Hiya,
On Wed, Mar 4, 2009 at 03:10, Janet Hill <Janet.Hill_at_colorado.edu> wrote:
> Saying that "you'll never get it right" is not a particularly useful
> addition to a discussion.
You have to see that comment in the context it was given, and I also
happen to think its a healthy reminder when we design systems for both
the present and the future, otherwise we would go around thinking we
actually know what our users want (usability fallacy no. 1).
> It puts people's backs up and makes them stop
> listening to you.
Some stop listening, other perk their ears up. It's up to them, really.
> We KNOW that perfection is beyond us, but the statement
> implies that (1) if we can't achieve perfection, then we are worms, and that
> (2) the writer believes the s/he has the answer to all of life, the
> universe, and everything.
The problem is far deeper than just simply "perfection." Everybody
knows you can't get perfection, but fewer seem to understand that even
basics can go horribly wrong. Unless you've done heaps of UX I'm
afraid its hard for me to *prove* everything here, but the fact is
that even basic user needs aren't normally met in most systems (1.
What is your users need? 2. How do you know that?). The catalog is
just the perfect example of this; are they designed for your users
needs, or are they designed for the librarians need? (A pretty open
question, really, but please ponder it before rebutting) These
problems are not inherit to just library systems, mind you, but that's
where this conversation is right now.
Now you may not call this a conversation, of course. :)
Regards,
Alex
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Received on Tue Mar 03 2009 - 16:51:55 EST