From the concerns expressed by Tom/Administrator and some of you in other posts, it would appear that you think I'm implying that church leaders are not doing their job and/or I don't sustain them. I'm sorry if I conveyed that. Perhaps my frustration came out a little strong. I'll put my concerns in perspective. Let me give you some background. My father was always in leadership positions that planted him firmly within the ward communication loop. He died in an accident. Overnight we went from being in the communication loop to being on the periphery, and I’ve remained on the periphery ever since. My mother never remarried. I married late and was single for some time. My husband has worked evenings and Sundays for a long time. All of this has made it extraordinarily difficult to find out what is going on in the ward and when activities are.
This has resulted in my being very concerned about other members on the periphery, trying to assess their needs and helping them in whatever way I can to feel a part of the ward, involved, needed, wanted, etc. So many sisters I have visit taught have expressed feelings of being on the periphery – especially regarding information.
My education and background (which is extensive) is in public administration (management in government) and now library and information science because I am pursuing an M.L.S. Librarians have always been interested in people’s “information behavior” – how they seek information, how they use information, what information sources they trust and cultivate, etc. In one of my classes, we researched categories of people and explored their “information behavior”. My topic was managers – very relevant to my background. Others had topics like teachers, engineers, lawyers. Each of these groups have different “information behaviors.” Age and gender categories are also important.
The intent in studying these various groups is to be able to design information systems that will be relevant, useful, easy to navigate, etc. This isn’t revolutionary, businesses try to identify their market and design their products to fit the needs of their target group.
In government this is crucial, because their “audience” or “market” is every single citizen. Government web sites, for example, must be usable to everyone in every conceivable category – old, young, color blind, disabled, those with slow internet connections, etc. Usability and accessibility is extraordinarily important. The web site
http://www.section508.gov/ is devoted to it.
The point I meant to make, and the point I thought I was making, was that elderly, male priesthood holders in leadership positions are not using the church’s electronic tools. Instead, they are setting up auxiliary systems that result in duplication – with some unfortunate side effects like marginalizing the periphery members. As tech professionals designing these tools, I thought that would be valuable information. Somehow the target population has not discovered, not utilized, etc. these tools. Somehow their information behavior is not consistent with expectations. There is a disconnect somewhere that needs to be fixed. They are setting up their own tools to address the same problems that the church's electronic tools seem to address so well. I don't understand why. The only thing I can think of is that they don't fully understand the church's electronic tools. Does anyone have any thoughts/experience with this?
Usability studies are very interesting. What usually happens is that designers and managers discover that the real life users are approaching the technology much differently than what they had anticipated. It’s usually very eye-opening and humbling -- often requiring massive reworking in order to truly serve the needs of the desired population.
A fellow M.L.S. student of mine is a computer professional and works for the church, in fact I think he always has. He related some stories about when they studied real-life users using their electronic tools. One story was particularly amusing and interesting. During the interview following the user’s experience, the user said he liked the software and it was pretty easy to maneuver around, but he didn’t like the computer calling him a dummy. The official asked him to show him where the computer called him a dummy – The user pointed out “ddmmyy”.
I think back to when I was single and called as the single's rep. for wards and stakes, tools like the church is now providing would have made my calling so much easier. It is really gratifying to read about concerns like adding pictures to the member directory. It means others are attempting to use the more sophisticated tools the church is providing us with. Here in a far flung ward in western Kansas we often struggle with more basic issues. Our Bishop announced yesterday that he just got a new job and will be gone after church next Sunday, but the Stake President still wants him to serve as Bishop for a while -- long distance. Maybe this could be the catalyst that results in more utilization of these tools.
Since the Excel spreadsheet the Stake Clerk compiled has numerous emails/contact information from people who have not activated their church login access, I have to think that there is critical mass necessary for the electronic tools to be used successfully. People are certainly online, they just aren't on our unit web site. Elder Christensen's article "My Ways Are Not Your Ways" in the February '07 Ensign addressed some really interesting issues. Our Bishop leaving is the last of the seasoned leadership in our ward. We lost them all, almost overnight, including my husband and myself since my husband got a new job and we just sold our house. It would seem our ward is poised for the new and exciting developments Elder C. is talking about. I hope so.
Again, I'm sorry if my frustrations sounded a bit too much like criticism/complaint. I get so excited about what the church does. I was heavily online before the church's web site ever debuted. I enthusiastically explore each new development. Things just keep getting better and better. The Relief Society President called me up recently and asked me if there was a way she could find out if the church had a branch/ward building in a little town in New Mexico -- apparently her daughter was moving there. It wasn't hard to help her. She admitted she hadn't gone past the first screen of the church's web site and lavished praise on me for helping her calling me an "expert". I didn't feel particularly worthy of the title. It just reinforced the idea that our leaders haven't yet discovered all the wonderful electronic tools. In my prior posting, I suggested that the church could prepare intereactive tutorials, maybe for the World Leadership Training. Is there anything we ordinary members can do to help bridge this learning curve? Does anyone have any ideas?