Category: Uncategorized

Boxes and Arrows: The Politics of User Experience

An excellent article on the politics involved with designing sites for the government.

The last few days have been a joy of discovery as I have been finding new and interesting weblogs to read.

At the top of the list of things I have read is an essay in Escapable Logic which says some of the most sensible and needed things on what the Bush Administration has been up to. His core point is that this is no longer a Republicans versus Democrats issue. It’s something much deeper now. And something that we all need to be paying attention to.

Wherever you are on the political spectrum, the Homeland Security Department’s scope and intrusiveness is an affront to your sense of what Washington should be doing. True conservatives shouldn’t buy this tar baby and liberals shouldn’t either. Perhaps our common sense of what’s sensible will join to dismantle this turkey before it plucks us.

…It’s not Republicans vs. Democrats or conservatives vs. liberals, it’s us vs. THEM. People vs. big organizations using people’s money against people’s interests. If you’re against big government – as you should be – then also oppose companies big enough to influence governments.

The current administration is oppressing all citizens with its own version of big government – in the most virulent form we’ve ever seen – bureaucracies that Republicans won’t try to dismantle. Without the Republicans’ traditionally trustworthy counterbalance against big gummint, we may be facing the darkest time in our history.

The whole essay is excellent. A must read.