Mouse Trap

Alongside the keyboard, the mouse is one of the primary inputs into a computer, it bridges the point of physical movement and transforms it to something digital.

While using design software such as Illustrator I have found myself becoming more and more annoyed by the fact that I can create a drawing on a computer to a higher degree of skill than I can through a pencil and piece of paper. The computer purposefully makes the process easier, there is a "snap to place" tool that means physical inaccuracies are corrected automatically, there are also corrective tools such as "redo" and the "eraser", which at times have been life savers, but destroy the care, precision and skill I put into working as I know I have these life lines at hand.

If the computer had some way of disciplining the user, forcing them not to take easy options for granted, then the time and effort put into an activity would be heightened. If there was a visible deterrent for making mistakes then the effort put into learning how to skillfully complete a task, or even the amount of tasks attempted manually, would increase.

When manual errors are made directly through the mouse (such as while drawing in illustrator) then there could be a physical punishment. Maybe a guillotine is a touch severe, but it serves as an example quite nicely.