When I was a software developer on embedded systems, if I had
suggested to my boss that a bug report was really due to "user error,"
I probably would have been shown the door.
I have not done extensive studies, and I haven't read extensively in
the field, but I do use an online catalog, and I do work at a
reference desk and listen to the stories of people who have in good
faith tried to use the catalog but have given up.
Please don't ever tell the user "no results found." There must be
something close to what they asked for. Maybe they misspelled the
title. Maybe they typed in "firstname lastname" instead of "lastname
comma space firstname." Maybe they didn't use the correct LC subject
heading.
The only thing that most OPACs teach the average public library user
is, "Don't use the catalog, just go straight to the reference desk."
Sharon M. Foster, 91.7% Librarian
Speaker-to-Computers
http://www.vsa-software.com/mlsportfolio/
On Thu, Mar 12, 2009 at 11:32 AM, Tim Spalding <tim_at_librarything.com> wrote:
>> Really? Isn't this saying that we should never expect them to be able to
>> learn a thing? To insist 'they' always know enough and all faults are
>> ours? I'not sure.
>
> This is a very interesting question. I'd love to read something
> thoughtful about how an interface "teaches" you something—how you can
> simultaneously be intuitive and easy, and be "moving someone along" to
> something deeper. Interfaces do teach. Mostly they do it
> unintentionally. What if we thought deeply about that teaching?
>
> So, I'd love to read about it, and talk about it. I just feel that the
> library world is *dreadfully* invested in the idea that bad interfaces
> (widely construed) are "teaching" something. You hear the "teaching"
> defense a lot in libraryland. Much of the time, it's a dodge--an
> effort to excuse a bad interface. Sometimes what's being taught is
> actually harmful. My favorite example of that was a discussion on
> AUTOCAT about the "educative" effects of Dewey—that in grappling with
> that embarrassing fossil you're learning something about the world. As
> I see it, apart from learning that fiction and Buddhism are
> unimportant, you're learning something deeply limiting--that knowledge
> is a tree.
>
> So, there's something to the idea of "teaching" interfaces, but I'm
> wary of libraryland running to that idea. It'd be like asking AA to
> investigate the positive health effects of red wine.
>
> Tim
>
Received on Thu Mar 12 2009 - 12:16:26 EDT