Technology
Censuses have evolved in their use of technology with the latest censuses, the 2010 round, using many new types of computing. In Brazil, handheld devices were used by enumerators to locate residences on the ground. In many countries, census returns could be made via the Internet as well as in paper form. DSE is facilitated by computer matching techniques which can be automated, such as propensity score matching. In the UK, all census formats are scanned and stored electronically before being destroyed, replacing the need for physical archives. The record linking to perform an administrative census would not be possible without large databases being stored on computer systems.
New technology is not without problems in its introduction. The US census had intended to use the handheld computers but cost escalated and this was abandoned, with the contract being sold to Brazil. Online response is a good idea but one of the functions of census is to make sure everyone is counted accurately. A system which allowed people to enter their address without verification would be open to abuse. Therefore households have to be verified on the ground, typically by an enumerator visit or post out. Paper forms are still necessary for those without access to Internet connections. It is also plausible that the hidden nature of an administrative census means that users are not engaged with the importance of contributing their data to official statistics.
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Famous quotes containing the word technology:
“The real accomplishment of modern science and technology consists in taking ordinary men, informing them narrowly and deeply and then, through appropriate organization, arranging to have their knowledge combined with that of other specialized but equally ordinary men. This dispenses with the need for genius. The resulting performance, though less inspiring, is far more predictable.”
—John Kenneth Galbraith (b. 1908)
“If we had a reliable way to label our toys good and bad, it would be easy to regulate technology wisely. But we can rarely see far enough ahead to know which road leads to damnation. Whoever concerns himself with big technology, either to push it forward or to stop it, is gambling in human lives.”
—Freeman Dyson (b. 1923)
“The successor to politics will be propaganda. Propaganda, not in the sense of a message or ideology, but as the impact of the whole technology of the times.”
—Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980)