A footnote to all our coverage of doing the census online: according to IBM (which managed the IT for the project), just under 30 per cent of households went for the online option, up from 9 per cent in the previous census. It’s a shame quite a few forgot to hit submit first time around, but it still suggests we’ll all be online in about five censuses or so.
If you filled out your 2011 census form online, your part is already done. If you went with the traditional paper format and are waiting around for the collector to return for it, don’t hold your breath: the official collection period runs until August 28.
Tonight is census night, but if you’re planning on doing the census online, you can get in early and beat the likely server overload. For more advice on getting through the census process, check out our guide to ten things to remember when doing the census online.
Census night is Tuesday August 9, but you can save yourself a lot of hassle by completing the online eCensus version instead ahead of time — no working through questions you don’t need to look at on the 18-page paper form. Most of the online process is fairly self-explanatory, but here are 10 issues to bear in mind.
