In this post, as with my other usability related posts my intent is not simply to complain about products and services that annoy me. Rather, I hope to raise awareness of usability, so that in the future we all can live in a world that is well designed.
In the world of computer security there is something called a Denial of Service (DoS) attack. Instead of accessing or changing information that they should not, or any other nefarious purpose, a denial of service attack simply blocks legitimate use of a system. These attacks can be as simple as turning off the power to a server, to using a bot-net to overwhelm the abilities of a system.
Before going further, I would like to explain how the laundry system works at George Mason University. If you live on campus, you get “free” laundry. The laundry room is behind several doors that require a swipe of an ID of someone who lives on campus, so theoretically only students who have paid to live on campus have access to the laundry room. As with most shared resources, a source of annoyance is finding time when there are laundry machines open. I usually do my laundry at 3 am to avoid this trouble, but then I have a strange sleep schedule.
While Mason has had the eSuds system for a while, in my building it’s been broken for most of this, and last academic years. As a result the laundry machines were set so that one simply selects the mode of laundry they desire via pushing a button. Then the laundry machine would do its job, and you would return later to put the clothes into the driers, where a similar process would be used to select the drying options.
Now that eSuds has been “fixed” things are different. In fairness I must confess there are some advantages. You can go online to see if there are open machines. It can email you when your clothes are done. (Which requires you to sign up, so most people don’t use this ability, thus negating most of its use. ) You swipe your card, then you enter the number of the machine you want to use. It asks if you want to start another machine. Then you select the options on the machine that you want. I believe the thought behind this system is that it will stop people who don’t live on campus from using the laundry resources, and to track laundry usage, since “Laundry, to a set limit, is included in housing payments.” They never tell us what said limit is, but it would stand to reason that housing wants to track laundry usage to enforce this set limit.
This new system does not work well. The driers have always taken a long time to dry clothes. Usually they would require more than one 60 minute cycle. Previously, before the system was fixed, each time the drier was opened, and then its button was pressed it would start a new cycle. So if my cloths required an hour and a half of drying I would run it for a cycle, open and close the door, and then start a new cycle. Thirty minutes later I would remove my clothes and it would be ready for the next user. Now, presumably so that eSuds can enforce limits, driers only work in full cycles. As a result if I wanted to dry my clothes for an hour and a half I do a cycle, swipe my card again, and start a new cycle. 30 minutes later I take out my clothes. Then, before someone else can use the drier I have to push the button and it will run for an additional 30 minutes. This is wasteful and annoying. Most people don’t restart the machines when they are done, so usually several machines have anywhere from five to twenty minutes left on they paused cycle. If another user wants a regular, 60 minute cycle they must start the machines, and then return after the machine finished the previous user’s cycle to start it again.
The reason I earlier explained denial of service attacks is because eSuds has done one on itself. The following two pictures were taken about 20 second apart. The machine in question was not in use.
Machine #16 Is Not Available
Washing Machine #16 Is Available
In a laundry room that is already busy, we now randomly have machines that decide they don’t want to work.
