Extra Credit #2 - Media Equation

Extra Credit #2 - Media Equation

        I really enjoyed the experiment talked about in this chapter.  I would say that I interact with my computer as a person from time to time.  from this experiment, I am certain that I do more often then I think since they all did not even know they were being polite to the computers they were interacting with.  It was interesting that we see separate computers as individuals even though they are all connected.  I wonder if it is the computer itself that we see as a person or only the monitor.  If monitors are switched out would we treat it as an "other" or would we recognize it as the same computer?

        Grice's maxims were very interesting.  I did not realize that politeness had key attributes that could be explained so simply.  Before reading this politeness was simply a way of interacting in my mind.  I feel as if I now know secrets to get anyone to like me.  I did not think that it was possible to pinpoint ideas that span over any culture to explain politeness.  The actions may be different, but the same ideas are there as explained by Grice's maxims.  

        Before reading this, I always thought that the wording of text in a program was needed for clarity.  Making what an action in a program does is very important, but now I am aware that it is best to make it polite as well.  It makes sense after thinking about the benefits of politeness in a program.  Especially after learning that users unknowingly interact with computers like they are humans.  Making a polite program is so easy and politeness has great benefits.  I will now take the time to make sure every program I make  is polite to the user.

Extra Credit #1 - Why We Make Mistakes

Extra Credit #1 - Why We Make Mistakes

        This was a very interesting read considering I just drove for an hour and a half earlier today on my way home.  I did not know that the majority of plane crashes are caused by the crew's attention being distracted by various control systems or other small distractions.  The same thing happens in cars.  

         It happened to me on my drive back home today.  I was taking my normal route on 359, a small farm road going towards Houston that does not have much traffic. I had forgotten how sharp a particular turn was, and did not slow down enough.  I took the turn faster than I should have, so the force of the quick turn made some things I brought back for the long break fall over in the back seat.  It unexpectedly made a loud thud momentarily distracting me.  I instantly took my eyes off the road, and looked into my back seat out of surprise.  It then took me a few more moments to refocus on the road.  Remember I was turning this entire time and so kept turning even after the turn veering into the oncoming lane.  When I realized I quickly got back into my lane. Luckily, there was know one coming the other way before I had time to steer back.  I was extremely lucky there was know one else passing by me at that very moment, or I do not think I would have been able to finish this extra credit in time.

         On the rest of the way home all I could think about was how quickly I could loose focus on a very important task by a distraction and then how long it took me to return driving.  It all took a second, maybe two, but thing could have been very different because of that moment.  The human mind was not meant to process multiple tasks at the same time as clearly noted in this chapter of Why We Make Mistakes.  Personally,  I do not think evolution took into consideration all the various tasks we deal with today.  Back in the day, all we thought about was food, shelter and reproduction.  There was not much need for multitasking since know one can do two of those things at once or had a need to.