Re: [Debconf-discuss] Zagreb <--> Banja Luka
Hi Adnan,
On Tue, 17 May 2011 19:03:52 +0200, Adnan Hodzic <adnan@foolcontrol.org> wrote:
...
> Now, is that enough INFORMATION for you?
I'm rather reluctant to get involved, as I know you're tired and
stressed, but the diagnostic piece of information which I never found,
and which tells me that we have a problem, is the answer to this question:
How far is the bus stop in Novska from the railway station?
Now, that's not really an important question in it's own right but
without knowing the answer to that question, it's becomes impossible to
decide whether it will be nicer to stay on the train until Novska, or
whether it's better to get off at Zagreb (when coming from Munic by
train).
There are loads of similar unanswered questions:
How likely is the bus to be full by the time it arrives at Novska?
How often are busses cancelled?
Where do I buy a ticket? (at the staion? on the bus?)
Which currencies are accepted?
etc. etc. etc.
These are all trivial for a local to answer (particularly if they live in
Novska) but impossible for a foreigner to discover. Until most of these
are answered, we have a problem.
Without that level of detail, it's impossible to make a comfortable
decision about which route to choose, with the result that everyone
ends up using the safe option of Zagreb, but feeling like they've failed
to make the best choice.
Meanwhile, if train travellers stayed on the train longer (to Novska or
Okuani) we would only need to organise a shorter bus ride for them, but
we're not providing them with the detail that would let them make that
decision, so everyone looses.
=-=-=-=-
How do we fix this?
You say that you're visiting LUGs drumming up enthusiasm, and being
offered help?
Remember, the people volunteering see you as the boss.
If you tell them to do things, they will probably do them, particularly
if the thing you tell them to do is simple for them, and you tell them
it's important.
I'd suggest that they start by going through the web site, and the wiki,
looking for bits that are obviously just best guesses, and replacing
those with real information derived from local knowledge.
You could also tell one or more of your new volunteers to look through
the archives here for unanswered questions, to see the sorts of
information people need to make their plans, and go and find the
answers.
If you end up with a lot of volunteers, some could actually start asking
people to submit new queries to them.
This should be really easy for the locals to do, once they realise the
level of detail people want. I don't think it would take that many
people to make a real difference.
Note, I'm not expecting _you_ to do anything more than you're already
doing. You're already spreading enthusiasm. Just take advantage of it
when it's standing in front of you, and tell people to do simple things
NOW.
Good luck :-)
Cheers, Phil.
--
|)| Philip Hands [+44 (0)20 8530 9560] http://www.hands.com/
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