Burp cloths

This follows from the last post ...

I think the last step in cutting that cord from an unhealthy (for me) friendship is letting go of expectations.

I don't expect anything from this person anymore, I don't expect she'll be there when I need her. I don't expect her to be there when I just want her to be there. I don't expect her to even understand how her actions have hurt me.

I don't expect anything from her moving forward.

Being an unfair weather friend

Oh yeah, I am full of deep thoughts today.

History repeats itself, right? Unless we learn from it. I learned from mine, trust me and since my mid-20s, I'd say I am doing pretty good. I also believe that unless somebody is willing to make a change themselves, no force around them can make them change. I learned that too in my mid-20s. See the connection? So, once I realized I needed to make a change, I stopped making the same mistakes. I had help too, from my family. They were my harshest critics, and my staunchest supporters. I had a couple really good friends. I had a network of support beyond those friends too. But, the initial need for the change had to come from deep inside me. Everyone else's support helped bolster me once I made the decision in my brain and in my heart.

I find myself sometimes on the other side of the fence, as that friend or as part of that network who wants to help somebody else climb out of their deep pit of mistakes. But, where do you stop trying and decide that it is a waste of your time and emotion and effort, because this person shows no effort of their own or even any will to make that change themselves? They keep putting themselves in the same situation over and over again. You support them everytime the situation goes sour but then, they manage to find another one. Additionally, while they are in that situation, they treat you like second fiddle. They treat you like an unfair weather friend. You know what I mean? This isn't the first time, or the second time or even the third time they've done this to you?

When do I wash my hands of the whole thing?

Weird

I like my cereal crispy but with milk. I just don't like it mushy. So, I usually don't pour a lot of it into a bowl. I'll pour a few tablespoons worth into the milk, eat it before it gets soggy, then pour some more. This morning, I poured a bowlful of blueberry wheaties and half of them got way too mushy :-(

Open Government & Usability

Yesterday, my work celebrated Open Government Day. We had half a day of speakers, including the Deputy CIO from the White House, Beth Noveck. It was interesting to me for a bunch of reasons. I think I am going to talk about this in a bulleted list so I can keep things straight in my head and not forget anything.

Firstly, let's get some quotes I wrote down that I foujnd pertinent to this discussion:

1. By the CIO at our work: "Open Government (OG) fosters an informed public. It reboots the relationship between the goverment and it's public. "
2. By another member of the CIO's team, "we are here to serve the American public."
3. Beth Noveck: "OG helps empower citizens to work withg overnment to build a better government and a stronger democracy."

So, as you can see, a lot of talk about involving the public and for where I work, the public is our biggest end user. So, if the whole idea behind this open government initiative is to empower our end users, help them become engaged with us and do this by opening up channels of communication between us and them ... where does Usability figure into this?

As usability professionals, we are trained to speak to our end users, to observe them in order to focus on their needs and help them reach their goals efficiently and effectively. Right? That's the definition of usability. So, wouldn't it make sense that in the effort to engage the public with their government, some of these specialists, who know how to figure out what these users need, would have been involved?

I think this is an oversight. In order for open government to accomplish what it wants to accomplish, they need people to go out and engage with the public, find out what and how they think, find out what they expect from their government agencies, and then work towards fulfilling the unmet needs. For that, they need to involve usability professionals.

Do people agree? Disagree? Am I missing some very important point?