mouse balls et al.

[Karen G. Schneider]

Roy said, "And to further drive home Tara's point, do you realize how
unintuitive and downright odd it is to move an object on one plane that
manipulates another object distant from it on a plane perpendicular to the
first?  *That's* the experience of using a mouse, and to expect anyone to
get it immediately is asking a bit much, in my opinion."  Yes, and what is
also very strange is the grasp (or lack of it) on the mouse--you don't grip
it like a pen; good ergonomics dictate that the mouse becomes your hand,
with your hand flopped over it comfortably.  It's all foreign.  Sure, some
folks "get it" right away.  But we aren't there primarily for them; we're
there for the folks who are perspiring as they stare at a computer screen.
For these folks, the tension of learning combines to make mousing very
difficult.  The many examples of people picking up mice (like a VCR remote,
or a pen, or a stick) testify to the unnatural nature of mousing and our
urge to relate mousing to pointing until we are taught otherwise.
Furthermore, when you are rigid with anxiety, your hand can become like a
claw.  (We even refer to mice as *pointing devices,* not cursor-motion
devices or something more literal.)

One solution to the mystery of mousing is to have people lay one hand on the
table, flop it around for a second to show how relaxed it is, place the
other over it, and then tell them to gently press down with the hand that's
on top  (as a lefty, I avoid "left-right" directions).  I mimic the action,
and gently begin moving my hand around, asking them to do the same with
their hands.  Then I wiggle an index finger (clicking).  They think this is
funny (which eases the tension, too)--a reference or two to Ouji boards
helps--and it is very kinesthetic pedagogy, which tends to stick well.  Then
they put their hand on the mouse, and the mouse acts like the hand, except
this time it is associated with action.  I have a feeling bread-bakers
(those of us who still knead bread when we make it) and those of us who also
tried to speak to Mary Jo Kopechne through a Ouji board about what really
happened that fatal night (the favorite hobby of teenyboppers in 1969) have
a naturally strong initial grasp of mousing.

Meanwhile, the ultimate books on human factors are by Donald Norman; try one
of the following some day... The Design of Everyday Things, Turn Signals Are
the Facial Expressions of Automobiles, and Things That Make Us Smart.

My own human factors issue (a problem of several years) is that at work,
when I have a lot to do or am working through some major problem, when the
phone rings I pick it up and try to hit the Enter key.  If I hit the
computer's Enter key, no problem--just another funny anecdote.  If I hit the
phone's "Enter key," which of course does not exist, I hang up on the person
trying to reach me...

Karen G. Schneider kgs at bluehighways.com
Assistant Director of Technology
Shenendehowa Public Library, Clifton Park, NY
http://www.shenpublib.org