spent the evening looking up data on non-academic staff data, as I did five years ago. @ubc and @usask used to have good disclosure but now don't. SFU has same disclosure uses a worse format that makes accessing old data difficult. UNB is better. Everyone else is same.

Also, I should just say that the true rock stars of data transparency in this country are Carleton and York. God love them, they have data going back 30 years - and in Carleton's case fully machine-readable. McMaster not bad either.

I am going to have to work out a way to rank Canadian universities on key data transparency. Or maybe just a shit list.

Quebec universities are all terrible, will end up at bottom. UBC is worst outside Quebec.

One irritating trend: some unis have gone to using data cubes, tableau, whatever - which is great - but these rarely go back much more than five years, and the new format often makes it harder to obtain older data that used to be easy to find. These people are also on my list.

Also: institutions that change data definitions for no reason. When Calgary switched to Tableau, suddenly the headcounts of their support staff and professional staff went though the roof but academics stayed same (I have data from old and new systems for 2014 so can see diff)