Re: A historian writes...
We need to keep the paper census. Yes it costs, but it's worth it. ... And in a hundred years our great-grand-children can look at them, see how bad great-grandma's handwriting was, and marvel at great-grandpa being a Jedi Knight!
But the paper census is already damaged. The 2011 Census was the first at which you could fill in the questionnaire online instead of on paper. The percentage of online submissions was in the mid-teens.
Yes, the paper forms were scanned. and stored on micro-film, so if anyone is still around in 2111, they will be available to all.* But the information submitted online will never be seen.
* Pro tip - one way of sending a message to your descendants is to scrawl it on your Census form. If it's not obscene or defamatory, it will appear in 100 years' time!
Biting the hand that feeds IT
