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November 06, 2005
The Government-Citizen Interface
I just read a rather poignant blog article* about the non-"user friendly" nature of having an initiative added to the California ballot. (The challenging nature of this process is likely present in most states.) In case you weren't aware, California has a special election coming up that The Governator called in order to save the state some cash by passing some of his initiatives (the only problem is that the election itself will cost millions...).
In my opinion, the interface between the Government and its citizens is completely flawed. As an Interaction Designer, one of the key rules (or heuristics) I try to follow is to speak the user's language. Government processes fail miserably at this task. In order to get nearly anything done, one must hire a translator, or team of translators (read: lawyer or team of lawyers), which can cost into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. This applies to the courtroom as well, where most Americans cannot be expected to defend themselves because they do not speak "legalese."
Why are we stuck on these old, decrepit ways of makind decisions? Are they really that effective? I would guess that redesigning the system could save the government millions of dollars, and actually make the law comprehensible to those it claims to protect. That would be pretty nice, don't you think?
* I guess I should offer full disclosure...the blog article was written by my brilliant sister, Tami Evnin.
Posted at November 6, 2005 09:58 PM