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Jul

31

ODOT scared of progress, rejects Twitter, while Geauga sheriff, Ohio State Hwy Patrol adopt it


I just can’t keep turning away from campaign work, but I sent this letter to the Plain Dealer this morning:

Yesterday, I wrote an email to Karen Farkas praising her coverage of ODOT’s resistance in regard to the use of Twitter in comparison to its adoption by at least 12 other states.

Yet this morning, the PD editorial page wrote a “JEERS . . . to Twitter for being so darned complicated and time-consuming that the Ohio Department of Transportation just doesn’t see how it could be useful for warning motorists about traffic problems. Silly, newfangled contraptions.”

Huh? Farkas’ article didn’t say a thing about being “darn complicated and time-consuming.” Her article reveals ODOT’s fear of something new, despite the assurances from transportation people already using it.

And, just for emphasis on how wrong-headed this Jeers is: The Chagrin Valley Times reported yesterday that the Geauga County Sheriff’s Department will start using…Twitter. As has the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

Too darned complicated and time-consuming? How about too darned scared of progress?

Unfortunately, the article, “Sheriff jumps on technology bandwagon,” from yesterdays CVT is not online but it is sitting right next to me in print form.  

The Plain Dealer’s issuing a JEERS to Twitter (to Twitter itself!! Ugh) is absolutely more of the same.  John. Kroll.  Please – help whomever decided to issue that JEERS to see the light. I know there are more of you there who know better.  This only makes the decision-makers at the PD look worse and worse.

As the Geauga sheriff says, according to the CVT article, 

He said he hopes to take it a step further with notification of more immediate situations that the public can benefit from.

In several inches of newsprint, not ONCE does the sheriff suggest that there’s anything materially obstructive about using Twitter – not a single thing.  Yet in the ODOT spokesperson does nothing but come up with excuses:

1. “The traditional forms of how we reach people work pretty well,” Varner said….

2. “We want to make sure that if we decide to use some of the social-networking sites we do it properly,” Varner said….

3. He said he does not know how information could be segmented since a motorist in Cleveland would not care about traffic issues in Chillicothe….

4. “The other challenge of Twitter is the expectation of an almost constant flow of information,” Varner said….

5. Varner also wondered if employees would spend an inordinate amount of time updating social-networking sites….

Oh.My.Gawd.

I’d praised Farkas’ article because after pretty much each of Varner’s complaints, she included information on how the other states handle those concerns – and they do handle them just fine according to her article.

Yo – ODOT – since when should your fear of change outtrump the deployment of extremely cheap and EASY not “darn complicated” tools that are already in use in TWELVE other states so that the public can benefit from them?

Where’d you go, Ohio, indeed.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 8:48 am July 31st, 2009 in Blogging, Cleveland+, Government, Media, Ohio, Politics, Resources, Tech, Transportation, democracy, leadership, social media 

Comments

3 Responses to “ODOT scared of progress, rejects Twitter, while Geauga sheriff, Ohio State Hwy Patrol adopt it”

  1. 1 Kari B. Hertel on July 31st, 2009 10:09 am

    Jill – I fell out of my chair laughing at this post. I came onto your website to read your post about GOP young guns and got snagged on reading this one first. I think its a riot that ODOT – one of the largest executive state agencies – apparently can’t locate one single employee to successfully operate Twitter? This state agency who is supposed to be overseeing the health and well-being of our state roads has been soundly dumped off the information superhighway! HEE-HEE Now we have a glimpse into the inner management of ODOT and I don’t think we like it. I don’t think this is a partisan thing at all, this is a common-sense, moving into the 21st century thing which I guess is lost on ODOT. Great Job Jill!

  2. 2 Jill on July 31st, 2009 10:12 am

    Thanks so much Kari! I’ve actually been hard on ODOT pretty much from when Ted Strickland first got into office – I wrote about the person he appointed and a suspicion that he would be unable to go from his small budget operation to the state’s. And he’s gone (been gone a while now).

    I confess to not knowing a heck of a lot about ODOT’s inner workings, but just observing from my level, I could see questions. It’s disappointing. There’s no question that transportation is a critical function that a state agency is well-positioned to manage. But like anything else, it’s only as good as the people in it.

    Sorry to distract you so. ;)

  3. 3 William Brandes on August 1st, 2009 1:02 pm

    The state of Ohio runs with the top-down model (Strickland’s generational model) so what would you expect? Heads of agencies reflect his perception of the world and it seems the WEB is a black-hole sewer to these folks. The remarks from ODOT were just anecdotal knee-jerk. Social networking bypasses them. And, ODOT loses control. But, short sighted and simple-minded 20th century hold-over. Thanks for plugging Geauga county, Chardon. We aren’t really that progressive. But, we aren’t so scared of social networking either it seems.

    Jill, you are pumping out info quite well since I picked it up on my Google Alerts for Geauga county. Now, you got me thinking. Is the State of Ohio on Facebook? I’ll have to check. William

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