Australia Conducting Electronic Census 174
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?"
Special software for Canada? (Score:5, Informative)
Fellow Canuckleheads, did you have to install anything?
Re:Special software for Canada? (Score:2, Informative)
Fellow Canuckleheads, did you have to install anything?
Yeah, I had to install this fancy program called a 'web browser'.
Seriously, I did mine using Safari on OS X, and I surf with plugins disabled. It could still have used Java, but that's it.
Re:Special software for Canada? (Score:1)
Re:Special software for Canada? (Score:2)
Re:Special software for Canada? (Score:2)
Re:Special software for Canada? (Score:2)
Re:Special software for Canada? (Score:2)
Re:Special software for Canada? (Score:2, Informative)
Here are the software requirements
http://www50.statcan.ca/census2006/settings_1-0_e. htm/ [statcan.ca]
Which looks fairly inclusive. The only "special" things that I can see is that you must have any one of several Java virtual machines installed and support 128 bit encryption. It all seems reasonable.
Re:Special software for Canada? (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Special software for Canada? (Score:2)
Strange that it would specifically have a problem with FF on Linux. Strikes me as the symptoms of a script that checks for specific browser versions using an identifier string, instead of checking for brows
Re:Special software for Canada? (Score:1)
no hassle, quick and easy it was.
Re:Special software for Canada? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Special software for Canada? (Score:2)
My brother-in-law was actually working for Statscan this summer, and he's Canadian. As is his office, here in Toronto, and the other offices he mentioned (Calgary and Montreal).
Re:Special software for Canada? (Score:2)
Re:Special software for Canada? (Score:2)
The most popular implementation is. The language spec isn't.
Re:Special software for Canada? (Score:2)
Re:Special software for Canada? (Score:2)
Re:Special software for Canada? (Score:2)
On a government website?? Impossible!
Re:Special software for Canada? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Special software for Canada? (Score:2)
But I doubt that future census efforts in Canada will continue to use Java applets. Next time it will be DHTML (XHTML + CSS + Javascript).
This is SLASHDOT... (Score:2)
I filled out my Canadian census on-line using Firefox on SuSE Linux and it worked fine. It DID rely on Java--is this what the poster referred to as "special software"? It seems to me that a JVM isn't all that "special" nor did I have to do a special installation of it to participate in the census.
Perhaps the Australian version is Java-free, but it's hardly an innovation of any kind, muc
NZ did it first :-) (Score:5, Informative)
Re:NZ did it first :-) (Score:3, Informative)
Thanks :) Although it was Asp.Net we ended up using standards-compliant validators and it worked well. Our performance testing meant that it didn't come down during peak times too.
IBM have a poor performance record in Australia, anyone remember their Olympics site which was an accessibility nightmare and how they lied to say it would cost 50M to support WAI Level 1?
Re:NZ did it first :-) (Score:2)
We've all moved on and learned since then. It is no longer acceptable to quote $50M for a website. People have worked out that it's not actually
Re:NZ did it first :-) (Score:2, Informative)
A very well-run project by Statistics NZ and partners, even if they didn't quite get the number of online respondees they were expecting.
http://subs.nzherald.co.nz/column/story.cfm?c_id=7 09&ObjectID=10371864 [nzherald.co.nz]
Re:NZ did it first :-) (Score:1)
Re:NZ did it first :-) (Score:5, Insightful)
You should. NZ is often well ahead of the pack when it comes to political freedoms. Universal suffrage, indigenous rights, social services and even the McGillicuddy Serious Party were established there well in advance of most of the world.
I'm an Aussie, so I should be taking the piss out of them, but the Kiwis benefit strongly from having a compact country, well educated population and a history of pragmatic politics.
PS, I'm a little ashamed of saying nice things about UnZudders, so if uny uv ewes read thus, please take the puss ut uv yersulves. Thunks.
Re:NZ did it first :-) (Score:3, Funny)
Absolutely agreed. It's kind of unfortunate that their economy isn't doing quite as well as Australia's at the moment, so I can't quite justify going and finding a job there, but I still like them. They still have asshole politicians, but I've always felt that even their asshole politicians are better than ours. :)
And of course, baaa.
I'd like to see the hardware. (Score:4, Interesting)
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!
Re:I'd like to see the hardware. (Score:1, Funny)
Re:I'd like to see the hardware. (Score:2)
Lets test it. I propose that all .au slashdotters submit their form at exactly 10:00:00 UTC on the day. Maybe we can melt a server. Its unlikely though. The ABS (of all people) would have forseen this.
Re:I'd like to see the hardware. (Score:2)
What special software? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:What special software? (Score:3, Insightful)
Well, it didn't work for me. I s'pose I'm not the typical Canadian, but Firefox on Linux is not supported by the 2006 Canadian census (although Firefox on Windows is).
At first I thought it was 'cause I'm running a 64-bit Firefox on AMD64, but even the 32-bit version on my x86 laptop wouldn't let me finish. I tried to bypass their checks using a Firefox plugin that spoofs the User Agent, but then it froze part way through and I lost all my work. I was very frustrated, to say the least, considering it's j
Re:What special software? (Score:2)
Java + Firefox + Ubuntu works just tickety-boo on my desktop. The Canadian census site didn't seem to think so, and I had to revert to the spare Windows laptop I had kicking around. Highly annoying.
Canadian government: not everyone r
Re:What special software? (Score:2)
Thanks for the heads-up. Apparently some people complained, some LUGs got involved, and the government actually responded. Linux support was added three days before the filing deadline. Almost restores ones faith in government, eh? Maybe I'll be able to file my details online with no trip-ups in 2011 when they take the next census. Here's hoping.
Ian
Relevant Newsforge links:
Ah, OK...explains why... (Score:2)
In other (old) news. I filed my tax return on-line using Linux for the first time this spring...one less reason to miss Windows...
Don't Fear the Census (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Don't Fear the Census (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Don't Fear the Census (Score:1)
Re:Don't Fear the Census (Score:2)
Re:Don't Fear the Census (Score:1)
Re:Don't Fear the Census (Score:2)
More traffic than a slashdotted site (Score:2, Funny)
Got my information pack a couple of days ago... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Got my information pack a couple of days ago... (Score:1)
Re:Got my information pack a couple of days ago... (Score:2)
I wonder how often thay get invited to share some liver with fava beans and a nice chianti. Probably after the first week their laughs are bit forced.
Re:Got my information pack a couple of days ago... (Score:2)
I remember that last time one of the people running the census commented in an interview that they were totally sick of hearing "nude" stories.
Re:Got my information pack a couple of days ago... (Score:2)
No, your supposed to do that with your tax reciepts.
Or maybe I've watched too much Black Books. Nah, can't be. No such thing as too much British Comedy.
Anonymous...Bullshit (Score:2)
Re:Anonymous...Bullshit (Score:2)
Re:Anonymous...Bullshit (Score:2)
...And so on in the same vein. Okay, it doesn't ask for your IP address, but it still asks a bit!
This Census is a Wasted Opportunity (Score:4, Insightful)
It would have been so easy to include some extra questions (not political ones, because no government would agree in mid-term), but rather social questions. Like some national survey instead of a selective one (like a poll of a 1000 people).
I can think of one question that would be highly applicable to all Australians:
Would you support recycled sewerage being pumped back to the potable water supply?
Or
Rate your preference for a solution to the water shortage problems: 1) Desalination, 2) recycling, 3) more dams, 4) long distance canals, 5) relocate the towns/cities, etc...
But, all the questions are related to how do you get to work, how much do you earn and where do you study...
Sad. Same questions as last census.
Hopefully in the future this will change.
Re:This Census is a Wasted Opportunity (Score:1)
Re:This Census is a Wasted Opportunity (Score:2)
(re: the ABS not giving a stuff about people's opinions)
Except of course for that one little (optional? I wouldn't know, I haven't even looked at the last two Oz censuses, much less filled them out) question about religious affiliation. Which, of course, is about the only question with which the form-fillers can have a bit of fun. Damn Jedi :).
Re:This Census is a Wasted Opportunity (Score:2)
Re:This Census is a Wasted Opportunity (Score:2)
You may have misunderstood me a tad. I wasn't meaning to imply that the question was entirely valueless (though it is - if religious communities can't work out where to build their disinformation centres, fuck them), I was taking an opportunity to mock religion as nothing more than an (ill-informed) opinion :-).
The overall effects of including such a question in the census are (IMHO) more negative than positive. People really don't need more excuses to separate themselves from the dreaded "Others". I can e
Re:This Census is a Wasted Opportunity (Score:2)
Your government builds your churches? How bizarre! Or do the religions have your government do their market research for them? What's next? You get asked how often you invest in stock market schemes so that shady brokerages will know to whom they should canvas?
Please, spare us (Score:5, Insightful)
Christ, the last thing you want is to start putting questions like that on a census.
Almost all social research can deliver highly accurate findings using a relatively small sample. Interviewing one thousand people will give you extremely high levels of confidence in the results, providing of course you don't fuck up the methodology. After that, you're mostly wasting everybody's time.
Australians are required to complete the census by law. Even if you make the questions optional, adding a bunch of "nice-to-know"s is a big misuse of national manpower. And just imagine the kind of push-polling you'd get if you opened the floodgates and let government departments throw in social-research questions. ("Do you support the government protecting the lives of unborn babies by banning stem cell research?")
There's a need for social research, and governments already do enormous amounts of it. But you don't need to interview 20 million people to find out that most people don't like the idea of drinking recylcled sewerage.
Re:Please, spare us (Score:2)
It's actually a common misconception amoung our population that when the people behind water saving development schemes refer to "waste water", people imagine they are talking about recycling sewerage. Of course this is not true, infact when they refer to waste water they mean in the form of "storm water".
In many cases the storm water, after similar treatment to dam water is much cleaner then dam water itself, having not been prone to turbidity and eutrophication, as well as having lower l
You drink recycled sewage all the time.. (Score:2)
Re:This Census is a Wasted Opportunity (Score:5, Informative)
How about "Have you stopped beating your wife?".
All water is "recycled sewage". Every drop you drink has been pissed out of billions of creatures. Back to the question: You have to give alternatives, obviously no one will choose to drink "recycled sewage" whewn you ask that question. What is the alternative "fresh, clean, distilled water at zero cost"? (I think not.) Paying more for desalinated water? Paying more to pipe it in from thousands of miles away? Singapore has been drinking "recycled sewage" for decades, and a more antiseptic place you've never seen.
Re:This Census is a Wasted Opportunity (Score:2)
Re:This Census is a Wasted Opportunity (Score:2)
Maybe I was unfair to him. But it's still a loaded question. If you look at, e.g., the amount of rat shit or preservatives legally permitted in food, who would agree to that if you asked them? There is no choice for "pure" food and drink, everything is polluted to an extent. And I had a look at your link; "Citizens Against Drinking Sewage". What a bunch of loonies, the same kind of idiots who opposed fluoridation and gave me a mouthful of fillings in my teens.
US has short and long forms (Score:2)
Re:This Census is a Wasted Opportunity (Score:2)
Screwing up methodology? (Score:4, Interesting)
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 [theage.com.au].
Re:Screwing up methodology? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Screwing up methodology? (Score:2)
Special Software? (Score:3, Informative)
I filled out my Canadian census online and didn't need any special software. All I used was Firefox, IIRC.
Information ON the card? No, but ... (Score:2)
The Minister is probably right; they house sensitive information in a central database - the card itself only has a unique identifier on it.
Seriously, by what process do I approve what is held on
70-year "seal" on US census (Score:2)
Anonymous snapshot? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Anonymous snapshot? (Score:5, Informative)
1. Pay taxes
2. Get allowances for your children or
3. Have a child born.
When our 4th child was born I earned too much money to be able to claim the $15.00 per fortnight allowance so we didn't fill in the forms in the hospital ($15.00 I don't have to earn is better than a poke in the eye with a blunt stick right?). Three years later when Ethan was going to day care they (the Commonwealth Public Servants) had kittens
"When did you adopt Ethan?", "Are you his natural mother?" "When did you get possession of Ethan?" His birth certificate sorted it out in the end.
For the non Aussies out there the State Government registers births and issues birth certificates but the Commonwealth Government pays the $15.00 per fortnight and childcare allowance.
Re:Anonymous snapshot? (Score:3, Informative)
And yes, I used to work for the Australian Bureau of Statistics, so I know what I'm talking about.
It is completely impossible for anyone working at the Bureau of Stats to find out how much money any individual earned four years ago. (Well, apart from some statistical outliers.) The part of the form with the names
Re:Anonymous snapshot? (Score:2)
Why is it important, and for whom ? I'm genuinely interested what effect it has if I put down a phony religion. Can't the census people figure out that pastafarian==athiest anyway ?
Last census I put down "Jedi", as did others. Specifically, what problems did that cause ?
Re:Anonymous snapshot? (Score:3, Interesting)
The ABS cannot make assumptions about what people "actually mean". If you put down "Jedi" or "Pastafarian", then your form will be coded as
Re:Anonymous snapshot? (Score:2)
I'm not sure that me putting down "athiest" on a form is going to help get rid of people listening to religious whackos though.
It's not like us athiests are wanting tax breaks on our churches..... (They're still not counting pubs as athiest churches, right ?)
At least I'm not in the USA, where religious whackos really are running the country. Not sure if that would make me any more likely to put down "athiest" on a form though, seeing as el capitan bush claims atheists aren't true Ameri
Hmm (Score:1)
Re:Hmm (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Hmm (Score:2)
And afaik they hand out the forms a good week before the count date.
Re:Hmm (Score:2)
I can only say that I haven't filled it out for at least the last two times and I haven't been hassled by anyone. Maybe I'm just lucky. We'll see.
I've often wondered how high that $100/day bullshit could go before it falls into the too-stupid-for-words category. So, not filling in a form gets you a fine that's much larger than that for not voting, for driving over the speed limit, drink-driving, physical assault... and unlike all the others, it keeps increasing. Yeah, right :).
Re:Hmm (Score:2)
If you are staying at a hotel or other public facility, they will give you a copy of the Census to complete. If you are staying at a friends, you are supposed to be included on their household form. IF you are overseas presumably you don't need to fill it in.
Re:Hmm (Score:2)
They even have people hunting around outside for those living on the street to make sure they don't get missed either.
the ABS faq on privacy (Score:1)
Re:the ABS faq on privacy (Score:2)
On the religion choice (Score:2, Funny)
Down under, may the force be with you!
Having completed the census (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
Re:Having completed the census (Score:2)
Re:Having completed the census (Score:2)
Census != sense (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Census != sense (Score:2)
Specific Questions (Score:2)
What will be fun though are the answers to specific questions. There is a grassroots push for anyone who doesn't wish to answer the religion question to put FSM or Pastafarian (Flying Spaghetti Monster if you were wondering, as a protest against intelligent design) in. This would be more fun tha listing Jedi as 70,000 people did in 2001, and as we have the option to release full uncensored det
Blessed be her holy hooves. (Score:2)
Not purely electronic (Score:2)
These measures make it a LOT harder to submit garbage census results en-masse. Not impossible, I'm sure, but I think it'd be pretty hard to pull off major bogus submissions, let alone undetectably.
That said, I'd love to see what Bruce Schne
Canada didn't require special software (Score:2)
I filed my census return online in Firefox a couple of weeks ago. It took only about 10 minutes in total (actually less, maybe 5). I actually _enjoyed_ the process.
Maury
See statement from the Australian Statistician (Score:2, Informative)
Bah ... Canada already did it ... (Score:2)
Of course, paper still works today, one can't assume EVERYONE has internet access or want to use it
Beat ya to it aussies
What Special Software? (Score:2)
I required no special software
Yeah - I was pissed (Score:2)