November 15-18 2000: make your voice count on the Planet Project!
Written: Nov 14 '00 (Updated Apr 01 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: An amazing and historical undertaking
Cons: Will the resultant data be useful or will it be just disparate statistics?
The Bottom Line: The site's got some possibly useful information gleaned.
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| _Cassandra_'s Full Review: Archived Web Services Reviews |
If you've got some spare time, (and if you are reading this I am sure you do!) - why not put yourself down for what looks to be the biggest census in recorded history? There are polls and surveys all over the Internet, but this is truly the mother of them all! The poll takes place on 4 days between November 15 and 18, 2000, and is designed to take a cross section of the whole world, technology savvy or no, and combining the efforts of a multitude of individuals and companies to produce a body of data about what it is like to be alive at the beginning of the millenium.
The Planet Project is run by 3com, with a guest list of big technology names assisting with the project. I find interesting that the Planet Project has involved these companies working together in ways never before seen, and the project even has numerous field workers going out with portable mobile computer equipment to collect data from individuals who do not have Internet access to participate on their own. I don't know what that will really say for the validity of the final statistics as I'm sure their resources are not limitless, but it does appear to be an attempt to achieve the best possible breadth of information regardless of modes of access. They have volunteers in 115 different countries and 7 continents - that's quite amazing!
Some information from the site regarding the types of questions that will be asked is below -
"For every question we're asking, we've probably thrown away another dozen," explained Black. "We wanted questions that were original enough for this unprecedented undertaking, but also questions that made sense and were relevant in different countries, languages and cultures." Harris Interactive is also responsible for related polling technologies, including systems integration, and development of applications and the database. A battery of Harris Interactive programmers spent in excess of 20,000 hours over several months to create the Web pages necessary to run the poll in eight languages.
The resulting poll will consist of eight topical modules: religion; beliefs and fears; health and well-being; sleep and dreams; self image; marriage; dating and sex; parenting and education; and law and order. There are 20 questions per poll topic.
I have to be honest - I don't generally participate in alot of polls or surveys. Someone's just making money out of your time and generally you get nothing for it, not even a warm and fuzzy feeling that you've helped someone - because generally you are only helping some already well heeled company become even richer.
But this poll seems a bit different, it is huge and designed for a variety of cultures - it's even in 8 languages! I guess I am thinking of it more like a census, which are compulsory here in Australia and are conducted every 4 years. There is a Student Underground survey which will be run in conjunntion with the main Planet Project survey, and students around the world have contributed questions (there are only 20 though, so it wouldn't take up too much time, as the main poll will take a bit more!)
I think I'll be asking a few of my offline friends and family to take this poll - and I'm very interested to see the resulting statistics, which will be available as the poll takes place, updating continually!
For more information and to pre-register to be involved in the Planet Project, visit the website which is at http://www.planetproject.com.
UPDATE:
I've taken most sections of the poll now, and I have to say some of the questions are quite thought-provoking! I don't do alot of polls but this does seem different from the usual consumerist stuff and focuses much more on belief systems and opinions. Many Epinionators will love it!
I was dissapointed however that some questions are distinctly leading and force you to express a point of view which may really not be what you feel - or not allow a neutral or "I don't know" stance.
Still, I think it's rather interesting. Once you've completed once section of the poll, you can look at the answers from others for the section you've just completed.
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Also, an Easter Egg for those interested: I've been busy designing Operator Logos for my new mobile phone, the Siemens SL45, and I have designed a logo featuring the Planet Earth to tie in with this review!
To download the logo, go to the following URL:
http://members.iinet.net.au/~prophecy/sl45/e423h.htm
If you have any technical queries or would like to see all my logo designs, take a lookie here:
http://members.iinet.net.au/~prophecy/sl45/sl45operatorlogos.htm
Recommended:
Yes
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_Cassandra_
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Location: Perth, Western Australia
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Designer and Filmmaker - and an artist in many guises.
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