Crazy People

The American Community Survey is a vital tool by the Census folks to help us understand ourselves, how our demographics are changing, and even how we're doing economically.  But then again, you get crazy people like this who really do need to buy a clue.  I love his "supposedly randomly picked."  Paranoid, much?  Or just statistically challenged?

In this vent, are you truly required by law to respond?  Oh yeah, just like the Census.  As they note:

Yes. You are legally obligated to answer all the questions, as accurately as you can.

The relevant laws are Title 18 U.S.C Section 3571 and Section 3559, which amends Title 13 U.S.C. Section 221.

Your answers are important. As part of a sample, you represent many other people. Find out how each question helps your community, your state, and the federal government in questions in the form and why we ask.

I suppose you can argue that you only want to obey the laws you like.  Then again, how can you dislike us knowing as much about ourselves as is possible?  The data are all made public, for crying out loud.   It's not as if they're collecting secret data on you, though I suppose for some folks they also see black helicopters flying around their house at night.

Census Bureau Suspends Embargoes

A press release here and text below:

In recent days, the Census Bureau has experienced two major breaches of its embargo news release policy. Therefore, effective Thursday, Oct. 1, 2009, the bureau will temporarily suspend prerelease access to data products while an assessment of the embargo policy and a thorough review of the breach incidents can be conducted. 

Given how important Census info is for journalists and what people know about social and demographic changes, this is kinda important.  I don't know who has been breaking the embargo but I suspect it'll come out soon.

Turning Data Into Knowledge

Great column about a conference devoted to ways to turn statistics and data into knowledge. The conference, Seminar on Innovative Approaches to Turn Statistics into Knowledge, has a site here and even better, has some online versions of presentations here. I skimmed a couple and hope to dig deeper in a day or so, steal some ideas for my own journalism classes.

According to the site:

The seminar should contribute to the development of tools to help people transform statistics into knowledge and decisions. A first condition for statistics to be used this way is that relevant statistics become known, available, and understood by wider audiences. The seminar is held in the context of the Global Project on “Measuring the Progress of Societies”. It should contribute to one of the goals quoted in the Istanbul Declaration: "produce a broader, shared, public understanding of changing conditions, while highlighting areas of significant change or inadequate knowledge".

We use lots of tricks to help people understand what's happening, such as maps that summarize statistics, or drag-down menus to help people find, for example, how their local school matches up with other schools. The end result is helping people make sense of their world.