Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ames!mailrus!uflorida!gatech!ncsuvx!mcnc!ecsvax!lsc@Sun.COM
From: lsc@Sun.COM (Lisa S Chabot)
Newsgroups: comp.society.women
Subject: Re: Wanted: references to computer mouse usage studies
Message-ID: <6219@ecsvax.uncecs.edu>
Date: 12 Jan 89 00:30:31 GMT
References: <6041@ecsvax.uncecs.edu> <6069@ecsvax.uncecs.edu> <6163@ecsvax.uncecs.edu>
Sender: skyler@ecsvax.uncecs.edu
Organization: Sun Microsystems -- Graphics Standards
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Approved: skyler@ecsvax.uncecs.edu (Moderator -- Trish Roberts)
Comments-to: comp-women-request@cs.purdue.edu
Submissions-to: comp-women@cs.purdue.edu



And just why is it that women are always supposed to be worse at things
than men?

As a veteran guinea pig in mouse testing at my former employer, I feel
qualified to share the following anecdotal evidence:

   In one test measuring where users thought the cursor sprite ought to
   me in relation to the pointed to object, I was deemed "too accurate"
   and my data points were discarded.

   On the average of the group tested, women's hands were smaller than
   men's hands, and there was a noted correspondence between men
   preferring larger mice than women preferred.  The extreme example in
   one of the tests was a mouse the size and shape of half a softball
   with the buttons all the way down at the level of the table: it was
   great for those blessed by large hands, but I've got barely six
   inches from heel to tip of the middle finger, and that mouse was
   almost as pleasant as running in high heels.  Unfortunately, it still
   seems infeasible to offer mice in a variety of sizes: xs, s, m, l,
   xl.

   I like lightweight, whippy mice; the more skittish the better.  I'd
   always thought this corresponded to those *other* studies that show
   that women are better at small muscle movements, and therefore are
   good at things like fly fishing, fighter piloting, electronic
   keyboards.  [My car has whippy steering too; I love it.]
   I detest those rubber-footed sluggish rodents--they give me an ache
   in the elbow.

We've gotten beyond the point of deciding that there is one true answer
as to how people interact with their window systems (e.g., tiled vs.
overlapping), why don't we realize that people have preferences regarding 
the mechanical attachments?  They may or may not be gender-related,
indirectly or directly; but why not make everyone the most productive
they can be, rather than deciding the old "women aren't any good"?

lchabot@sun.com
As usual, this is my own wild opinion, and in no way represents any of
my employers, present or past.



All power corrupts, but we need electricity.