Now this is my kind of new deal. Law Technology News’ Ted Banks lays out what I’ve always believed.
Technology should accomplish what the User NEEDS.
This philosophy is simple but rarely is it incorporated. Vendors make products that under-perform, librarians spend hours communicating both ways what is wanted and why the user can’t get what is wanted.
Is it really so hard to think about the use of technology and implement the use into the programming? I haven’t programmed anything since High School, thankfully but programmers are smart, way smarter than I.
If I tell my programming friends that I want XYZ is it really so complicated that they can’t do it? Banks seems to feel the same way he states,
To ensure effectiveness, which is driven by clarity and relevance, automation tools should be as close to the user as possible. Nothing should enter the real world until it reflects how real people act, and has been thoroughly tested by real people. Successful technology works when it mimics how people think and behave.
I always enjoyed beta testing new products because I would inevitably break. I wanted the new search tools to search for XYZ in case of Z & A with the ABC user group always in mind. If new tools could not meet those expectations it probably wasn’t going to get used and it certainly wasn’t meeting expectations.
So programmers, vendors, librarians and users. Hop on board the communication train and listen and respond don’t quote. If you can’t use technology to solve problems you might as well give up matches for starting fires too.
Constance Ard January 8, 2009
