The path of least assistance
The Oklahoma Department of Transportation has opened a Twitter account, which, says the AP, “plans to post traffic and construction updates,” which is theoretically handy if you’re traveling. Of course, if you get your updates sent to your cell phone, you might be the subject of one of those updates at some point, but that’s another matter entirely.
Then I took a look at their timeline, and they get major malus (opposite of “bonus”) points for using HootSuite and ow.ly, which means any links they dish up are going to be framed. Worse, the traffic updates I checked were identified as, and indeed turned out to be, identical to the Traffax stuff they send out via fax, in the worst way: they’re PDFs of the original faxes, and if there’s one thing worse than a PDF file on a mobile, it’s a PDF file in a frame on a mobile.
But what am I thinking? This is ODOT. This is what they do. I just wonder how many computers they tore up during the development process.
(Suggested by Shawn Wright.)
fillyjonk »
9 October 2009 · 6:42 pm
“they’re PDFs of the original faxes, and if there’s one thing worse than a PDF file on a mobile, it’s a PDF file in a frame on a mobile.”
And the much-vaunted Verizon Network Guys back away in fear…
Eric »
9 October 2009 · 6:47 pm
I like TXDOT’s approach better. They let each regional office have their own Twitter account, and the reports are timely and localized. And real text.
I’d hate to subscribe to a feed that listed ALL the updates for an entire state. Granted, OK doesn’t have nearly as much highway mileage as TX, but it’s still a hefty chunk.