[thelist] What's causing a psychological block?

[Emma Jane Hogbin]

On Sat, Jun 28, 2003 at 11:03:17AM +0100, Peter Small wrote:
> http://www.stigmergicsystems.com
> Where am I going wrong? What psychological block is stopping people 
> playing around with the box? Or, is the whole concept so boring that 
> nobody bothers to see how it works?

A few things -- even when I knew what I was looking for it took me no
fewer than 10 clicks to get to the page that creates a new agent. Most
pages were text heavy and at a fairly high language level. I know you can
get MSWord to do language level assessments. I believe most Canadian
newspapers aim for no more than a grade 6 reading level (but my
information is old and based on my memory).

The number one problem for me (which has many parts) is that the
instructions say I will be asked a series of questions, but I don't
understand what it's going to do with the answers. It's a "memory"
implying the information will be saved, but it doesn't explain, on the
instruction page, what is going to happen to my answers. I think providing
sample questions and an explanation of what will happen to my answers --
linked from the instruction page -- would help. Is it going to create a
profile of *me* that other people will have access to? Will the
information be sold, is it harvestable, etc.

In a very short description: my problem with playing with the agent is one
of PRIVACY!

In fact when I start the agent the first thing it asks for is a name and
then recommends using your own name. Agh! Link to pages that tell me what
will happen to this information.

emma

-- 
Emma Jane Hogbin
[[ 416 417 2868 ][ www.xtrinsic.com ]]