Re: [Easter ramblings]

G|_|Y |\/|AC0|\| wrote:
> "What does it say on the screen in front of you?"
>
> "[monotone voice]  "press C key to continue."
>
> "OK, so what do you do next?"
>
> "That's what I am asking you!"

That's the phenomenon of the eyes/brain being 'glazed over'.

You ask yourself, "Hmmm.  How come that display has no meaning/ is
invisible/ to the person looking at it?  What 'barrier' has interfered
with the seeing/perception of the screen message?"

The person behind the keyboard is 'frozen' in their condtion of being
'detached' from the machine, as opposed to be 'one' with it.

They need some kind of little 'game' to introduce them to following
screen instructions.  Then, that following instruction experience has
taught them nothing about going off on their own to find things in menus
and clicking on menu items to find out what happens next -- more
adventuresome or 'creative' than robotically following screen
instructions.

The other problem is that the computer is seemingly too 'complicated'
for those who are accustomed to interfaces like the old TV set [not
Tivo] or radio or stove or telephone or car.  A young person who
interfaces with a modern cellphone and computer games is a different
animal than the oldster who expects the 'device' to 'just work' with a
minimal 'exploration' by the human.  The basis for the 'joke' about VCRs
becoming an outdated piece of equipment without the user ever having
been able to set the clock is a classic example.

The very same person, let's say male, who understands intimately about
how the various automobile systems work and interface separately and
interdependently seems to be baffled about disparate systems or
applications or interfaces on the computer, and doesn't seem to want to
understand as much about what goes on 'under the hood' as they do about
the car.  They want the computer to 'just work' and don't want to get
their knuckles busted finding out how.


-- 
Mike Easter
kibitzer, not SC admin