One of our favorite movies is Babe, a wonderful tale of a young pig who wants to become a sheepdog, and of the farmer who gains a quiet confidence in the pig.
There’s a scene in which Farmer Hoggett is left to himself for the weekend (Mrs. Hoggett goes off to a Country Women’s Guild meeting). Farmer Hoggett sits down in front of the tv, and…what does he watch? Not some fast-paced, highly-edited reality show. It is a long, unedited clip of three Swedish-looking women singing some sort of hymn. Farmer Hoggett watches intently.
I watched a rerun of Lawrence Welk on PBS once this way. A trombone player was playing an extended solo. I was fascinated by the way his eyes bugged out as his arm moved back and forth with the trombone. It might have been boring, but somehow was fascinating.
It sounds counter-intuitive in our click-and-surf culture, but do people ever view the Web this way? Can we help them, through intentional design, explore our content with calm intensity that is both simple and enjoyable?
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