RFD: #output vs #indicator vs #value

[David Megginson]

At our last meeting of the HXL Working Group, I agreed to bring this question to the general list to seek advice from the HXL community on resolving possible confusion among the #output, #indicator, and #value hashtags. Can you help?

HXL 1.0 has the following recommended core hashtags:

#output - for the output of an aid activity (e.g. number of blanks delivered, people vaccinated, etc)

#indicator - for information about an indicator in an assessment or similar context. (We also have #affected, #inneed, #targeted, #reached, and #population specifically for the common case of humanitarian-caseload reporting).

For HXL 1.1, we're also proposing adding

#value - a financial value (always numeric)

Unfortunately, we're already starting to see occasional confusion among these three, and would be grateful for suggestions on how to clarify them, or whether we should even make different recommendations. Here are some possible hashtag+attribute combinations:

#output+unit - the unit of output in a 3W (e.g. "blankets", "personal-hygiene kits")

#output+num - the number of units output in a 3W

#indicator+name - the text description of an indicator (e.g. "Number of safe waste disposal sites identified in each targeted debris removal area")

#indicator+code - the machine-readable code for an indicator (e.g. "R-12")

#indicator+value - the value of the indicator (easily confused with #value).

#value+budget - the budget of an aid activity

#value+price - the price of an item in a market

Thanks, and all the best,

David