Comments on: Set the Census data free http://puffbox.com/2008/03/22/set-the-census-data-free/ Adventures in government, politics and open source. Mostly WordPress-related. Fri, 11 May 2012 16:17:53 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Jonathan http://puffbox.com/2008/03/22/set-the-census-data-free/comment-page-1/#comment-189 Jonathan Tue, 25 Mar 2008 14:21:02 +0000 http://puffbox.com/2008/03/22/set-the-census-data-free/#comment-189 Completely agree. The last census was a massive missed opportunity. For the wealth of data and information collected very little meaningful 'new' output was generated. And certainly access seemed almost kept to a minimum rather than freely available on every street corner. Admittedly the general public will view the publication of a census with a hint of interest, be delighted, amused (Jedi?) and outraged (Daily Mail) for about 20 mins then forget about it for another decade. The more 'we' (the public) can access and make sense of this information the more we can come to our own conclusions, ask our own questions and get a realistic view of the country we live in. Rather than what we're fed by all the interested parties and bias. When we're fed a stat, we can check it instantly, and evaluate the validity of the source and the motivation behind it. Stats will cease to be 'selective'. Open access will compel honesty I'm expecting that by 2013 I expect data to be prevalent, fast and everywhere. That Census data should be at our fingertips and available to any question or decision that we may wish to reference it against. Maybe by then some private concern with be disillusioned enough to use the very same technology to run a rival census in parallel? Completely agree. The last census was a massive missed opportunity. For the wealth of data and information collected very little meaningful 'new' output was generated. And certainly access seemed almost kept to a minimum rather than freely available on every street corner.

Admittedly the general public will view the publication of a census with a hint of interest, be delighted, amused (Jedi?) and outraged (Daily Mail) for about 20 mins then forget about it for another decade.

The more 'we' (the public) can access and make sense of this information the more we can come to our own conclusions, ask our own questions and get a realistic view of the country we live in. Rather than what we're fed by all the interested parties and bias. When we're fed a stat, we can check it instantly, and evaluate the validity of the source and the motivation behind it. Stats will cease to be 'selective'. Open access will compel honesty

I'm expecting that by 2013 I expect data to be prevalent, fast and everywhere. That Census data should be at our fingertips and available to any question or decision that we may wish to reference it against. Maybe by then some private concern with be disillusioned enough to use the very same technology to run a rival census in parallel?

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