I was strolling along a lane on Inishbofin a few weeks ago, when I noticed an electricity pole with a barcode stapled to it. It made me smile – if I was in Sweden or Switzerland, I could believe that someone might just come along one day to scan the pole – ‘just to be sure’. I realize that the tag was probably added for inventory purposes at a depot, but Ireland really isn’t the place where having an up-to-date database of every pole in the country is that believable. A more useful list is that of everyone in the country – it was Census Night on April 10th, and the forms are currently being handed in all around the country. The National Archive has published data from the 1901/1911 census which is very interesting. Ireland has a census every 5 years, and each time, there is a discussion on what sort of questions to add, change or remove. This time, 2 new questions were added – one on health and the other on language proficiency. Who knows – maybe one day, the census will ask about one’s blog, facebook or other online personas ?