In Good Faith...
By RanXerox on May 18, 2004 - 3:08pm
Long one, but bear with me.
If I suggested the average computer user was less interested in 'syndication', RSS, XML, etc etc and way more interested in talking about themselves or their interests, I'd hope most people with agree with me. Now I have worked in 'tech'/marketing/advertising/ for a few years and am *moderately* interested in new technologies, but IMHO, the vast majority of computer users aren't. What they want is to get stuff done. If they can get stuff done *and* feel like they're contributing to a larger effort, I'd say it encourages them to participate more.
I have a moderate to intermediate knowledge of the technologies on this site and I *do* appreciate the efforts. But I find myself having to wade around to discover what things are, where they are, and frankly 'what good' they'd do to allow me to participate more. I suppose what I'm talking about are interface issues. I'm deeply suspicious the minute anyone starts up about Human Computer Interface crap - it's called 'usability'. I honestly mean no offense when I say that this site seems more focused on the already converted instead of trying to create converts, and the evidence is in the density of feedback the site seemingly requires and the vocabulary of it. I don't believe that's a good thing. Mock blogspot all you like - in literally 5 minutes, anyone, anywhere can have an online journal. Bluntly put, its nearly stupid proof. As I say, I have a fair amount of experience in the technology field and the layout of this site confuses me. It really shouldn't. What I'd love to be able to do (as one example) is have a 'switch' that allows me to toggle between say, 3 levels of expertise. Each subsequent higher 'switch' can be turned on and allows me to access more complex features. Each 'switch' also contains specific FAQ's on that switch and details what improvements the next higher switch permits. Yes, even this suggestion requires a lot of reworking on the hosts part. But if 'communities' are meant to be inclusive rather than exclusive, I think urbanvancouver needs some modifications. At minimum to the 'front end'. I feel intimidated here, and trust me when I say I'm not easily intimidated by web site navigation. I'd like to participate more and add more, but I must sadly say that the site does not encourage it. As another example, I think folks would be fascinated by understanding RSS feeds. Where exactly does urbanvancouver explain why and how this is useful to *them*? There doesn't seem to be a 'context' to a lot of information here. How does a user understand the relationship between the two items at left - Neighbourhood and Topic? What's the connection? Is there one? Please understand I like the sites intentions. Or at least I *think* (!) I do. But I'm confused by having to 'wade through' things and I suspect that if I'm confused, the newbies just run the other way. There's no 'getting your feet wet' point in this site. And there should be.
My two cents - based on the 400 posts reply in the forum. It'd be nice to see urbanvancouver stick around and create something for all levels of content providers - whether dumb or dumber :-).
Peace
So far, we've been developing "in the open". We soft-launched, meaning we announced on our personal blogs, told people we're working on this, etc. but didn't really do much trumpeting of what this Urban Vancouver thing is all about.
Usability issues are huge. There are so many features and options here that things can easily become confusing. We hope to rectify some of those issues in the short term with a face lift (e.g. replace a bunch of the text links with icons, re-organize often used items) and adding more how-to content that is (again) easily accessible.
Your comments on differing levels of access are good. Not quite sure how we can accomplish this. It might be through enabling/disabling different "blocks" of functionality.
For instance, there are two "hidden" blocks that are turned off by default, the "Buddy List" and "My Friends' Blogs". To enable them, go to your user account, and where it says "Block configuration", add a checkmark next to those two items, scroll down to the bottom, and hit "Submit". Now, when browsing the site, you should see two extra "blocks" at left. Clicking on someone's user name will take you to their profile, where you can add them as a "buddy". They will appear in your "Buddy List" and any entries they post will be highlighted in the "My Friends' Blog" block.
Having just written that, it may still be too complicated!
I'll write up a longer blurb on the relationship between "Topics" and "Neighbourhoods". Roughly, both are categories, and can be used as two main ways to slice and dice the information on the site here.
And another "how to write content" post is probably in order as well.
Thanks for taking the time to air your comments. If you have any specific feature requests or feedback ("I don't know how to do X" -- "How do I do Y?" -- "Can UV add this?") please do add them here. And of course, hopefuly you can make it to the info session.
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