U.S. census employees will trade paper forms for 500,000 iPhone 8 handsets this year
It's a census year in the U.S., which means that hundreds of thousands of enumerators will soon be going door-to-door. But instead of a pen and clipboard this year, they may be equipped with a familiar device.
U.S. Census Bureau employees will use iPhone 8 devices in place of paper and pen for the 2020 census.
The U.S. Census occurs every 10 years, but 2020 marks an important milestone for the centuries-old event. It's the first time that all U.S. households will be able to respond to the census online. And thanks to a multimillion-dollar project, in-person census-takers will swap their paper forms for iPhone 8s.
For the 2020 census, the U.S. government has contracted with Illinois-based firm CDW-G to lease 500,000 iPhone 8 models for census employees, known as enumerators, who go door-to-door to take count.
"We are proud that the US Census Bureau will use the iPhone for the collection and management of 2020 census data," an Apple spokesperson told CNET.
While officials estimate that around 60% of people will respond to census questionnaires online, on the phone or via mail, it's up to enumerators to count the rest of the country. According to the official 2020 census schedule, nearly 500,000 temporary employees will fan out across the country between May and August.
As for why the bureau chose iPhone 8, CNET says it was a combination of familiarity, stability and security that drew census officials to Apple's mobile operating system. The specific models used by census-takers this year won't be customized in any way. Instead, they'll simply be running a specialized app that canvassers will use to count people.
Originally, CDW-G proposed the iPhone 6 as the primary census-taking device in 2020. But once the iPhone 8 launched in 2017, it realized that it could upgrade to the newer model without a bump in price.
When the door-to-door phase the census wraps up around August, the Census Bureau will ship the 500,000 Apple smartphones back to CDW-G. From there, the contractor will wipe the devices and reuse them for other enterprise initiatives.
This isn't the first time that the U.S. Census Bureau tried to push the constitutional event into the modern era. In fact, efforts to give enumerators digital devices stretch back to the 2010 census. In 2006, the bureau contracted with defense company Harris Corporation to provide 600,000 custom HTC PDAs to census-takers. That project was abandoned in 2008, before the actual census took place.
"The census is an important constitutional cornerstone that aims to ensure every one of us has equal representation, education and access in America," Apple said.
U.S. Census Bureau employees will use iPhone 8 devices in place of paper and pen for the 2020 census.
The U.S. Census occurs every 10 years, but 2020 marks an important milestone for the centuries-old event. It's the first time that all U.S. households will be able to respond to the census online. And thanks to a multimillion-dollar project, in-person census-takers will swap their paper forms for iPhone 8s.
For the 2020 census, the U.S. government has contracted with Illinois-based firm CDW-G to lease 500,000 iPhone 8 models for census employees, known as enumerators, who go door-to-door to take count.
"We are proud that the US Census Bureau will use the iPhone for the collection and management of 2020 census data," an Apple spokesperson told CNET.
While officials estimate that around 60% of people will respond to census questionnaires online, on the phone or via mail, it's up to enumerators to count the rest of the country. According to the official 2020 census schedule, nearly 500,000 temporary employees will fan out across the country between May and August.
As for why the bureau chose iPhone 8, CNET says it was a combination of familiarity, stability and security that drew census officials to Apple's mobile operating system. The specific models used by census-takers this year won't be customized in any way. Instead, they'll simply be running a specialized app that canvassers will use to count people.
Originally, CDW-G proposed the iPhone 6 as the primary census-taking device in 2020. But once the iPhone 8 launched in 2017, it realized that it could upgrade to the newer model without a bump in price.
When the door-to-door phase the census wraps up around August, the Census Bureau will ship the 500,000 Apple smartphones back to CDW-G. From there, the contractor will wipe the devices and reuse them for other enterprise initiatives.
This isn't the first time that the U.S. Census Bureau tried to push the constitutional event into the modern era. In fact, efforts to give enumerators digital devices stretch back to the 2010 census. In 2006, the bureau contracted with defense company Harris Corporation to provide 600,000 custom HTC PDAs to census-takers. That project was abandoned in 2008, before the actual census took place.
"The census is an important constitutional cornerstone that aims to ensure every one of us has equal representation, education and access in America," Apple said.
Comments
Asking if I was fluent in English would have (actually) been useful, but they didn’t ask that.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/31/trump-administration-revokes-mashpee-wampanoag-tribe-reservation-status
then:
” When the door-to-door phase the census wraps up around August, the Census Bureau will ship the 500,000 Apple smartphones back to CDW-G. From there, the contractor will wipe the devices and reuse them for other enterprise initiatives.”
True!
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/deaths.htm
2,813,503 Americans died in 2018 according to the CDC. We didn't suffer an economic collapse, we didn’t lose our jobs and income. The only difference here is that Covid-19 is killing people fast but the panic and ‘grim’ statistics published by the media every single day is pushing us to kill the country. You repeat ‘wild range of estimates’ as if they are the gospel truth. They are guesses by ‘experts’ who really don’t understand what’s going on yet. One ‘guess’ that has been persistent and verified by the data is that you have an 80% chance of surviving the virus if you are in good health.
‘Mass death event’?. An asteroid taking out the eastern seaboard, now THAT would be a mass death event.
https://usa.ipums.org/usa/voliii/items1990.shtml
Heck even answering the same questions every other generation answers is suddenly something nefarious.
I don't see an issue doing this. I did mine online and so they shouldn't be stopping at my house. It was easy enough to fill out. It's done every 10 years. So if you don't want them to come to your place, fill out the form Online!!!
Still, these people can talk to you from 6 feet or so away to ask questions. If people are delivering food, this is even safer. It's a job that needs to be done. Answer truthfully, either online or in person.
Not even Trump is spouting that nonsense anymore. Try to keep up.
Ignorance. Car accidents aren’t highly contagious and even the flu isn’t nearly as contagious or deadly. The problem with a novel pandemic of this sort is the mass deaths that will occur without safety measures. The math is simple and easy to understand. If no actions were taken, millions would die. Thus, the entire world has decided to take action, even the science-denier parties across the world. Trump, Fox News, GOP governors, everybody. The math doesn’t lie.
And yes, we absolutely do understand what’s going on with the mortality rates, across age brackets. And yes, 80% are mild. It’s the minority death rate that results in millions dead, which has economic damage.
You simply don’t get it, sorry. Stay in your lane.
Or, run the numbers:
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-death-rate/
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-age-sex-demographics/
Doing nothing:
https://youtu.be/gku7mdTS8cc
Hate? LOL... That's the cover Trumpers use to cover for his lies, incompetence and corruption when knowledgeable people object to it.