The Bad Design Election

[Edward Wigg]

At 02:10 PM 11/10/2000 -0800, Richard Wiggins <wiggins at mail.com> wrote:
>The only good thing to come of this is the the wonderful lesson that user
>interface design classes and textbooks will use this for for years to come...

It is becoming apparent to me that the design of the Palm Beach County
ballot will be used as an example of many things for a very long time -- it
is going to pass into the mythology of design, and of humor too.

For examples of the humor you might try: <http://www.taterbrains.com/> or
<http://bohica.nsg.nwu.edu/Morons1.gif>

For an example of the serious discussion of the design you might take a
look at  the "Statement by Don A. Dillman on Palm Beach County Florida
Ballot" available as part of Vol. 21, Issue 12 of the Risks Digest
<http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/21.12.html> 
[For those of you who are not aware of the Risks Digest, I encourage you to
subscribe or take a look on a regular basis; the issues covered are wide
ranging (sometimes even directly including libraries!) and are thought
provoking and often very important to us both as librarians and individuals
in the modern world.]

And for humor masquerading as comment on interface design, or vice versa,
see:
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/subst/home/all-stores-ballot.html/002-918
2980-4193619> -- you know it must have hit the mainstream by the time
Amazon is getting in on the act.

Edward