ISI - International Statistical Institute
Newsletter Volume 26, No. 1 (76) 2002

Request for Statistical Disaster and Success Stories

The Statistical Society of Australia Inc. (SSAI) is preparing a nation-wide public awareness campaign, primarily to support professional accreditation, but more generally, of course, to promote awareness of the importance of professionalism in the practice of Statistics. We shall be targeting groups such as Government, employers, contractors of statistical services, statisticians, students and prospective students. 

In preparing the campaign, we need to accumulate a collection of stories, both of successes due to good statistical practice, and of disasters that arose either from bad practice or from failure to use Statistics. For example, the Challenger disaster provides a classic example of the failure to use statistical methods. 

We are appealing to statisticians around the world to send us such materials. 

What we require is a description of (say) at most a page, together with references to any publications that provide verification. 

We would also appreciate direct references to any books or journal articles addressing such matters. 

Please send any responses to: 

SSAI Business Office 
P.O. Box 85 
AINSLIE ACT 2602 
AUSTRALIA 
Fax: (02) 6249 8266 International +61 2 6249 8266 
E-mail: ssai@ozemail.com.au 

Thank you for your assistance. All contributions will be acknowledged. We would hope to be able to make the consolidated information generally available. 

Nicholas Fisher 
President, SSAI

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