Information Design Journal - Volume 9, Issue 1, 1998

Two studies on voting systems and the ballot interface explore issues related to information design and usability as they impact access to the election process and the accuracy of election results. While considerable research has been conducted on voting behavior from a political, historical, and social perspective, few studies can be found on the effectiveness of the ballot for communicating information that governs decision-making, or system design and the correspondence between voters' intentions and recorded decisions. The use of voting equipment and voters' perceptions of the voting experience have been largely overlooked. Findings from recent research studies address these issues.

University libraries are facing the farce of NICT (New Information and Communication Technologies). Libraries are ancient indeed - they date from the third century BC. Their staff are, as a rule, not well equipped to judge the impact of technological change (who is?). Instead of being too conservative, they are often naïvely accepting of technological overclaims. As a result, librarians plan to reduce access to print in favour of text on screen. Here I counter-attack, arguing that the day of the printed book is far from over.