RE: Is there a term for this?

["McLauchlan, Kevin" <Kevin -dot- McLauchlan -at- safenet-inc -dot- com>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Joe Weinmunson
> 
> All three, I think. Gene links to an article that includes the term
> "Directed Attention Fatigue"; I think that's a pretty good description
> of
> number three. Context for this: a friend is responsible for the website
> of
> a department in state government. As in many large bureaucracies, his
> work
> is often defined by squeaky wheels within the organization: "We think
> this
> isn't prominent enough, make it more noticeable." The immediate
> situation
> is people complaining "I can't find out how I'm supposed to do online
> training to get this license." The right sidebar of the homepage lists
> "How
> do I . . . ?" tasks. "How do I take an online training course?" is the
> second entry. :) My friend is looking for a coherent way to tell his
> supervisors a) If these users can't find the second thing on a short
> list
> on the homepage, what else are we supposed to do? and b) If we try to
> make
> it more prominent by bolding or blinking the text or making it fly
> around
> with winged pigs, then what do we do when somebody complains that users
> can't find the THIRD item on the list?


Well, FLAMING winged pigs, of course. 

He should do an end-run around the complainers and the problem, 
by redefining it (to his superiors, not to the complainers).

The fact that candidates are unable to " find the second thing 
on a short list" is - more or less - the desirable outcome of 
a screening process. 
Think about it.

Is there ANYTHING that people can be (and need to be?) 
licensed to perform that they should be _allowed_ to be 
licensed if they "can't find the second thing on a short list"? 

Your friend is doing his part in making the world a safer 
place for whatever-those-people-want-to-be-licensed-for. 
He's also taking some of the load off the remainder of 
the screening process. 

They should be giving him a raise. 

 - k    

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