Courtney, Australia's stimulus package will work if those low- and middle-income households don't do the exact same thing as the US and use it to pay down their credit card debt (which is high in Australia per capita) or save it instead. This is, as you say, the piece missing from the public personas that might make them work in they way we need them: enough detail about the characteristics that will actually help predict behaviour.
And this, I think, is at the heart of personas and their use(less)fulness: do they contain attributes and details about the audience segment that helps us design for them *in order to achieve a change in behaviour*. In the cases of these various stimulus packages, the *relevant* details are thin on the ground. Steve 2008/10/25 Jordan, Courtney <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Just to build on this discussion which I think is an excellent idea and > something that should have been done a long time ago...perhaps we could > have come up with economic stimulus concepts that worked better and had > the desired effect. The majority of the last stimulus checks went to > paying down debts and bills, rather than to boost consumer spending, as > the government had hoped. A more throrough development of the personas > that needed to be helped would have undoubtedly had a more positive > economic impact. > ___________ > > It's interesting what Australia's doing - helping the people who need it > most. > > <article excerpt> > The surprise package primarily targets pensioners, low and middle-income > families, carers and first-home buyers, and is aimed at boosting > consumer spending.</exerpt> > > http://www1.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Business/Australia_unveils_massi > ve_economic_stimulus_package/articleshow/3592920.cms<http://www1.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Business/Australia_unveils_massive_economic_stimulus_package/articleshow/3592920.cms> > > > Courtney Jordan > > -- ---------------------------------------------- Steve 'Doc' Baty B.Sc (Maths), M.EC, MBA Principal Consultant Meld Consulting M: +61 417 061 292 E: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Twitter: docbaty Blog: http://docholdsfourth.blogspot.com Contributor - UXMatters - www.uxmatters.com ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
