Slashdot Mirror
Computers May Thwart 2010 Census
smooth wombat writes "With the Constitutionally mandated census of 2010 just around the corner, it appears the Commerce Department's attempt to use handheld computers to gather census information may not come to fruition. Originally, the contract was awarded at a cost of $596 million to Harris Corporation. However, the GAO has now estimated the revised contract, now costing $647 million, could grow to $2 billion and the equipment may still not work properly. There is consideration that the paper and pencil method might have to be employed to complete the census."
I have this gut feeling that it would only compound the issue.
The article says they only had a 1% failure rate in field tests. I bet the crew of 20 to 30 year old tech guys had no issues with it. They under esimated the end users. Yes, some systems are very simple but you still find people that can't figure them out. Not only were more computers "breaking", the support calls would have been greater then expected.
With electronic, you now have to pay for the support of that electronic component.
Im a gamer, not a grammer major. This post is full of spelling and grammer mistakes.
I agree with your sentiment, however the problem with the "modern" census is, for many citizens, it goes far beyond the simple enumeration of all citizens proscribed by the Constitution and has become a multipage survey asking questions about plumbing, commute times, what languages are spoken at home, who raises your children, where you work, etc. It's so extensive, the government estimates it will take a person 38 minutes to complete the survey!
See for yourself: http://www.census.gov/dmd/www/pdf/d02p.pdf
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
True story I was just told today: Girl working in Procurement at a US Army Depot is sent a list of parts needed for a radio. The radio is supposed to cost $30 each. She brings the list to her superior officer to get it OKed, and he notices the resistors listed are +/- 5% tolerance. He decides that the army deserves the very best and changes it to +/- 2%. It then has to be sent to his superior too, who makes the same decision and changes all the resistors to +/- 1%. In the end, the radios cost $250 each.
Our last census had the option of filling out the census forms online. I didn't find out how many actually did it, but they were originally estimating 20% usage. Instead of getting the full booklet to fill out, you got an access code.
http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/04/27/online-census060427.html
While searching for a reference article, i found that there were some issues with Linux users, although they attempted to correct it.
http://www.linux.com/articles/54366
Maybe now, but in 2000 it was the Democrats that supported statistical sampling in the census.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE4D9123BF930A1575AC0A961958260
-Darkshadow (There was a thing called Heaven; but all the same they used to drink enormous quantities of alcohol.)
Read the original version of the Constitution. There are provisions for fractional people.
They'll still use computers for all the tabulation at census offices. They're just talking about replacing the traditional paper-and-pencil questionnaires used by Non-Response Follow-Up Enumerators with a handheld computer. If the computers aren't ready, they'll go back to the optical scan forms like they used in 2000. As an aside, I was a NRFU Enumerator for the 2000 census, and suggest it as an excellent part-time job for students, retirees, those with flexible schedules, etc. It's good pay for being outside in the spring, talking with your neighbors, and taking part in a fundamental piece of American democracy.
That would be a bullshit story - as the Army buys complete radios, not components. It would also be bullshit because when the Army does buy components, its buys them to MIL-SPEC, no more and no less.
1. Because legally you can't tie an SSN in such a manner, the only legal purpose for government requesting an SSN is for tax and SS purposes. The only time the government can touch your SSN is when the act can be construed as touching one of those items somehow. This is how the states were forced to change from providing licenses with DL#s based on your SSN to 'random' DL#s.
2. Because participating in a census is voluntary and thus any numbers you garnered in a digital census would be skewed to unfairly over represent those with easy access to a computer, unless you simply used the computer as the 'alternative' to the forms you currently fill out and send in.
3. Because not everyone has an SSN.
4. Because a census wants to capture everyone, including those without SSNs or computers.
Agreed. Education helps enormously, but while you can force-educate, you can't force-motivate. Also, it's hard to see the forest from the trees. On the flip side, there was a study done that many people continue their way of life due to the fact that their family and safety net are all blue collar workers, and would rather stay with them than risk alienating them. Like the 4% unemployment rate being a steady factor, the lowest quintile is always going to rate drastically lower than the other four. Yay humanity.
moox. for a new generation.
Of course, we'll never have 100%. I'd never expect that. But with no other evidence, it's just not enough to convict.
The trick is to find the nosiest elderly neighbor (there's always one) and use her or him as your informant.
It was a great job. I was a senior in college saving up for grad school last Census. Up to that point, it was the highest paying job I'd ever had. I learned a lot about statistics and real estate; knowledge that has come in handy since.
There's a perfect xkcd for my sig but I'm too lazy to look it up. sudo someone go find it.