How Did You Get To Work Today?

Have you ever stopped to think about all the signs, infrastructure, access, and coordination it takes just to get people to work each day in a major city? World Usability Day gives us a chance to do just that. The day itself was Thursday November 13. I hadn’t stopped on that day to take notice of what the day is all about so I thought I’d take some time now to look into it.

The Usability Professionals Association (UPA) created the initiative of taking a day a year to increase awareness and support making transportation easier and safer to use while also supporting a more energy friendly approach for our environment.

I work in software, so most of my usability focus is on user interfaces on a computer including desktop applications, web applications, and website usability. I was fascinated to think instead about the usabilty of transportation this year. Being a mom of young children and driving a stroller all around town has opened my eyes many times to the difficulties of using wheels for your ambulation rather than your stair-climbing legs. Visiting the Texas state capital in Austin with my two kids involves some lifting and struggle with the stroller since I don’t want to use the retro-fitted wheelchair ramp for my 28-pound two year old. But it does give me some limited perspective so I immediately thought of accessibility for transportation usability.

Another area of making transportation friendly to both users and the environment is considering your carbon footprint while traveling. I use Dopplr to share my trips with others, and just this year they integrated a web application that calculates and displays your carbon footprint. Somehow my trip to Philadelphia in June outpaces my driving trip to Houston and flying trip to Columbus this month. One trip was for business and another for family, but it is helpful to compare the two months. With the information in front of me, I can choose to ride my bike to work to make up the difference.

Another aspect of World Usability Day and Transportation is signage. Let’s take for example the failure of the signage on this London Bus - Break Glass for Hammer next to Use Hammer to Break Glass. I guess the moral of the story is to always travel with a hammer.

It seems a little unfair to usability professionals to take a day that might points out the difficulties and foibles of travel and usability. But awareness is a good start, and I hope your holiday travel plans involve useful signs, accessible paths, and a low carbon footprint.