I needed to start looking at some 2009 dates for work, which entailed knowing when certain public holidays are, so I took myself over to the Ministry of Manpower website. As always, they faithfully list the public holidays for the following year, but now they've gone one better and provided the dates in an iCal format.
So all I had to do was download the iCal file and let Google Calendar import it. Easy-peasy. Importing information from the web into real life should always be this easy.
The bad
Okay, first off, let's make things clear: I like the library. I love books, and books live in the library where people can borrow many interesting ones for free, so I love the library. You don't have to make me go there or want to use it or want to like it. I'm sold. Tell me that I can access library materials or services online, and I'm thrilled that it saves me a trip down to the physical location.
(See how many times I used italics in that paragraph?)
That said, what the hell has happened to the National Library website? Or websites, I should say, because where before http://www.nlb.gov.sg served all library needs in one place, they recently decided to split their web presence into three domains:
- http://nl.sg --- the National Library
- http://pl.sg --- the public library
- http://nlb.gov.sg --- the rest?
To quote from my email to the helpdesk yesterday:
I don't know what else doesn't work, but I'm tired of trying to find anything on this website. I miss the old NLB website. It wasn't perfect, but it wasn't as frustrating and impossible as the new ones.I can only conclude that they're trying to be deliberately inefficient and, as I said to a web-savvy friend over IM:
maybe their secret planThe ugly
is to frustrate people
so we HAVE to go to the brick and mortar library
Uh ... take your pick. Most government websites give me eye pain.
Labels: Life in the internet age, Singapore stories
4 Comments:
Please note that the 2009 Deepavali date posted on the MOM website is in all likelihood incorrect. I do not mean the frequent +/- 1 day change that has occurred in the past (such as 2002, 2003, and 2008), I mean that the published date is oof by ONE MONTH. The actual date, when finally corrected will be around October 17, instead of November 15.
Thanks for your note. I've alerted the MOM website and updated my calendar.
Oh, they are aware of it (and me). And so is the HEB (Hindu Endowment Board). But their position is that their website states that dates are subject to change, so there is no need for further action.
Man, that's such a typical government line!
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