Free Range Librarian

K.G. Schneider’s blog on librarianship, writing, and everything else, since 2003.

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Usability and the 2004 Election

November 8, 2004 at 12:35 pm by K.G. Schneider · 2 Comments ·

Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox for November 8 argues that usability factors–particularly how the two candidates used newsletters–helped elect Bush: “In summary, Kerry used his newsletter to collect money. Bush used his to increase voter turnout, and he won because he was better at turning out his base. Understanding the strength of email newsletters thus directly contributed to Bush’s victory, so his Internet team can claim some credit for the outcome.”

I was bombarded by Dems requesting money, and was also disappointed when I filled out a volunteer form and never got so much as a “thanks but we’re concentrating on swing states.” Things to keep in mind!

Posted on this day, other years:

Tags: Politics

2 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Richard // Nov 8, 2004 at 3:12 pm

    I agree with you completely, the Dem’s need to get back to brass tacks, and grass roots. Repulicans now have a better grassroots organization than we do. As shown in Ohio Republicans had more people on the ground, and volenteering for the polling places. I had thought we heeded the wake up call in 2000, but 2004 proved that to be very wrong.

  • 2 Norma // Nov 16, 2004 at 2:04 pm

    I’d never heard of Alertbox so clicked over and took a look. It may be one of the most unattractive web sites I’ve seen in months. It seems to have some good information packaged poorly–not a good recommendation for what it tries to do.

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