Problems with census PDAs could prompt a return to pencil and paper

Harris Corp. may have nothing but good things to say about the HTC-made PDAs it's planning to supply for use in the 2010 census, but it looks like the handhelds are already starting to cause plenty of headaches for census officials, who are reportedly even considering a return to pencil and paper if things can't be resolved. As the AP reports, the problems start with the contract for the devices, which originally clocked in at $596 million, has since grown to $647 million, and could eventually balloon to as much as $2 billion. As if that wasn't enough, the handheld has also apparently proven to be "too complex" for some of the temporary census workers that took part in a test last year, and the device was reportedly "not initially programmed to transmit the large amounts of data necessary." As a result, census officials are now said to be considering a number of different options to scale back the use of the devices, only one of which apparently actually has the headcounters entering data into 'em as they go door-to-door.

[Josh L @ Mar 26th 2008 4:09PM]

Headline: Bureaucracy and Government add complications, go over budget. News at 11.

[fistpittingnork @ Mar 26th 2008 4:47PM]

Oooo! Finally something different!




...wait

[TheChris @ Mar 26th 2008 4:11PM]

"too complex" for some of the temporary census workers

huh....interesting. Now what can that imply? heh

[Nick @ Mar 26th 2008 4:29PM]

I'm not surprised at all that the device would be too complex for them to use. Many of us take things for granted and know how to use our WM devices as if we were born with them. Problem is, the people they use for the this have most likely never used any form of a smartphone or ppc in their life.

http://htcsource.com

[TheChris @ Mar 26th 2008 4:38PM]

That is true. Yes, most of us are spoiled from the perspective of the rest of the world.
Regarding the group that such devices are aimed for, it only draws on a larger problem for the US.

[nDee @ Mar 27th 2008 1:55AM]

Breaking news: They now use Palm.
(We all hope that happen because Palm's stock price is so low and we can't wait to sell them.)
And it's easier to use(obviously not as much as iPhone but hell lot cheaper to use a Centro)

[John @ Mar 27th 2008 7:40AM]

I'm still hoping my palm IIIc becomes a collectible.

No Hannibal Lecter quotes yet?

[Jin Kim @ Mar 26th 2008 4:29PM]

The Motorola Q and the Palm Treo were both too cumbersome for me. So I switched, broke the piggy bank and got myself an iPhone. And it's worked like a charm since June 29, 2007. With the iPhone SDK, maybe the census guys can switch from difficult-to-use gadgets to the easy-to-use iPhone with dumb-proof apps. But the irony is that folks that work at the Apple Stores use the difficult-to-use gadgets too, but they seem to be just fine using them...

[Shane @ Mar 26th 2008 4:20PM]

Since this is a government contract, no doubt the equipment will be obsolete by the time it is deployed and will have cost about 10x what the original budget for the project was.

[Greg Ramsaran @ Mar 26th 2008 4:22PM]

maybe they should get some iphones?!

[Jubei @ Mar 26th 2008 4:29PM]

Agreed. Less complexity. It's reliable. Best of all its not an HTC.

[Raheem @ Mar 26th 2008 4:58PM]

Lol, along with 18 month contracts and apple care? :P

[Michael Chastain @ Mar 26th 2008 8:28PM]

Yes, because Apple would be happy to either build or let a third party build a special iPhone without voice capability, but with 3G data, a modem port, thumb print scanner, memory card slot, and GPS. I'm sure it will also be happy to make the necessary SDK available so that the software can be custom programmed without Apple getting a cut or approval.

But hey, the iPhone would have multitouch.

[nDee @ Mar 27th 2008 1:57AM]

"Is that an iPhone?Can I try the multi touch?"
than on news >
"Census got attacked and iPhones were robbed"
That wouldn't be good.
Or
"Severe delay caused by tampting machines"

[Ishimaru @ Mar 26th 2008 4:26PM]

Gotta love stupid Americans, and their fears of techmology.

[Shane @ Mar 26th 2008 4:28PM]

On the contrary...I love my techmolomogy.

[Bassir @ Mar 26th 2008 4:36PM]

You mean the elderly?

America's youth and much of the adults love technology.

[YoJIMbo @ Mar 26th 2008 4:47PM]

I guess you don't mean Americans from the USA as we are, after Japan, per capita the highest consumers of electronics in THE WORLD.... (2008 YoJIMbo Technology Study of Doom)

[Greg @ Mar 26th 2008 5:21PM]

Sure, we love it, but we don't have the same wireless options, internet speed, or progress other nations do. Don't get patriotic too quickly.

[Marty @ Mar 26th 2008 4:34PM]

just testing my profile. sorry peeps

[Adam E @ Mar 26th 2008 4:59PM]

The little marshmallow candies forgive you - just this once.

[BigD145 @ Mar 26th 2008 4:50PM]

For doing a Census, the pencil and paper method is far superior. I know, I was involved in the 2000 one. Not only that but I was involved in an area that had to be completely redone because of a category problem in mail codes. It's screwups like that that I can easily see being replicated on a PDA.

The other issue is the fact that tech is changing constantly and the census is done every 10 years. That's 2 billion dollars every ten years. At the very least, no single battery will last that long. They will have to be replaced, probably at $20-50 a pop, every year or two. Does the unit store programs in RAM or ROM? Is it an 8 hour battery? Will data be lost if the battery goes dead? I can guarantee battery life will suffer in high temperatures, which is when the census does its door-to-door counts. I certainly had sweaty palms working during the summer. Paper and clipboard can take it, tech can't.

[Mark @ Mar 26th 2008 4:57PM]

Pencil and paper?! wtf?! Are we cavemen?

[YoJIMbo @ Mar 26th 2008 5:02PM]

I checked with the cavemen and they grunted about WISHING for pencil and paper as they are still stuck with fruit pigment, urine, and fingers...

[For2itous @ Mar 26th 2008 5:06PM]

Initially high fiving themselves for so cleverly saving a few bucks, Census Bureau higher-ups are now "rethinking" their much ballyhooed roll-out of Windows ME Mobile Edition™ equipped PDA's...

[STIEN @ Mar 26th 2008 5:08PM]

cool

[Derek @ Mar 26th 2008 5:40PM]

I don't know what to say to that...

[STIEN @ Mar 26th 2008 5:50PM]

oh i didnt mean that. i just made a comment so i could access my profile to change my password. i didnt really read the article

So heres the repost:
thats frickin awful

[YouFaceTheTick @ Mar 26th 2008 5:21PM]

Saw this coming the moment I read about it. PDAs and idiot workers = marriage made in hell.

[Mark @ Mar 26th 2008 5:25PM]

ah yes .. those HIGHLY qualified workers in the public sector.

[halkonlar @ Mar 26th 2008 7:49PM]

Interestingly, here in Colombia (South America), we had a census some years ago and the census takers all usedPDAs. No problems whatsoever, and, well, they were far more underprivileged than "underprivileged" US Americans will ever be. So, not really sure what the problem is.

[Bernie B @ Mar 27th 2008 10:07AM]

Should we put any faith in Census workers? I don't think it would be a stretch to believe they'll be hiring immigrants doing jobs americans don't want to do =P

[DJ MoRice @ Mar 26th 2008 5:23PM]

ah census workers.

[Phoenix @ Mar 26th 2008 5:25PM]

WTF? I'm 15, and I can operate a Kaiser perfectly, even to the point of reflashing.

and these people can't run one program and type?

[Pete @ Mar 26th 2008 5:48PM]

$2 BILLION TO COUNT PEOPLE!!!!!!! what a waste of money!!! it shouldn't take more than a $10-20 million.

what's the purpose of the census?

[Greg Ramsaran @ Mar 26th 2008 6:08PM]

The quick explanation: a count of all the people in each house and their race, religion, nationality, and why they aren't at work when they come to your door.

For the long version: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Census or http://www.census.gov/

[CJM @ Mar 26th 2008 6:14PM]

Ever heard or congressional districts? City/State/County planning efforts? Taxpayer fund dispersal? This is billions of dollars, would you prefer we just "wing it" to figure out the money should go? Or have some level of science (albeit brutal, government built science) to help with the effort?

[Pete @ Mar 27th 2008 1:39AM]

counting 300 million people every 10 years shouldn't cost this much. that's my point.

we have a national debt of $9 trillion!!! we should be finding ways to cut costs not increase them. a $2 billion census would be the first on the chopping block for me. along with a severe cut in defense funding and ending this insidious war (which could cost $1 trillion).

[sepirioth @ Mar 26th 2008 5:51PM]

Not to get all political on yo a$$es but in case you dont know this; The US Cencus Bureau has a budget of 6.6 BILLION dollars for 2008.... For half of that I will not only count every person in the US and whatever else they do, ill make it a bimonthly report. (and live like a king cuz that is an INSANE amount of money)

[Pete @ Mar 26th 2008 5:59PM]

according to the cia factbook we have 301 million people in this country (july 2007 est). so if we spend $2 billion dollars to do this that means we spend $6/person just to count them.

unbelievable waste of taxpayer money. makes me sick. why can't they get estimates from tax filings (irs)?

[YoJIMbo @ Mar 26th 2008 6:06PM]

Good idea but not everyone files taxes... especially illegals. One thing about the Census is that it counts EVERYONE it can... Citizens, permanent residents, peons, peasants, illegals, and Blood Elves, too!

[Josh L @ Mar 26th 2008 6:16PM]

Even the Blood Elf rogues? They can be sneaky. I guess it helps that the census takers are all humans... They'd have to wait three minutes between houses for Perception to cool down though.

Alright, I'm gonna go hang myself now. Catch you guys later.

[Johan S @ Mar 26th 2008 6:04PM]

Use an iPhone.

No seriously, for $500 million you can buy 1 iPhone for each worker (600,000 workers). Even assuming no discount, you will still have millions left over to make the data collection app (which quite frankly should not be too expensive to make).

And then you can resell the iPhone on ebay and make most of the money back.

[PeterF @ Mar 26th 2008 6:21PM]

or any Windows PDA since those are even cheaper. The reason they wanted these special ones though, is that they can use cellular, LAN, WIFI, and even a BUILT IN MODEM to submit data.

[Phoenix @ Mar 27th 2008 7:09AM]

Especially since with an iPhone you need to pay for the 18 month contract...

cos the government are totally going to give all the census workers a free iPhone with the contract paid...

[J @ Apr 14th 2008 11:15PM]

I worked in the 2K Census. Collecting data on paper is quite reliable and easy. Counting it afterwards, is not so much fun, nor cheap. With the PDA's you get data and results instantly. I think they should have at least 3 ways to collect the data: PDA's via wireless, PDA's via sync (with cradle/cable at centers) or via internet. Each family could fill the form via Internet and their house is automatically excluded from the collectors.

[aaron @ Mar 26th 2008 7:07PM]

Maybe they'd work better if HTC included video drivers

[Allen @ Mar 26th 2008 7:13PM]

Agreed with Johan S or PeterF: sending a gigs worth of data is no trouble from my Iphone, so why can't the government use these PDAs?

The problem, I think, is that these devices are built on older technology. I don't know for sure, but knowing the government, they probably had devices built for them that used tech circa 2003. Other government endeavors do the same thing: when the military built the Humvee originally it used all existing technology in most places, with the option of being able to retrofit to older tech if needed.

The problem with that was (famously) the Humvee's transmissions were designed off an old 3 speed GM automatic. The idea was that if the Humvee ever broke down, they could find replacement parts in common trucks. Of course, twenty years later GM didn't even make that transmission anymore, and none of its newest transmissions fit that old thing. They had to find the old factories and reboot them. Costing millions. And the old transmissions don't even work half as well as the newer ones.

The idea with these PDA's was probably that because the tech was developed in 2003 or so, by now all the bugs would be worked out of it and parts would be plentiful. But I'd bet that parts suppliers aren't even making parts for 2003 units anymore, and hence Harris Corp had to find parts that "would work," although never intended to. Hence the internals are probably a hodge podge of different stuff. As far as the inner tech, things have been getting more reliable, not less. When XP launched it was riddled with security links and crashed many systems. Vista did none of that to anyone, except those with the creepy "Vista Certified" computers which didn't have enough hardware. If you had a computer with good hardware, it ran Vista and Vista had none of the security or crashing problems.

Likewise todays PDA problem. The Government should've gone to the private sector. I realize they did that when they asked a company to build the PDA's for them, but they could've gone and seen what private companies are using today for their mobile data needs. Many corporate citizens store and transfer massive spreadsheet of data and presentations off their Smartphones, and I've seen transfers of up to a gigabyte before. With text based data, the census bureau will not taking in that amount per neighborhood. Maybe per city. It'd be rather easy to do with a Blackberry and 3G support.

But without reading the specs I'm going to guess these PDAs use a 2G transmitting format. They probably use a custom OS with very little compatibility support. And they probably are intended to be fixable using "off the shelf" parts if need be.

These things spell disaster. An OS that is running reliably and consistently already on million of PDA's and smartphones is the Windows 6.1, or the Iphone OS. How much would it cost to get some PDA's or phones running that? Then how much would it cost to get those phones or PDA's?

$500,000,000 divided by 600,000 is 833.33, or roughly $833.33 cents a unit. That means that while the government will spend $833 dollars a unit to get these PDAs that are more than likely using outdated technology, they could've bought units from Palm or Apple or Blackberry that are equally as capable but $300 a piece cheaper, and with large amounts of already compiled data like "known issues" and tech support would of been as easy as finding an FAQ for most issues. With 3rd gen support data uploads would be much faster (no Iphone then but still the Blackberry) and much more reliable as it uses existing yet cutting edge (or as close to it as you can get with a homogenized device) hardware and software.

With technology, it only works to push into the past if you are using analogue equipment. Trucks that need to haul more could be "retrofitted" with bigger springs or supports if need be, and if your antenna fails just replace it with any old one.

In the digital age, expect older hardware to work like older hardware did. Where as the analogue way of doing things was perfected from 1900 to the year 2000, the digital age is still young. Any new generation of tech will be more reliable, faster, and have more capacity. Its not a case where you can retrofit the truck with older springs: the new springs will be better 99% of the time.

[DT @ Mar 26th 2008 7:32PM]

I hereby present you with the prize for the internet's longest post. Congratulations!

[Derek @ Mar 26th 2008 8:31PM]

Was it really worth typing all that, when most people won't even read all of it?