One thing we try and do around here at The Gondola Project is be accessible. Sure we want to be comprehensive, literate and even maybe a little bit smart; but we’re equally committed to finding ways to make the incredibly complicated idea of using ski lifts as public transit easy and fun to understand for people.
It’s why we use a blog instead of peer-review.
It’s why we try to use plain-speak instead of planner talk.
It’s why we talk about fun (and admittedly sometimes stupid) things like Alpine Roller Coasters and the Chinese Tunnel Bus—sometimes you need a hook just to get people’s attention.
But we know that also sometimes strains our credibility in the eyes of some professionals. It’s like Wikipedia—we know the professionals use us as a resource, it’s just that some would rather not admit to getting their research from a blog that throws around fake terms like CableRailGyroCopter.
Which is why it was so refreshing to see the World Bank come out with a recent report showing that nearly a third of their reports have never been downloaded—not even once. As the Washington Post so eloquently put it “since most World Bank reports have a stated objective of informing public debate or government policy, this seems like a pretty lousy track record . . . This seems like an inefficient way for the policy community to do business, but what’s the alternative?”
Simple—never forget the classic Simpsons line “Every good scientist is half B.F Skinner and half P.T Barnum!”