Unlocking The Census Storehouse For Beginning Undergraduates

As the industrial revolution gained momentum, the individual artisan gave way to organized, hierarchized factories. Now, academic computer users seem to be evolving backwards: data processing is swiftly moving from an organized mainframe environment to increasingly powerful PC's in the hands of independent computer users, just like individual artisans. But as we become able to store, manipulate, and display even the most complex forms of data, we can easily become isolated from fellow researchers. Manipulating data on one's own machine may have its advantages: for example, we can tailor data sets and programs to the specific needs of oitf students. However, when we deal with data sets as universally necessary as the US Census,