Where's the light switch?

An Apple representative once compared changing software versions to moving to a new house.

For the first few weeks, when you can't find the light switches, where you put the scotch tape or remember to turn left or right to get to the bathroom, you wonder, "What was I thinking moving to this new house?"

In fairly short order, though, the new house becomes more familiar and you appreciate the reasons for moving - bigger garage, nicer yard, more bedrooms, etc. The light switch location isn't a big deal anymore.

I am trying to remember this little analogy as I learn the new version of the squarespace blogging software. I am finally finding some of the new locations of old features, but I am not at the stage of being able to appreciate any improvements.

And while the site may look nicer, the product's done nothing to improve my writing or my ideas. Maybe that is asking for too much.

Blame the user

When three people call you an ass, put on a bridle. Spanish proverb

I will be running close to the edge of my "Complain globally, praise locally" blogging guidelines in this post . But I am pretty angry.

Our state's Library Services Department wanted to collect data on school library programs using an online survey tool. Great!

We need a good set of data. We don't know for certain how many libraries, librarians, resources or computers we have in our fair state's schools - and whether those numbers are increasing or decreasing. It was embarrassing during legislative testimony to be asked for school library data and to not have such numbers available. The lack did not help our case.

So the intent itself was outstanding.

But the execution was terrible. Irrelevant questions, confusing questions, unreadable formatting, unreasonable tech requirements, malfunctioning website, and just an incredibly daunting length were all "features" of this survey. But school librarians in 42% of schools bravely made the attempt - including our district. Many of us tried working the department to make the survey more useful and meaningful - work with seemed to have been simply ignored.

But this is what put me over: a scolding letter from the department saying...

Please note that of the 383 respondents, only 80 reports were correctly answered. Every library has a dictionary because of the importance of understating the meaning of a word. It’s equally important to understand the intent of the question to obtain comparable data.

So let me understand this... Of the 42% of surveys completed, only 21% of those were completed "correctly?" That is a rate of less than 9% of possible survey returns that the state deems as "correct."

Uh, might the problem be with the survey and not with the 91% of us who either didn't complete the survey or got it wrong?

Creating a good survey is a task best left to professionals, not well-meaning amateurs. The validity of the data requires it.

There is a larger issue here as well: When any of us don't get the response we were anticipating (amount of use of a new resource, attendance at an in-service, number of readers or responses to our blog, etc.), it's very easy to "blame the user." Maybe we should be looking at what we are offering instead.

Good intentions do not make up for incompetence.

Original image source: www.bryantnielson.com/

Messin' with my blog's style

My blog/web host provider, Squarespace, has updated its software to a new version. For a few days, the looks may be as odd as the content...