BOINC Census

[jring-o]

Let's create a census for BOINC so we can better understand the community and how it grows and changes over time

• Create questions list
• Ask BOINC projects for input on questions
• Decide platform
• Decide distribution method
• Announcement copy

[jring-o]

I like the idea of asking BOINC projects for questions they want in the census.

[TheGoblinPopper]

1. How long have you been BOINCing?
2. What project types do you enjoy to crunch the most? Bio, Math, Space,...
3. What country are you based in?
4. What projects would you like to support or would like to see more of?
5. Do you have a key feature of BOINC you would like to see in the near future?
6. are you aware of crypto's that utilize BOINC ecosystem?
   6.a) What is your opinion of these cryptos? Favorable or no?
7. How did you originally get involved in BOINC?
8. Have you ever tried to start your own project?
9. Are you actively involved in helping support/maintain a project?
10. Other than processing power, have you ever donated to a project directly?

[delta1513]

• How many computers do you have? (Laptops or desktop PCs running/not running boinc)
• How many computers do you have that run BOINC regularly? (laptops or desktops)
• How many mobile devices do you own that run BOINC regularly?
• What level of computer programming experience do you have?
• What is your preferred computer operating system?
• Which age group are you in?
• What gender do you identify as?
• Where did you first hear about BOINC?
• When did you first hear about BOINC?
• What is the most important aspect of a project? (similar one to here)
• What is your biggest concern when running BOINC? (eg, heat, electricity cost, project produces no results, etc)

[delta1513]

Questions should not ask for things that we can gain from BOINC stats (eg, computer specs).
Questions should be simple enough for the user to answer without having to open up BOINC or anything else.
We should have a first set of questions that never change between censuses and then a final set of open-ended or project-specific questions as Jringo mentioned above.

[jring-o]

What is your favorite drink?

[AenBleidd]

@delta1513, pardon, why do we need this info?

What gender do you identify as?

I don't think we could ever use it

[delta1513]

@AenBleidd Gender is a more broad field than 'sex' so if we replace 'sex' with 'gender', we can not only gauge male vs female participation but also LGBTQ+ participation (to some extent)

The survey answers for this question would simply be 'male', 'female' and 'other'.

[AenBleidd]

@delta1513, I got this but for me is unclear why do we need to know 'sex' and/or 'gender' at all?

[TheGoblinPopper]

I see this as a consensus that we can do an annual report and share as a fun community activity.

I think gender is just another metric to share and understand the community.

If we did ask I would say that we should make sure the options are comprehensive and includes an option of "I prefer not to comment".

[jring-o]

For example, diverse representation in science and technology is a very big problem. Taking the yearly temperature of various representation metrics like gender, race, education background, etc. gives us data with which we can tailor future initiatives. We can then measure the results of those initiatives. Data is not the only or best way to work toward more diversity in science and technology, but it is definitely a good tool.

A better way, just as an example since this is not related to the census at all, is to fulfill our goal of growing the board to 11-15 members and making sure all new members are more diverse than what we currently have.

[AenBleidd]

@jring-o, got it, thanks for the explanation!