Electric light: new technologies take some getting used to

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

You may laugh about this sign, but I still recall the first time I tried to operate a computer with Windows 3.11 without any assistance or when I was trying to start up my first mobile phone (I ended up back at the store: "No sir, it is not broken, you have to hold this RED button for two seconds"). Interactions that seem trivial now, but that were pretty challenging when the technologies were first introduced. A few years down the line, you are completely used (and adjusted) to these once-new technologies. They changed you.

[Via UnpressableButtons and NextNature]

More uselog posts about product impact:
> Product Impact: How Products Change User Behaviour
> Software That Hacks Your Behaviour
> Design Strategies for Sustainable User Behaviour
> User-friendly energy meter can improve sustainable behaviour

Tesla said...: This room is equipped with Tesla alternating current; 2:20 AM
Michael Zuschlag said...: I wonder if the design to “turn key” to get light on rather than the more modern and convenient “flick a switch” was a concession to user expectations of time. People back then were used to increasing gas light intensity by turning a valve. Thus, perhaps rotary switches were originally used for electric lights so that users could still rely on existing habits (and to this day we “turn on lights” even though the motion is primarily linear –sort of like “hangin up” with a cell phone). It may be a necessary step in the introduction of a new technology to provide a UI based on existing technology in order to ease the memory burden –it’s hard enough to grasp not using a match. In later versions, a better UI for the technology is provided.; 1:20 PM