Access to Information
There seems to be some part of this crazy thing called the ‘internets’ which eludes those in power which always makes important websites, specifically government and large business, absolutely useless. They just can’t seem to grasp how easy basic of a task it is to put information people want and need, online with all that other information they want you to see.
For example:
I love skating, and living in Ottawa allows me to go skating on ‘the longest skating rink in the world’, the canal, and get some good, free, exercise. Now it’s been a fairly odd winter weather wise so I look to the online website for if it’s open or not occasionally. I saw some people merrily enjoying skating downtown on it, and I was overjoyed! The time had finally come to dust the cobwebs off the blades, sharpen them, and strap them to my feet to go relatively slowly and look like an idiot. I hadn’t checked online in a while so that was my first destination when I got home, and lo and behold! ‘Excellent’ ice conditions! This was my lucky day. The weather was great, though a bit windy, but that doesn’t matter since it’s Canada and it’s the winter and when it’s not -40 with 3ft of blowing snow we’re always happy.
So off I went via public transportation, and made my way to Dows Lake, which is the ‘other’ end from downtown about 7.4 km as the skater glides away from downtown. But there was a problem, there was no-one around. No one skating, no couples awkwardly sliding along trying to impress eachother. No hockey jocks skating laps around their parents who dragged them for a family outing. No little kids falling down and having more fun down than they were up. No one. So I went inside and found some workers and apparently the canal wasn’t open _here_ yet, and that ‘down around the bend’ it was open.
I had two options, and I maintain that I chose the correct one, but they were to go home or walk the canal until it opened and then skate it. I walked. Joggers were giving me funny looks as I went. Who was this large person with this large bag, walking, clogging up their jogging route. As I continued along the path narrowed and I had to start excusing myself or getting out of their way, it was a nice day and they were out in full force. Finally, as I was giving up hope, I rounded a bend and beheld a sight which filled me with delight. A grey fence on the ice. Oh what a wonderful image, for on the other side was the recreation which I had now trekked for the better part of an hour and a half for.
I step onto the ice, sit down on the bench, and remember all the years gone by where I would come and do this with my family, and how nice it was that a service like this still existed. Nostalgia sets in that first time every year, like turning on the intro to your favourite 16-bit video game, you know what to expect, and it’s wonderful. The first stride was wobbly as expected, but with each stroke I could feel the muscle memory taking over as I sped past all (including those in spandex with the long speed-skates… I guess it really isn’t how big it is just how well you use it — hahaha… groan). Then, I almost fell. Poor ice. It’ll clear up after the bend, or the next, or the… KHAN!
So in the end, I didn’t even want to skate the 1/3rd length of the canal again, ended up downtown, and went to the arcade.
So, online it said that the ice condition was ‘Excellent’ but that obviously wasn’t the case, but it’s early in the season and my ice standard is higher than your average bears, so I can forgive them for that. They want to attract as many people to get out as possible, and with ‘very poor’ ice conditions listed you’re not gonna entice the average skater out there (I’d still go, but at least I’d be warned). But the whole ‘not entirely open’ thing needed to be highlighted. Looking at the page again, it’s right there at the bottom of the screen in a note, but who can read more when there’s a giant green flag saying ‘Excellent’ at the top of the screen? So you can chalk this one up to my stupidity, but damnit I want BOLD BoldItalic or !!!!!! LOOK AT MEEEEEE !!!!!! when there’s something you absolutely need to know on a webpage.
So all in all, the practice of hiding information that is detrimental, and accenting the ‘good’ info is mastered by people and I hate it. At least that info was online, but more web-pages need to have _all_ the information on it, not just what they want you to see. If you’re still reading, yeah I’m an idiot, and if you’re not, then you’ll just never know how big of a skating fanatic I am.
