[Sigia-l] NYC-CHI 29 Jan, 6-8PM: Antenna Design Case Studies/NYC Subway Vending Machines

[Listera]

"Eric Scheid" wrote:

> Try telling the millions that use the subway that as of Monday the service
> will cost more because it will no longer be satisfying just utilitarian
> needs but rather will be attempting to provide a positive user experience
> for everyone.

That's a straw man argument. It doesn't have to happen by Monday and it
doesn't really have to cost more.

You achieve results by modulating expectations.

This is New York City, where by starting with the proverbial 'squeegee man',
the former mayor visibly and statistically reduced both the reality and
perception of violence, crime and other "quality-of-life" offenses
throughout the city. Once the perception and thus the expectations changed,
actual change took root, and it took only months and didn't bust any budget.
The sponge-wielding demons were the norm (like the subway situation
currently being a bad user experience) and it was changed, because people
believed it wasn't good enough. They simply raised the bar.

If you expect the subway system to be the pits, it will be. If you want to
change it you declare it unacceptable and begin applying benchmarks to it
that are routinely applied elsewhere.

At the bottom of Manhattan is the historic Battery Park--dirty, noisy, not
terribly safe, etc. Literally across the street start Wagner Park -
Rockefeller Park stretch. All these parks are public. The difference is that
the latter is run by a quasi-public board with an entirely different
approach and expectations. It's not surprising that the latter is one of the
cleanest, best maintained, safest, and most enjoyable parks in the nation.
The difference is stark and the visitors visibly behave differently.

Anyhow I hope we haven't reached a point where we say: oh, that's a
governmental or municipal website, it's just utilitarian, there's no reason
to expect a decent user experience.

It often costs as much money to run operations with bad user experience as
those with good user experience. It's a matter of expectation.

Best,

Ziya