----- Original message ----------------------------------------
From: "Karen Coyle" <kcoyle_at_KCOYLE.NET>
To: NGC4LIB_at_listserv.nd.edu
Received: 5/4/2007 8:31:06 AM
Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] user-centered design
>>> The thing with users is that they're not actually any good at telling
>>> you what they want, but they are extremly good at telling you what
>>> they don't want.
>Don't users tell us what they want by their actions? If you create an
>index and no one uses it, or if you create a catalog and no one uses it,
>that's a strong message that they don't want that.
Actually, I don't think that's correct, Karen. There are lots of wonderful products/services that have failed because they weren't marketed adequately, if at all. Did you know you needed or wanted a microwave before they were marketed and you saw one and what it could do? A TiVo? An HDTV? An iPod? Those are just fairly current examples, but I'm sure we could all come up with plenty of others.
Come to think of it, that's true of my Corvette. They almost died in 1953 and 54, and a significant part of that was the lack of adequate marketing. Now they're the longest lasting, and really only, US sports car. In fact, I don't think any model of any US car has been around longer than Corvette.
Having it is great, selling it is another. Most of us had to sell our online catalogs, too. Many of us remember faculty who continued to use the card catalog that had been closed for a decade because they "weren't going to use any damn computer to look up books in the library." For that matter, I remember some librarians who thought the same thing.....
dan
Show Up, Suit Up, Shut Up, and Follow Directions
dan_at_riverofdata.com
Dan Lester, Boise, Idaho, USA
Received on Fri May 04 2007 - 14:12:35 EDT