Citing downloaded INSEE Death Index datasets

By History-Hunter on Tue, 12/06/2022 - 18:26

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I would like to cite an entry in a Death Index dataset downloaded from the French INSEE site. I've tried to use the format for a webpage, but citing an entry contained in a downloaded ZIP-file is a bit out of the ordinary. Could I get some feedback on the following attempt or perhaps some suggestions on a better format?

I've gone directly to the source, since I prefer to see the actual published data (when possible) and not something that has been "massaged" to fit a database. Unfortunately; this takes me well outside my comfort zone with respect to applying the Evidence Explained rules.

First Reference Note:

Institute national de la statistique et des études économiques (INSEE), Fichiers décennaux des personnes décédées depuis 1970 (https://www.insee.fr/fr/information/4769950 : downloaded 6 December 2022) > "Fichier des décès - années 1990 à 1999" [deces-1990-1999-csv.zip], deces-1992.csv, entry for "MOREL*HENRI ULYSSE/"; citing information received from the municipalities. Provides the following decoded content; Morel (Henri Ulysse), male, born 27 Jul 1916, Fresnoy-en-Thelle (60259), died 14 March 1992, Beaumont-sur-Oise (95052), death acte no. 87.

Just a late-breaking thought...

The contents of the downloaded material is essentially a set of "databases" of information extracted from municipal submissions. So; could one treat the downloaded ZIP file as if it were a downloaded version of a published database? That is; use a first layer modelled after the citation example for the CD/DVD version of the IGI (see sec. 7.34 of EE book) and add a second layer stating "downloaded as...", as if one were downloading a published book. It seems that this approach might be less messy and highlight the nature of the downloaded material.

example:

Fichiers décennaux des personnes décédées depuis 1970, spreadsheets (France: Institute national de la statistique et des études économiques), “Fichier des décès - années 1990 à 1999”, entry for Henri Ulysse Morel, died 14 March 1992; available as ZIP file at Institute national de la statistique et des études économiques (https://www.insee.fr/fr/information/4769950 : downloaded 6 December 2022). 

Submitted byEEon Wed, 12/07/2022 - 09:33

History-Hunter, the first part of your citation can be followed easily enough, although EE would handle a few things differently. An Evidence Style citation, for First Reference Note, would use this for the first layer:

   1. "Fichiers décennaux des personnes décédées depuis 1970," database, Institute national de la statistique et des études économiques, INSEE (https://www.insee.fr/fr/information/4769950 : downloaded 6 December 2022) > "Fichier des décès – années 1990 à 1999"  >  deces-1992.csv  > entry 188290, "MOREL*HENRI ULYSSE/"

By way of explanations:

  • You place "Fichiers décennaux des personnes décédées depuis 1970” in italics in the field for Website Title. However, that page is not a standalone website. It is one web page at the website entitled INSEE. (i.e., the equivalent of a chapter in a book or an article in a journal).
  • Given that web pages at websites can offer many different types of things, we need to indicate what it represents: a database, a database with images, an article, etc.
  • After your first waypoint  you add more explanatory material in square editorial brackets:

"Fichier des décès - années 1990 à 1999" [deces-1990-1999-csv.zip],

I’m having difficulty seeing how that added bracketed material clarifies the citation. To me, it confuses it. Repeating the years in a different format, along with an explanation that the file is a .zip, is not an essential element of the citation here.

  • In citing the database entry for Henri Ulysse Morel, EE would include the database entry number also.

Your second layer then states:

…; citing information received from the municipalities.

Your reader is likely to think: “What information?  What municipalities? What’s the source for this one entry? If you use this wording in this layer, it might carry a bit more explanation (say, generically citing information ...) or you might use quotation marks if “information received from the municipalities” is an exact quote.

However … the sentence you added to your citation suggests that the citing layer could indeed be more specific. Your added sentence is this:

Provides the following decoded content; Morel (Henri Ulysse), male, born 27 Jul 1916, Fresnoy-en-Thelle (60259), died 14 March 1992, Beaumont-sur-Oise (95052), death acte no. 87.

At this point your reader is wondering Where does it provide that “decoded content”?  How did you decode it from the numbers that appear in each column of the .cvs file? Is there a key online that you used?

Aside from the decoding issue, why would the “citing …” layer not directly say that the database cites “Beaumont-sur-Oise (95052), death acte no. 87?

Submitted byHistory-Hunteron Wed, 12/07/2022 - 11:01

Thank you. Your explanation is appreciated.

I see that the first attempt was indeed the correct format; although in need of a few tweaks.

The site does provide a hyperlink relating to how to decode the data, but the spreadsheet column headers do a reasonably good of defining the content. That said; perhaps the following would make it clearer for a reader.

"Fichiers décennaux des personnes décédées depuis 1970", database, Institute national de la statistique et des études économiques, INSEE (https://www.insee.fr/fr/information/4769950 : downloaded 6 December 2022) > "Fichier des décès – années 1990 à 1999"  >  deces-1992.csv  > entry 188290, "MOREL*HENRI ULYSSE/"; citing "1 [male], 9160727 [born 27 Jul 1916], 60259 [birthplace INSEE code], FRESNOY-EN-THELLE [birth commune], 19920314 [died 14 March 1992], 95052 [death place INSEE code for BEAUMONT-SUR-OISE], 87 [death act no.]".