analogy of keyboard
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usability… as a metaphor. Has anyone else noticed that the HELP key is so near to the ...
I was using my not quite three years old Acer Aspire 9500 notebook to do some writing when all of a sudden one of the keys went funny. Not funny comical but funny seriously peculiar. The key didn’t press with the typical mechanical precision. It took just a little more effort and it didn’t actually go straight down but at an angle. Like most technical people who work in information technology when confronted with a technical problem, I simply pushed on the key harder. That didn’t work. Then I started bashing it trying to make it submit back into proper performance. That didn’t work either.
I bit the bullet and decided to pull the key. There must have been a spec of dirt or a food crumb that got up underneath and is preventing the typically smooth operation. I held my breath and pulled the key. There was nothing there. I tried to replace the key. But to my horror, the key would not go back on the keyboard. I tried every angle, pulled out the tiny screwdriver and the tweezers, I got the magnifying glass, pulled out the flashlight, I pulled out the bible and did prayer, I made a plea to Baba Ogun, the Orisa of technology, all to no avail. I took a deep breath and pulled off another key to see if I was doing something wrong. To my relief, that key went back on without a problem. Something was seriously wrong. About an hour or so later, I found the exact problem when one of the little tiny hooks that held the original arrant key in place bought the farm. The key was not the problem, the little metal hook on the keyboard that held the key down was damaged and beyond repair.
If this was an old typewriter like an early model Royal, a broken key would have given the typewriter a little charm and possibly endear it to the owner. But that kind of complacent conduct just won’t do for me. A keyboard has to be one hundred percent functional. And it’s a relatively easy fix. A replacement keyboard runs about twenty five dollars from an online parts supplier. That, and about an hour’s worth of tedious work, my notebook will be as good as new.
As easy as it is to repair my computer by replacing the keyboard, it is always easier to just make due with a malfunctioning notebook. Why expend resources to repair just one key when so many others are still working properly? But like many things, a computer keyboard is only as good as its weakest component. A fully functional notebook is far better and far more accurate and far more efficient than a keyboard with just one broken key. And I don’t really understand how some people can say malfunctioning equipment is endearing. Knowing all the quirks and rituals necessary to get something to work is supposed to be better than having a machine that works properly for everyone? Maybe it’s just me but having all the pieces working properly makes for a machine that’s more endearing than the half assed kind.
We’ve heard this lesson before. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. A computer is only as effective as its weakest component. A society is only as strong as its weakest community. I find it interesting how we as a national collective have tolerated so much disparity in our separate communities that we no longer find it alarming to see entire communities of people suffer with second rate living conditions. Too often we don’t care until the curse of second rate living conditions impacts us personally. People are more likely to say that black people complaining about the lack of good paying jobs should just go out and get one. People are more likely to say that black people complaining about the lack of healthcare should go get health insurance. Black people complaining about the lack of education opportunities should go out and get an education. If it was that easy we’d already have one. And now that our economy is collapsing we see that it is not so easy to just go out and get what we need all the time.