mhnadel@gryphon.COM (Miriam Nadel) (03/17/89)
A few months back somebody was asking about women and mouse usage and an
experience I recently had reminded me of the broader issue. My department
recently got a Mac II and, as happens whenever there's a new toy, almost
everyone has played with it a little. So I sit down and start using this
draw program and play a little with Hypercard, more or less just seeing how
things work and whether I might ever want to do anything with it. In under
ten minutes, my right hand was in intense pain!
Whoever designed their mouse has hands much larger than mine. In order to
move the mouse *and* be able to press the button at any point, I have to hold
my wrist in a very uncomfortable position.
This is the kind of thing that's subtle but I can see how easily it can happen.
Human factors is radically negelected everywhere and people assume the default
is what is comfortable for them. In this case, 12 men and 3 women have tried
the mouse; the only other person who had trouble with it is one of the other
women (who also has smallish hands).
Any other examples of designs that are more likely to be difficult for women to
use?
Miriam Nadel
--
"Most kayaker's EEGs show signs of standing waves, reversals and eddies."
- Dr. Surf
mhnadel@gryphon.COM <any backbone site>!gryphon!mhnadelronnie%xroads.UUCP@noao.edu (Ronnie Phillips) (04/08/89)
>experience I recently had reminded me of the broader issue. My department >recently got a Mac II and, as happens whenever there's a new toy, almost >everyone has played with it a little. So I sit down and start using this >draw program and play a little with Hypercard, more or less just seeing how >things work and whether I might ever want to do anything with it. In under >ten minutes, my right hand was in intense pain! > >Whoever designed their mouse has hands much larger than mine. In order to >move the mouse *and* be able to press the button at any point, I have to hold I disagree. For about 8 months I worked as a temp at Honeywell in their publications department. In that department of 6 people, 5 were women and 1 was male. We constantly worked with the mouse for 8-9.5 hours a day and sometimes even 6 days per week (overtime) and no one complained of any problems in working with the mouse. I think you just must have used a muscle in your hand that you weren't used to using and I don't think this is applicable to females in general vs. males in general. -- \ / C r o s s r o a d s C o m m u n i c a t i o n s /\ (602) 941-2005 300|1200 Baud 24 hrs/day / \ hplabs!hp-sdd!crash!xroads!ronnie
skyler@ecsvax.uncecs.edu (04/08/89)
From previous article: [Someone describes using mouse caused her pain, suggests that it was designed for men with larger hands.] [Ronnie Phillips desribes working in a department] >...In that department of 6 people, 5 >were women and 1 was male. We constantly worked with the mouse >for 8-9.5 hours a day and sometimes even 6 days per week (overtime) >and no one complained of any problems in working with the mouse. I can't help but point out that equating no complaints and no problem is highly problematic. It's also a pet peeve of mine when A tells B what B experienced. If the first person felt that the mouse was too big, then I'd guess that the mouse was too big. A different question is whether B has unusually small hands, or hands typically sized for a woman. -Trish
mhnadel@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Miriam Nadel) (04/10/89)
Lines: 28 I received a lot of mail and I've seen a few followup postings regarding my complaint about the design of the Mac mouse. What I apparently should have clarified is that I've used a number of other mice so that it isn't an issue of unfamiliar motions; I also think that the shortness of the time that I can tolerate using that mouse is an indication that I'm correct about why it's difficult for me to use. One person who sent me email and another person I work with have commented in the opposite direction - they have large hands and have found some mice awkward to use for that reason. The bigger issue I was getting at is that it would be good design practice to take into account the variability of human configurations. The expansion of women's roles in the past few decades means an increase in that variability. In this particular case, I know that I have very small hands (e.g. I can fit both my thumbs into my x-SO's class ring). I also know that women's hands are generally smaller than men's (though, the distributions do overlap substantially). Were I a manufacturer who realized this, I might offer a size range or look at different designs to see if it mattered. For example, I have no trouble with a very flat mouse. The sudden bend in the middle seems to be what stresses my wrist on the Mac mouse. I haven't used rounded mice enough to really tell but they seem to be inbetween. (They're also usually smaller.) Miriam Nadel -- Watch Jeopardy April 14th! mhnadel@gryphon.COM <any backbone site>!gryphon!mhnadel