Jon Hoff’s Teaching ICT (PGCE year)

As the previous post refers to Google Forms being used in schools to cut out the misery of paper based labouring when collecting data, the same can apply to society as a whole. An example in my home town of Bournemouth left residents seething. Livid. Ballistic. Straining at the leash. Rabid even. And I would have had some special words myself for the people who arranged this traffic survey.

This from the local paper:

“NUMPTIES”, “brain-dead”, “jobsworths” and “survey monkeys”. And these are just the printable insults hurled at the people who organised the Spur Road traffic census, which caused giant jams north of Bournemouth on Thursday.

Twenty-four hours after the clipboards were packed away, Bournemouth motorists were still fuming about what one described as “the farce of the century”.

And from this article:

THERE was misery for thousands of motorists caught up in a six-mile tailback caused by the latest traffic surveys…

…The delays continued throughout the day, with the survey running from 7am to 7pm.

How, in this era of technology, was this allowed to happen! 

How about a simple Google spreadsheet form embedded on a simple website address. Let’s say 80% of those motorists use a computer at home or at work. Are they more likely to respond with useful data if they see a well advertised website along the way : *** Traffic Survey – Improve our roads – Visit www.bournemouthtrafficsurvey.com***? Would you feel more likely to respond to this manner of communication rather than being forced against your will to be stuck in a traffic jam on your way to work….?

The local council could/should also be compling a *mailing list of the willing* who are happy to recieve local information/newsletters via email. A big job, but once it is set up, it is set up.