Looking for the mouse

[Dave Land]

On Apr 29, 2008, at 6:18 AM, Kevin B. O'Brien wrote:

> Mauro Diotallevi wrote:
>> On 4/28/08, Curtis Burisch <curtis at burisch.co.uk> wrote:
>>
>>> Excellent, excellent article posted on Slashdot today:
>>>
>>> http://www.herecomeseverybody.org/2008/04/looking-for-the-mouse.html
>>
>> That was a truly insightful article.  Thanks for sharing.  And for
>> those who might be avoiding the article because they think the  
>> "mouse"
>> in the URL refers to Disney, don't worry, it refers to a computer
>> mouse.  And a four-year-old girl.  And a DVD player.  Trust me on
>> this, it's worth it.
>>
> I also found it very insightful. As soon as I finished I wanted to  
> send
> it to other people to read.

Agreed, and did it. I work at a company that develops, hosts and
moderates online communities, so it was very on-point for me.

One nit that I'd pick is that Shirky assumes the 5-year-old was looking
for the mouse while watching Dora the Explorer because she assumes
that any video display without a mouse is somehow "broken". I guess he
has never watched Dora. The the show presents itself as interactive,  
and,
IIRC, there is even a pointer that appears on the screen, which Dora  
asks
the viewers to move. This fake interaction was one of the reasons I  
never
had much patience for the show when Ryan had it on.

Dave