More than 1 million people click on the Census Bureau's Web site each day to gather demographics on U.S. residents. That number is expected to increase dramatically as responses to the 2000 census become available within the next few months.
Lisa Wolfisch Nyman, a computer specialist with the bureau, is one of the people behind the scenes who help make this information exchange possible. Lately, she's been trying to electronically connect different databases to answer common questions about things like the number of housing units in the United States.
She joined the Census Bureau a decade ago as a cartographer who mapped congressional districts, then became a systems administrator. As her familiarity with the Internet grew, she transformed herself into a Web worker. On the job she makes heavy use of Perl, an open-source computer language.
Nyman also experiments in her free time with Perl, whose devotees talk in chat rooms and at face-to-face conventions. She's especially interested in bringing more women into technology professions.
"There is also a whole new breed of geekette," Nyman said. "She's not sitting behind a screen all day coding or repairing hardware. Perhaps she's an executive or owns her own company."
IN PROFILE
Name: Lisa Wolfisch Nyman
Age: 33
Title: Computer specialist, U.S. Census Bureau
Nature of work: She uses open-source software to design Internet applications for the Census Bureau's Web site. She recently worked on a new application, Quick Facts, to help answer common questions such as how many people live in a particular county.
