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Ask HN: Have you ever heard of users demonstrating against software?

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Re: Ask HN: Have you ever heard of users demonstrating against software?

#21

Post by yassini »

I've seen a few people protesting against GitHub, mostly because they profit of the code that is hosted on there (notably GitHub Copilot) More on that here: https://sfconservancy.org/GiveUpGitHub/ Though this is online.

For real life, people in Germany went to the streets a few times already because of the so-called "Staatstrojaner" (Basically a trojan that they can inject into all devices of someone who is "suspicious" in the governments eyes, they're probably using Pegasus, but I'm not super deep into that topic). Ref: https://netzpolitik.org/2022/protest-so-war-die-erste-demo-g... (There is way more on that though)

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever heard of users demonstrating against software?

#22

Post by voski »

Put yourself in the shoes of the staff. They have a workflow that works for them that was taken away. It’s replaced with a new system that they do not know how to use. Now they can’t even do their jobs normally. I could see them being really upset about this.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever heard of users demonstrating against software?

#23

Post by 3pt14159 »

msbarnett wrote: post #20

Sure. Public servants rally in Ottawa to protest Phoenix payroll system: https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/public-servants-ra... Highly doubt that this is the only time a Peoplesoft clusterfuck inspired demonstrations, either. Some software is just unbelievably shitty.

Also, ArriveCan was frequently mentioned by many in the protests around covid.

From my end: I dislike near-mandatory apps by governments, but I felt like Covid was an exceptional time and at least it is non-mandatory now at the boarder.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever heard of users demonstrating against software?

#26

Post by etiam »

quacked wrote: post #13

Secondary to the question, but I live right by the Epic campus and use the Epic MyChart platform to communicate with the University of Wisconsin health system. It is phenomenal as a patient; I can handle all billing, message any doctor I've seen, view test results as soon as they're uploaded, etc. Recently I saw the results of some bloodwork in the ER before the nurses had time to come and tell me about it. (The UI/U…

Now proceed to imagine that software being shoehorned into a healthcare system where many aspects of the US healthcare system are impossible to fill out at the care provider side, because they don't exist in the society model. (Let's be honest, you guys have opted for a model which have several very distinctive features in an international comparison).

And I'd be surprised if the Norwegians didn't already have the positive aspect on the patient side in whatever this is now supposed to replace.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever heard of users demonstrating against software?

#27

Post by nmaley »

The Robodebt scandal in Australia didn't spill over to violence in the streets, but it came close. Robodebt was a debt collection system introduced by the Federal government to recover supposed overpayments of social security. It was flawed at every level, including software design, and resulted in nationwide protests. see https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6037228/robo-debt-cen...

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever heard of users demonstrating against software?

#28

Post by xupybd »

We had a software system screw up teachers pay for months https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novopay

Before that a massive failure of a Police software system https://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/insights-into-incis-de...

They didn't demonstrate against it's adoption but there were demonstrations as a result of the massive waste of funds and impact to people involved.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever heard of users demonstrating against software?

#29

Post by kragen »

nmaley wrote: post #27

The Robodebt scandal in Australia didn't spill over to violence in the streets, but it came close. Robodebt was a debt collection system introduced by the Federal government to recover supposed overpayments of social security. It was flawed at every level, including software design, and resulted in nationwide protests. see https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6037228/robo-debt-cen...

It wasn't the collection agents who were protesting, though; it was the people being used by the software who protested against it, not the people who used it.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever heard of users demonstrating against software?

#30

Post by kelnos »

quacked wrote: post #13

Secondary to the question, but I live right by the Epic campus and use the Epic MyChart platform to communicate with the University of Wisconsin health system. It is phenomenal as a patient; I can handle all billing, message any doctor I've seen, view test results as soon as they're uploaded, etc. Recently I saw the results of some bloodwork in the ER before the nurses had time to come and tell me about it. (The UI/U…

Yeah, UCSF here also uses MyChart, and I agree that it's great from the perspective of the power and flexibility it offers me, even if the UX isn't fantastic (frankly, I think it's fine, though could be better).

But, like you, I've also observed medical staff inputting my data during a visit, and it looks terrible, and I've also noticed significant UI changes on occasion. (I've gone in once a month for the past two years for an allergy immunotherapy injection, so I get to see it regularly, and over time.) I've only heard the nurses complain once or twice, but I can kinda tell how they occasionally stumble with the UI, and it all just seems completely unavoidably bad. A little user research would go a long way, but I imagine the cost of switching to another system (if there even are that many good options) is so high that a hospital might ignore staff complaints anyway, so the company is not incentivized to spend time and money to make things better.

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