RE: Barriers to Equal Access

[Bill Aird <bill.aird@cta-otc.gc.ca>]

Hi, my name is Bill Aird and I work with the Canadian Transportation Agency where we also face problems of getting messages out and replies back.

I wonder if we are not in fact dreaming of a perfect world where we get our messages out to veryone and receive our feedback from everyone affected.  In our real world, people do not reply to written surveys, won't respond to telephone surveys, won't fill in forms at public fora, won't complain "to city hall" about really bothers them.  Should we really expect them to react to web based information or surveys.  What does is minority view represent? 

True computer based communication does not reach all people but that is no reason not to use this powerful tool.  What is important important is to define the assumptions we can draw about the feedback we get.  What segment of the whole population are we dealing with?  What characterizes that group?  What is their background, experience and reason for becoming involved in a dialogue?  What population do theu represent?  Can we and should we extrapolate their views to a wider population?