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The mouse is significant because..

• it allows the user to have precise and accurate control of the coordinates of the cursor on the screen in a fast and efficient manner.
• it allows the user to navigate around the screen with the cursor in a non-linear manner of 360 degrees of direction.
• due to the nature of the cursor’s instant response directly to the user (ie. however the user moves the mouse, the cursor follows suit) the mouse in conjunction with its buttons can be used to perform specific file management tasks such as drag and drop, clicking on icons to launch various applications, double-clicking on text to highlight them or even emulating a digital paintbrush tool such as in Microsoft Paint or Adobe Photoshop.
• users no longer have to possess an in depth knowledge of text commands in order to operate a computer because a much simpler alternative Graphical User Interface was developed around the mouse whereby users only need to point and click on an icon for a list of selectable options instead of typing a string of text commands for the same result.
• Most mice have an inbuilt scroll wheel which facilitate quick and accurate scrolling of documents
• An interesting fact is that the plural of the computer mouse can either be known as computer mouses or computer mice.

Question 2
Ask Who, What, When, Where, Why and How of your input type.
Blank = your chosen input type. E.g. mouse, keyboard, touchscreen etc.

1. Who invented the first mouse?
   • The mouse was first invented by Douglas C. Engelbart. However, he did not build it.

   

   • Instead, the first prototype mouse was built by William K. English, Engelbart’s Chief Engineer, based on an idea in Engelbart’s early notes.
   • The invention of the first mouse began as a tiny part of Engelbart’s large scale project to augment human intellect.
2. When was it invented?
   • The idea of a mouse was first conceived by Engelbart in 1963, and later on a prototype was built by English in 1964.
   • At that time, the light pen and joystick were also considered for use as competitors to the mouse.

3. Where did people use this invention at that time?
   • At the time of invention of the mouse, there were already several competing devices which provided computer-aided display control for Engelbart’s human intellect augmentation project.
   • A “Display-Selection Techniques for Text Manipulation” test was conducted to determine the best and most functional design for computer-aided display control devices.
   • Factors considered were the types of other operations required for the select-operation hand, the ease of getting the hand to and gaining control of the device, and the fatique effects encountered during normal operating use of the device.
   • The devices used in the test included the Grafacon (manufactured by Data Equipment Company as a graphical input device used for curve tracing), the joystick (manufactured by Bowmar Associates), the mouse (developed by SRI), a “knee-control device” which controls the cursor via a movable lever/rod placed against the knee, and the light pen (manufactured by Sanders Association of Nashua, New Hampshire).
   • Test results indicated that for more experienced subjects, the mouse was both faster and more accurate than any other device, including the light pen. However, inexperienced subjects tended to perform better with both the light pen and the knee control than with the mouse.
   • With regards to the light pen, an explanation of why inexperienced users tended to perform better with it than the mouse was because of a person’s inherent ability to simply pick up the light pen and straightforwardly point it at a point on the screen, which is already a motion learnt and used while writing, as opposed to using a mouse as a remote control of the cursor to bring it to the same said point on screen. What this means is that subjects can become reasonably proficient with the light pen with little practice, while the mouse had a steeper learning curve. However, when both devices are adequately learnt by the subject, the mouse would then become a faster and more accurate device as reflected by the test results of experienced subjects.
   • The “knee-control device” only performed better than the mouse for inexperienced subjects was because there was literally no access time (the time taken to position the various devices in place for operational usage) since the moment the subject sat down, the lever of the “knee-control device” would already be in place. In a separate series of tests conducted, the factor of access times were removed and the “knee-control device” did not then perform as quickly or as accurately as the mouse.
   • The results of the test would point the way for the mouse to be shipped as part of the personal computer and computer navigation of the Xerox 8010 Star Information System, the first commercially available system of the time, in 1981.
4. Why was the mouse invented?
   • Douglas Engelbart had always believed that the complexity of problems facing Mankind was growing at a rate faster than that of which we could solve them.
   • Hence, it became crucial to find a means to augment our own intellect in order to remain in line with the growing rate of the complexity of problems.
   • Engelbart then reasoned that computers could be the vehicle to accomplish this task.
   • With this in mind, he envisioned computer-aided workstations to augment the collective efforts of problem-solvers but this required the ability to interact with information displays using some sort of device to move a cursor around the screen.
   • By plotting a grid of existing pointing and input devices such as light pens and joysticks and analysing their various characteristics, Engelbart eventually consolidated their most desirable qualities into a  singular device which would later on be then known as the mouse.

5. What was people’s reaction toward this invention?
   • Unfortunately, very few people at that time believed in the potential of using computer-aided workstations as a means to augment human intellect, let alone the need for a mouse. In fact, Stanford Research Institute (SRI), the company which Engelbart worked for in his efforts to augment human intellect, would license the patented computer mouse technology to other companies, with Apple and Xerox among them.
   • Notably, SRI had such a lack of  foresight and value of the computer mouse that they would license the technology to Apple for approximately $40,000 of which many believed incorrectly to be the inventor of the mouse.
   • The patent for the mouse was filed in 1967 and issued in 1970. However, the mouse only became commercially available in 1984, three years before the patent was due to expire, which goes to show how advanced the ideas of Engelbart and his team at SRI were compared to the rest of the world at the time.

6. How does the first mouse look like
   • The first mouse was a simple mechanical device with two perpendicular disks mounted on the bottom which would later evolve to form the mouseball, and be replaced by the optical laser much later.
   • By tilting or rocking the mouse, perfectly straight horizontal or vertical lines could be drawn.

Target: Youths
No. of results collected: 20

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1. What do you see in the mirror?

-> Most people could relate to what the question is seeking; which is how they see themselves as an individual.
Albeit there ARE some people who returned answers with what they literally saw in the mirror; appearances & such.
Couple of ‘em decided not to answer, felt that it was slightly intrusive if not, due to personal reasons.

2. Quiz  (Total score for each category: 20)
Procrastination
-> 8.95 average youths. Could be considered low ranking among the youths.

“Shoulds”
-> 10.3 average youths.

Rigidity
-> 9.15 average youths.

Overgeneralization, Catastrophizing & Polarized Thinking
-> 10.45 average youths.

Self-Blame & Personalization
-> 11.4 average of youths. Highest ranking among the rest of the categories.

Shyness
-> 10.2 average youths.

Relationships
-> 10.25 average youths.

Self-Acceptance
-> 9.65 average youths.

3. What are the things you don’t like about yourself?
-> Compared to the guys, the girls find this a much easier task to fill. The boys seem to be selective on how many bubbles they could fill as they couldn’t think of much I suppose. Male ego at play perhaps. Girls pick on the minute details so maybe that’s how they find more flaws I reckon.

4. List down things that makes you confident:
Tell us your proudest moments:
-> Most of which to do with achievements or how people make them feel the way they do.

6. What are your strengths?
What are your weaknesses?
-> They referred most of their weaknesses from the No. 3. They seem to hold back on what they really want to put out as their answers felt very general. As for strengths, the answers varies accordingly to their gifts and talents that makes them the person they are today. (:

Results will be further deduced when collected back. (:

My favourite exhibit would be V for Vase.
It shows its significance of holding flowers rise beyond & above that when design comes into play.

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People’s Personal Experiences

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