[Informatics] How two uni students built a better census site in 54hrs for $500

[Roland Gesthuizen]

I was interested that the code to their open-source solution is now freely
available for ABS to use and the increased rigour with their automated
testing was by using a combination of off-the-shelf products. I know of a
large computing project that could have benefited from a similar
open-source code base, better interface and improved user testing.

I don't think that we should be insisting that these Uni Students must
build a data centre on Australian soil so that they can win a prize in a
hackathon to demonstrate their solution. The point was more that a
"government" owned and operated data centre could have included a similar
structure to scale and adapt to the traffic. Shouldn't be too hard to
protect on our big continent by just hiding it in the bush somewhere then
protect with an army of angry magpies. Problem could be hiding that copper
wire connection with the rest of Oz, perhaps patch into the overland
telegraph?

JJJ Hack published an interesting review, comparing the loss of privacy
with Facebook.
http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/is-the-census-really-no-worse-than-facebook/7711450

On 17 August 2016 at 13:05, Mark <mark at vceit.com> wrote:

> I bet that $500 expenditure didn't include the pizza, though. Costs like
> that could really blow out a budget - they might have gone to - oooh -
> maybe as high as $550.
> I hate to think of the number of pizzas IBM must have consumed during
> their census development project to get *their* bill so high.
>
> Also, I suspect somewhere there is a law or regulation that forbids
> federal government data being handled/stored/processed by external/foreign
> entities, meaning all storage and processing must be done in-house on
> Aussie soil. Or something like that. It sounds like the sort of thing a
> government would decide.
>
> Regards,
> Mark
>
>
>
> On 17 August 2016 at 09:28, Lee, James q <lee.james.q at edumail.vic.gov.au>
> wrote:
>
>> Love this!
>>
>>
>>
>> http://eftm.com.au/2016/08/how-two-uni-students-built-a-bett
>> er-census-site-in-just-54-hours-for-500-30752
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> *James Lee*
>>
>> *Head of eLearning and Professional Learning*
>>
>> *ICT and Media Teacher*
>>
>>
>>
>> [image: image002]*Bentleigh Secondary College        *
>>
>> *Vivien Street (PO Box 186), East Bentleigh 3165*
>>
>> *Telephone: (03) 9579 1044 <%2803%29%209579%201044>*
>>
>> *Facsimile:  (03) 9579 2720 <%2803%29%209579%202720>*
>>
>> *email: lee.james.q at edumail.vic.gov.au <lee.james.q at edumail.vic.gov.au>*
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
> --
>
> Mark Kelly
>
> mark at vceit.com
> http://vceit.com
>
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-- 
--
*Roland Gesthuizen*
http://about.me/rgesthuizen

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can
change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret
Mead
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