Internet mentioned in new cenus

Giblet

I was listening to the radio today and heard them talking about the news cenus which is happening soon.
Some of the new questions that will be asked are, amongst others:

1. Do you own or have access to a PC
2. Do you have access to the internet.

Does this mean that the government has an interest in who is using the internet, and how many people.

gurramok

A good reply to that census would be the obvious,
access to pc but no access to internet (do we have to say the truth ?!) and we know why we can't access it

pete

Originally posted by Giblet
Does this mean that the government has an interest in who is using the internet, and how many people.

It's a question in the census.

What do you think?

Xian

The last statistics made available by the cso in the
Quarterly National Household Survey, Home Computing, Fourth Quarter 2000 show one third of households with a computer and one fifth connected to the internet. I would bet, judging by current Nielsen NetRatings, that margin will be narrower in the next census, not because anything has happened to make the internet more accessible in the meantime (because nothing has) but because of public "interest" in the internet, irrespective of the cost.

spongebob

Note the following extracts from the form

ISee it here c. 2Mb pdf

Page 1

"The census enumerator will assist you if you have difficulty completing your census form"

Q. H10. "Does your household have a personal computer (PC)"

yes or no

....I assume this is the generic term PC and not the the term PC which was trademarked by IBM 20 years ago.

Ask the census person if you are 'unsure' or own a Mac

Q. H11. "Does your household have access to the internet"

Clarified by the CSO as

"Tick yes if you have access to the internet in your home"

yes or no

As a matter of principle I will answer NO to this question because my connection is 'inaccesible' It is too slow, too expensive and too unreliable. Therefore I do not consider myself to have 'access' to the internet in my home. Nor do many others I suspect.

I will ask the census person to clarify the correct response with the census office in Cork because I tell her/him that I have a modem in my computer but that is not what is being asked by the census people.

It would be advisable to have a considerable national differential between the number of PC's and the number of Internet users because the interesting question is (not asked in the census of course)

"Why do you not use the internet if you have a PC at home"

The answer is

"Because I can't use it you see"

Let it become a matter of historical fact, that is what a census is!

M

gurramok

Q. H11. "Does your household have access to the internet"

A big NO i will be putting to that question irrelevent if it's the truth or not
Who wants to join me ?!
Mayb an unofficial campaign ? !:)

dahamsta

As far as I'm concerned, if I can connect to the Internet, my household has access to the Internet. It's pretty clear to me.

Last time I looked, it was illegal to lie on a census.

adam

Xian

Wake-up call
A high number of respondents saying they have access to the internet would put paid to eircom's argument that people have no interest in the internet. Answering no falsely will play into their hands.

spongebob

Lets be honest with each other

I cannot stream video across my connection ( were I to choose to make one) unlike the office connection where I can stream video.

Streaming video IS the internet as far as I am concerned.

Therefore the Internet is not accessible in my house.

I will explain this to the census person when they come.

The wording on the form is rather vague, it would be honest in my opinion to

1. Disconnect from the Internet
2. answer no
3. reconnect.

At the Moment you tick the box you do not have access to the internet because your TCP stack is down and you do not have an IP address. Without an IP address you cannot 'access' the Internet...Non???????

There you are, 2 good reasons to answer no unless you have an always on 512k feed in da house.

Had the census asked!

Did you ever pick up an IP address from a DHCP server or a dial up terminal , or configure a preset static ip address, and then connect to a socket on a port , while remaining in your house, and that socket on that port that was opened was on another premises, and that IP address was in the public ranges allocated by the IETF and NOT in an intranet rangem, and you did this EVER, in all the time you have been in that house from which the connection was initiated then the answer would be YES.

But that is not what the Census people are asking lads is it?

M

Xian

Originally posted by Muck

But that is not what the Census people are asking lads is it?

M [/B]

The question the Census people are asking in your case, Muck, is "can you post to the IrelandOffline forum from your home?"

dahamsta

My daughter has a children's vtech laptop. It is capable of giving Internet access. Do I tick yes to this question?

Yes, you should tick yes to this question.

There is nothing to be gained by misrepresentation on the Census. The Census is not a platform for political or social statements, it is a resource that enables political and social change. Misrepresentation is not only wrong, it could also be harmful.

adam

Bard

Originally posted by Muck

Streaming video IS the internet as far as I am concerned.

yeah... and that's complete horsesh*t as far as I am concerned

The Internet for me is a bit of browsing, a bit of posting on the boards, a bit of irc and a bit of downloading... but most of all ... EMAIL.

Streaming video is part of the Internet, sure - but no more than just a part - and a part, for that matter, that I personally don't use.

Boston

dont feic around with it, saying you have no internet access may be read as you have no deman for internet access, not that you have it and its just to expensive

rymus

Something which could have proved interesting to see on the census is the type of internet connection (if any) in the household.. Of course we all know the majority of the answers would be something along the lines of 56k and ISDN. Its not as if the government dont already know were all on sub 128k access and of course eircom would have looked at the results and responded with something like "yep... lifes a bitch aint it?". Might have opended a few eyes regarding the incredibly low broadband availability.

I'll just stop now, I stopped making sense after the first 5 words.

dahamsta

I'll just stop now, I stopped making sense after the first 5 words.

Yet you still hit the submit button. Fascinating.

(I'm kidding, I'm kidding! )

adam

segadreamcast

You know what might've made sense? Asking an additional question about whether people want broadband with a (Yes/No/ don't know/Yes, but at the right price) choice of answers...seems like the logical thing to me...if a certain % said "Yes, but at the right price", then Eircon could shove their "but there's no demand" claims right up the exhaust pipe of their eircon vans :P!

acous

c'mon people, the census isn't a marketing survey.

irishguy

i will be answering yes to this question anyway [cus i have a 512k connection which i am happy with] but i am a picky ba*tard so i was wondering if i had a sky digital box with a telephone line connected,wap enabled phone or 1 of those [non-mobile] phones that you can send text messages and look at webpages with would i still be able to answer yes??

Frank Grimes

phones that you can send text messages and look at webpages with would i still be able to answer yes??

If it can get online, then yes. If not then answer no. It's not a trick question, or as Acous said, a market research survey.

dahamsta

I reckon that if you can send and receive email and/or surf the web, you should check 'yes'. I don't think doing that over a mobile counts though. I reckon they mean on home computers and devices. Of course, with wireless networks in the home, it gets really dodgy, but heck, you still need an access point, eh?

adam

spongebob

No

I cannot stay online long enough to download mail without timeouts, I have to use the yahoo pop server to pop off my mail and read it thru the yahoo web interface....which will still be there if I get kicked off.

I cannot stay on line beacuse the connection to most isps drops.

I do not post from home to boards, timeouts and stuff.

I have one bar on me mobile.

M