@RUTGERS.ARPA:LAWS@SRI-AI.ARPA (01/17/85)
From: Ken Laws <Laws@SRI-AI.ARPA>
Question: do the people who feel queazy after reading long lists of
text also see coloured splotches on the wall after they read such
lists from stimulating the rods or cones in their eyes too long?
Laura Creighton
decvax!utzoo!laura@berkeley
No, I've never noticed visual aftereffects.
To be more precise about the type of scrolling involved: The task that
affects me most is editing a long list of addresses or structured
bibliography citations (i.e., each piece of information on a separate
line) to make quick alterations of some characteristic (e.g., the
format of the date field), break lines, delete some of the lines
(e.g., the annotation section of each bibliography entry), add
lines (e.g., a set of reference keywords), delete entire entries
(e.g., to prepare a sublist on a particular topic), or add entire
entries (e.g., merging items from another list, which requires
scrolling or jump searching in the current list to find the proper
position). I have to make numerous passes through my files when I
convert straight text citations into TeX format and merge them with my
master bibliography, for instance.
I typically intersperse the vi ^D half-page continuous scroll the
Z or // full-page jump, although I get the same effect with emacs'
automatic half-page jump when I drive the cursor off the bottom of the
screen and ^V, meta-V, or ^S full-page jump. Note that the editing itself
causes the lower part of the screen to jump whenever I break or delete
lines or insert or delete entire entries; I think this may be highly
significant.
The effect is strongest when I am concentrating only on the sceen and
not glancing at hardcopy to be [slowly] entered, although the latter can
be quite nauseating once motion sickness has set in. The motion sickness
typically occurs at my work terminal (9600 baud) rather than my
identical home terminal (1200 baud), but there may be influences from
lighting, length of work session, environmental stress, etc. To be
fair, the motion sickness at work could also be started by my own
gyrations at noon Aikido workouts; I don't think this is the cause,
but I am generalizing from such a small number of nausea incidents
that I can't trust my recollection of the circumstances.
-- Ken Laws
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