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Australia Conducting Electronic Census
ajdlinux writes "On 8th August 2006, the Australian Bureau of Statistics will be conducting the 2006 Census of Population and Housing. The big difference this year is that you will now be able to fill out your census online. The technology, developed by IBM, cost AU$9 million and is designed to be accessible to screen readers, and, unlike similar efforts in Canada, does not require any special software.
However, there is concern that the 2011 eCensus could be integrated with the proposed Human Services Access Card. Will this turn the Census from an anonymous snapshot into one connected with name-identified information?"
I'd like to see the hardware they have to handle the web traffic. There will be litterally millions of people trying to access the webpage on the day. I'd really like to submit my information electronically but I'm not going to wait around for ages to do it if the system dies in the arse.
I'd rather fill out the form if its going to take me just as much time to submit it online.
Assuming the system stands up to the traffic I'm all for it. I can type my details much faster then write them and I don't have to talk to the census collector when they come to get it.
Also:
Jedi as your religion FTW!
I would think another problem is that it will mean the census is no longer a snapshot of a single day in Australia.
Check out this article.
If the pattern goes 9am, 10am, 11am, why isn't noon 12am?
I Already had Java installed. How hard is it to install Java and a web browser? Worked fine. The only sickening thing about the Canadian census was it was being handled by an american firm. Like I want my information sifted through by the american government just because it goes through an american proxy and is subject to american laws? Screw that.
That's a common practice, and it can lead to some amusing events. One (sort of) lucky census collector got to briefly ride on one of the world's biggest cruise liners during NZ's census earlier this year.
I can say the they have done quite a good job. It is pretty slick. Some DHTML (mostly disabling questions based on earlier answers).
I imagine it will seriously cut down the amount of time taken to process the census. I have a friend who works on this stuff so I might ask him.
One complaint they have is that lots of people are filling out the census before the actual census night. This is allowed, you are answering questions about what will be happening on a night in the future.
meh
There was a study done recently that compared quality of life and certain indicators of "progressive societies" to percentage of atheists. Such a study can only use the statistics as published by the ABS to garner information about how many atheists are in Australia. Religious figures use statistics as support for their drive to make secular law similar to religious law.
The ABS cannot make assumptions about what people "actually mean". If you put down "Jedi" or "Pastafarian", then your form will be coded as "other", so you'll add to the estimates for odd cults.
The Census is a serious piece of scientific investigation. The data from it gets used in thousands of different ways. It's not a tool of governmental control, but a way to help our government to be representative. If you give incorrect information, you are, to an admittedly small degree, reducing the government's awareness and reason for caring about people in your situation.
Politas