Wednesday, December 03, 2014

Observation: tech will assimilate us


Twice in the last few days, I've encountered websites from which I expected to get practical information and came away with erroneous guidance. One was a much regulated private company that provides public transportation; the other was a small business that depends on customer traffic.

I accessed their sites expecting accurate intelligence. I got answers. I'm not complaining that the sites were poorly designed or oddly obscure. The net is often like that; too many websites suck.

I'm complaining that what I found there was simply wrong.

Five years ago I might have shrugged: "well, of course this is new technology and they aren't very savvy ..."

Today, I'm a little stunned. Accurate information on the web is basic to my existence -- and theirs. These entities seem to me vaporous, insubstantial, if they can't communicate via what for more and more of us is our primary information source. I'm not angry, just bemused.

These sorts of enterprises are what the tech economy can blow away, for good or ill. Oh, someday these two outfits will catch up or disappear. But it has become a little shocking to this San Franciscan to discover them still fumbling along at all.

On the road cross country today.

1 comment:

Civic Center said...

Interesting observation, particularly "These sorts of enterprises are what the tech economy can blow away, for good or ill." I see that incompetence a lot with government entities who have lots of money and staff but are absolutely clueless how to get accurate information out to the public.