Tuesday, September 05, 2006
The Mouse
The Mouse
Something quite interesting, by Chris Crawford:
The mouse, by itself, has no defined meaning; its input depends completely on the context of the screen. The concept of the mouse includes more than just the plastic doodad we roll around our desks; it necessarily includes the cursor on the scren. We demonstrate our appreciation of this concept whever we refer to the cursor as the mouse.
Yet "mouse" comprises even more than roller plus image: there's also the software inside the computer that moves the image in response to the motions of the roller. We have to include the CPU in the definition too, becuase it's what actually executes the mouse software.
The mouse is an input device for interaction, but it is itself a complete interactive process. You speak by moving the mouse; the computer listens to your motion, thinks about it, and speaks back by moving the cursor. You listen by watching the cursor move on the screen, think by comparing its position with our objective, and speak again by moving the mouse some more. thus, the mouse as an input device is an interaction within an interaction.
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