Methods

How The Mine works

What we collect. Public statistics about Hawaiʻi and its Pacific partners, published by government agencies such as the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Census Bureau, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Energy Information Administration, the Federal Reserve and the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. The full list, with each agency's terms and required notice, is at /v1/sources.

How we collect it. On a fixed weekly schedule, one request at a time, within each agency's published limits, and identifying ourselves to the agency. We never use logins, and we never work around a site that limits automated access; where a source doesn't allow automated collection, we leave it out or enter its figures by hand, credited.

What we keep. The file each agency sent us, saved before we read it. Every figure as it was published. When an agency revises a figure, we keep the earlier value and record the new one beside it, so you can see what changed and when.

What every figure shows. The period it covers, when we retrieved it, its source, and any notice the source requires. If a source hasn't published on its usual schedule, the figure is marked late and shows the last period available.

What we calculate. Some figures are our own arithmetic on an agency's numbers — a share, a ratio, a change over a year, a price converted to another currency. Each is labelled our calculation, and the agency series it comes from is named. Groupings of figures or laws by industry are our classification, labelled as ours.

Coverage, stated exactly. A figure for the United States is never presented as a figure for Hawaiʻi. For example, arrivals by country of residence from the I-94 program are counted for the whole United States.

What we never do. We never publish information about individuals, never combine statistics with records that could single out a person or business, and never estimate a figure an agency has withheld. Laws are listed by their official titles with links to the official text; we don't summarize what they do or say whom they apply to.

How to cite. See How to cite below, or the line on each series page.

Corrections. If you think a figure is wrong, write to theconduit@tkscmlimited.com with the series and period. We check it against the agency's own file and record any correction.

No claim to original U.S. Government works. Facts, not investment or other advice.