The Mouse and the M&Ms Analogy

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My friend Nancy’s grandmother used to tell me that I would worry an idea to death like a mouse who had gnawed its way into a forgotten bag of M&Ms. I do tend to explore ideas like a mouse stuck inside a bag of candy. My difference is that I tend to stay in the bag far longer than the mouse would, I think.

The M&Ms, in this case, are how much the online experience is not unlike what we do when we meet people in the 3-D world. The exceptions really are few and, if you look at intreractions between people in both, the nuances in each can be used to improve our relationships in the other. Take conversation in person, for example.

Sometimes we find that we misunderstand what another person has said. When we track back to the actual words that were shared it usually happens for one of two reasons.

We didn’t start out talking about the same thing.

Someone was unclear about someone or something he or she referred to.

Simple enough to correct once we know it has happened.

Here is the mouse in the M&Ms part.

If we know that in the 3-D world about conversation, then we can use watchpoint when we’re blogging our message to our stakeholders.

A blog post is a monologue — conversation without interruption. It seems to this mouse that making a thoughtful message clear should be easier because of that. When the comments come, it also seems that remembering that words are ambiguous might be a good idea.

Though, I wonder, if we have trouble doing that in person, will we find it easier or harder to do that virtually?

Liz Strauss

 

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