Census Tweaks

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

A list of changes to make to the census for the next one:

-Gender options: Male, Female, Nonbinary, Other
-Household size should be a slider from 1 to 10+.
-Industry should include other options and should instruct respondents to "choose category that best describes your occupation": agriculture, education, construction, homemaking, unemployed, probably others
-Racial identity options should probably be tweaked.
-Religious affiliation needs additions of "Other:______________" and "Nonreligious".
-Income should have Euro and USD equivalents.
EDIT: Eliminate party affiliation.

[Sir Txec dal Nordselvă, UrB]

Should party affiliation be included at all? I don't see the point in it.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

That's a really good point! Ordinarily information like that could be used to learn about the different parties in their composition, but because we don't correlate any of that sort of information, that's impossible. It occurs to me that measuring the difference between party identification in the census, which is a high involvement activity, and the election, which is a lower involvement activity, might yield some information about the different degree to which each party includes less engaged voters. But I'm not sure that's that useful, or if it could even be figured out based on such small sample sizes.

Yeah, let's get rid of it.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

Going to write this up to add it to el Lexhatx, rather than have it be a standalone bill.  This will replace the "questions shall be the same" language.  I will also add in language allowing the Government to request additional optional questions be appended to the official ones.  I was thinking that maybe the Government should be free to do this at will, but only with prior notice to the Ziu (so the Ziu can act to negate the move, the same as with finance notices).

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

1.2.2. The Bureau of the Census within the Chancery shall conduct a census of all citizens of Talossa, collecting demographic information and updating the Chancery's contact details for the citizenry. A census shall be performed every two calendar years, or more frequently if the Seneschal so requests.
    1.2.2.1. The only required questions for any respondent on the Talossan Census shall be
       (a) current Talossan and non-Talossan names, and
       (b) citizen contact details (preferably email).
The Chancery will provide an option for respondents to share their email address with party leaders, pursuant to D.8.5.4.
    1.2.2.2. Other questions on the Talossan Census shall be identical to the questions on the last census.
    These questions may be changed by the Chancery, either of its own volition or on request from the Seneschal, but any changes shall be approved by the Ziu, without needing to go through committee. These questions will be marked as optional, and at no time shall a citizen be forced or required to respond to an optional question.
    1.2.2.3. Any information collected during the census that would individually identify any person or persons, including their contact information, shall be withheld from the public for to protect individual privacy, consistent with Lex.D.8. The only exception is that citizens may opt to have their e-mail address shared with party leaders, pursuant to D.8.5.4. Census information shall not be released under any "freedom of information" or "government transparency" requests, notwithstanding any other provisions of el Lexhatx.
    1.2.2.4. Demographic information and other information that does not identify the respondents shall be made available within thirty (30) days of the conclusion of any census.
    1.2.2.5 The Seneschal may request on behalf of the Government that a given communication shall be sent out by the Chancery to the email address of every citizen who has not "opted out" as provided in section C.1.2.2.5.4. below. The Chancery shall grant this request if, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, the following provisions are met:
       1.2.2.5.1 Such communication shall pertain wholly to official Government business.
       1.2.2.5.2 Such communication may not include publicity for, or any other business pertaining to, any political party or candidate for election.
       1.2.2.5.3 Such communications are not sufficiently frequent or repetitive enough to qualify as "spam".
       1.2.2.5.4 Citizens may "opt out" of receiving such communications by making a request to the Chancery.

shall be amended as follows:

1.2.2. The Bureau of the Census within the Chancery shall conduct a census of all citizens of Talossa, collecting demographic information and updating the Chancery's contact details for the citizenry. A census shall be performed every two calendar years, or more frequently if the Seneschal so requests.
    1.2.2.1. The only required questions for any respondent on the Talossan Census shall be
       (a) current Talossan and non-Talossan names, and
       (b) citizen contact details (preferably email).
The Chancery will provide an option for respondents to share their email address with party leaders, pursuant to D.8.5.4.
    1.2.2.2.  Other questions on the census shall include:
          1.2.2.2.1  Gender, with the listed options of Male, Female, Nonbinary, and Other.
          1.2.2.2.2  Household size, expressed as a range from 1 to 10+.
          1.2.2.2.3  Industry, instructing respondents "choose category that best describes your occupation" and with the listed options of Agriculture, Arts, Business and Finance, Clergy and Community Services, Construction and Trades, Education and Childcare, Engineering and Computer Science, Healthcare, Homemaking, Hospitality and Food Services, Legal Services, Manufacturing, Military, Sales, Sciences, Transportation, Unemployed, and Other.
          1.2.2.2.4  Racial Identity, with the listed options of Amerindian, Asian, Black, Pacific Islander, and White, with an additional supplementary option to indicate if respondent identifies as Hispanic or Latino.
          1.2.2.2.5  Religious Affiliation, with the listed options of Buddhism, Christianity (Orthodox), Christianity (Protestant), Christianity (Roman Catholic), Hinduism, Islam (Shia), Islam (Sunni), Judaism, Nonreligious, and Other.
          1.2.2.2.6  Household Income, with options allowing for a wide range of answers and denominated in both louise and euro and United States dollar equivalents.
    1.2.2.3.  Other questions on the Talossan Census shall be identical to the questions on the last census. New questions may be added by the Chancery, either of its own volition or on request from the Seneschal.  Any proposed changes must be reported to the Ziu at least a month prior to the Census.
    1.2.2.4. Any information collected during the census that would individually identify any person or persons, including their contact information, shall be withheld from the public for to protect individual privacy, consistent with Lex.D.8. The only exception is that citizens may opt to have their e-mail address shared with party leaders, pursuant to D.8.5.4. Census information shall not be released under any "freedom of information" or "government transparency" requests, notwithstanding any other provisions of el Lexhatx.
    1.2.2.5. Demographic information and other information that does not identify the respondents shall be made available within thirty (30) days of the conclusion of any census.
    1.2.2.6 The Seneschal may request on behalf of the Government that a given communication shall be sent out by the Chancery to the email address of every citizen who has not "opted out" as provided in section C.1.2.2.5.4. below. The Chancery shall grant this request if, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, the following provisions are met:
       1.2.2.6.1 Such communication shall pertain wholly to official Government business.
       1.2.2.6.2 Such communication may not include publicity for, or any other business pertaining to, any political party or candidate for election.
       1.2.2.6.3 Such communications are not sufficiently frequent or repetitive enough to qualify as "spam".
       1.2.2.6.4 Citizens may "opt out" of receiving such communications by making a request to the Chancery.

[Miestră Schivă, UrN]

If such a bill would pass, I would lead a movement of citizens to boycott all those intrusive 1.2.2.2 questions, on the basis of None Of Your Business.

If the Government is really interested in such things, it should operate a stand-alone survey with voluntary participation, not attach them to the Census.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

If such a bill would pass, I would lead a movement of citizens to boycott all those intrusive 1.2.2.2 questions, on the basis of None Of Your Business.

If the Government is really interested in such things, it should operate a stand-alone survey with voluntary participation, not attach them to the Census.

All of these questions are already on the census, and these changes are only to make them more sensitive, equitable, and better phrased.

[Miestră Schivă, UrN]

I've expressed elsewhere that the "Racial Identity" clause, in particular, is not only insensitive but meaningless to people who don't live in the United States with its formal history of racial segregation and slavery. "Ethnic self-identification" would be much more universal.

I would much prefer this:

1.2.2.2. Other questions on the Talossan Census may be set by the Chancery, either of its own volition or on request from the Seneschal, but any changes shall be approved by the Ziu, without needing to go through committee. These questions will be marked as optional, and at no time shall a citizen be forced or required to respond to an optional question.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

I've expressed elsewhere that the "Racial Identity" clause, in particular, is not only insensitive but meaningless to people who don't live in the United States with its formal history of racial segregation and slavery. "Ethnic self-identification" would be much more universal.

I think that this preliminary language could be much improved, sure.

I would much prefer this:

1.2.2.2. Other questions on the Talossan Census may be set by the Chancery, either of its own volition or on request from the Seneschal, but any changes shall be approved by the Ziu, without needing to go through committee. These questions will be marked as optional, and at no time shall a citizen be forced or required to respond to an optional question.

That is essentially the law right now, and it led to an additional burden on the Chancery that's rather out of their remit -- to consider, preplan, and submit questions about what the government wants to know about the people.  I think the Ziu and Government should be considering that sort of national planning, instead.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

So anyway, these would be the questions for the next census, based on what was noticed in the last one:

1.2.2.2.1  Gender, with the listed options of Male, Female, Nonbinary, and Other.

It seemed to me like this would capture a wider range and might be more suitable than the original phrasing, which was from a long while ago.

1.2.2.2.2  Household size, expressed as a range from 1 to 10+.

This could be done with a slider to answer, and would be better than the current options which topped out at (I believe) five. 

1.2.2.2.3  Industry, instructing respondents "choose category that best describes your occupation" and with the listed options of Agriculture, Arts, Business and Finance, Clergy and Community Services, Construction and Trades, Education and Childcare, Engineering and Computer Science, Healthcare, Homemaking, Hospitality and Food Services, Legal Services, Manufacturing, Military, Sales, Sciences, Transportation, Unemployed, and Other.

The current options are surprisingly few.  I'm sure I missed some broad categories, so suggestions are welcome.

1.2.2.2.4  Racial Identity, with the listed options of Amerindian, Asian, Black, Pacific Islander, and White, with an additional supplementary option to indicate if respondent identifies as Hispanic or Latino.

This is a pretty imperfect list, I admit.  Probably changing it to "Racial/Ethnic Identity" does make sense.  Not sure about the categories, either, but it's the best I could do so far.  Suggestions would be very welcome.

1.2.2.2.5  Religious Affiliation, with the listed options of Buddhism, Christianity (Orthodox), Christianity (Protestant), Christianity (Roman Catholic), Hinduism, Islam (Shia), Islam (Sunni), Judaism, Nonreligious, and Other.

This isn't every religion under the sun, but I think it'd be the bulk of our citizenry.  Should there also be "Spiritual?"

1.2.2.2.6  Household Income, with options allowing for a wide range of answers and denominated in both louise and euro and United States dollar equivalents.

Having the answers only in louise seemed like it was asking too much of people, since most folks don't know the exchange rate.