The City's budget priorities survey is now online. The survey gives Lincolnites a chance to rate the relative importance of various aspects of the budget, and to provide written feedback on a number of topics.
I haven't completed the survey yet, but so far it's pretty much what I expected it to look like. I do worry that some populations will have a hard time with the survey. I'm not sure that a lot of "computer inexperienced" people will be able to figure out the drag-and-drop interface, for example. It looks pretty, but it isn't necessarily intuitive to those who aren't used to it. I am also concerned that the form isn't "accessible". That is, according to my testing the form is unusable by visually impaired users, and it is very difficult to use for those with certain mobility impairments. Phrased more bluntly: a lot of handicapped people are going to have troubles with it.
Fortunately, a paper version of the survey is available at all city libraries. That fact isn't stated on the online survey website, but the Mayor's press release confirms it. That should be a viable option for most people that the online version misses.
If you use the survey, let us know your thoughts, both about the survey instrument and about the topics it covered. Is it useful? Were you surprised by anything?
Comments
See what your friends and neighbors have to say about this.
Other than the drag-drop on the first screen it all seemed pretty low-tech. I don’t mean that negatively, this was likely a strategy.
I am put off by the huge “we’re having a problem” statement on the first screen, and the subsequent warnings in the footer of every screen, followed up by the warnings ever 5 screens. It seemed a bit of overkill.
Overall, I appreciate the city’s efforts to gather our opinion!
Share your thoughts with the community.
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