ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Daniel Engber - Journalist
Daniel Engber explores science and culture as an award-winning journalist for Radiolab, the New York Times, Slate and Wired, among others.

Why you should listen

Daniel Engber's scientific method of distracting free-throw shooters in the NBA appeared in the New York Times Magazine's "Year in Ideas" and his viral website, Crying While Eating, earned spots on "The Tonight Show," VH1 and National Public Radio. He studied literature at Harvard College and neuroscience at the University of California, San Francisco and has won several awards for his writing, including the National Academies of Science Communication Award in 2012.

More profile about the speaker
Daniel Engber | Speaker | TED.com
Small Thing Big Idea

Daniel Engber: How the progress bar keeps you sane

Daniel Engber: Como a barra do progresso faz você se sentir bem

Filmed:
605,473 views

A barra de progresso torna a espera mais empolgante ... e mitiga nosso medo da morte. O jornalista Daniel Engber explora como ela surgiu.
- Journalist
Daniel Engber explores science and culture as an award-winning journalist for Radiolab, the New York Times, Slate and Wired, among others. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:12
How many people are bored at their desk
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Quantas pessoas estão entediadas
sentadas às suas mesas,
00:14
for how many hours every day
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por quantas horas por dia,
quantos dias na semana,
00:16
and how many days a week
and how many weeks a year
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quantas semanas no ano
e quantos anos da vida delas?
00:18
for how many years in their life?
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[Pequena coisa. Grande ideia.]
00:20
[Small thing. Big idea.]
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00:22
[Daniel Engber on
the Progress Bar]
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[Daniel Engber fala
sobre a Barra de Progresso]
00:25
The progress bar is just
an indicator on a computer
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A barra de progresso é apenas
um indicador no computador
00:27
that something's happening
inside the device.
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de que algo está acontecendo
dentro do dispositivo.
00:31
The classic one that's been used
for years is a horizontal bar.
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A barra horizontal é clássica
e tem sido usada por anos.
00:36
I mean, this goes back
to pre-computer versions of this
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Essa história é muito anterior
a sua versão computadorizada
00:40
on ledgers, where people would fill in
a horizontal bar from left to right
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em livros de registros, nos quais
se preenchiam uma barra horizontal
00:44
to show how much of a task
they had completed at a factory.
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para mostrar quanto de uma tarefa
já havia sido completado numa fábrica.
00:47
This is just the same thing on a screen.
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Esse é o mesmo conceito numa tela.
Aconteceu algo nos anos de 1970
00:50
Something happened in the 70s
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00:52
that is sometimes referred
to as "the software crisis,"
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comumente referido
como a "crise dos softwares":
00:54
where suddenly, computers
were getting more complicated
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de repente, computadores
iam ficando mais complicados
00:57
more quickly than anyone
had been prepared for,
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mais rapidamente do que qualquer
pessoa poderia ter se preparado,
01:01
from a design perspective.
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considerando-se a perspectiva de design.
01:02
People were using percent-done
indicators in different ways.
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As pessoas estavam usando indicadores
de porcentagens de diferentes modos.
01:07
So you might have a graphical
countdown clock,
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Podemos ter um relógio
de contagem regressiva digital
01:09
or they would have a line of asterisks
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ou com uma linha de asteriscos
01:12
that would fill out
from left to right on a screen.
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preenchida da esquerda
para a direita numa tela.
Mas ninguém havia feito uma pesquisa
sistemática a respeito e tentado descobrir
01:15
But no one had done
a systematic survey of these things
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01:18
and tried to figure out:
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01:19
How do they actually affect
the user's experience
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como isso afetava a experiência do usuário
sentado à frente do computador.
01:23
of sitting at the computer?
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01:24
This graduate student named Brad Myers,
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Brad Myers, um aluno de pós-graduação,
decidiu estudar o assunto, em 1985.
01:26
in 1985, decided he would study this.
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01:29
He found that it didn't really matter
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Ele descobriu que não importava
01:31
if the percent-done indicator
was giving you the accurate percent done.
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se o indicador percentual concluído
apresentava o percentual exato.
01:36
What mattered was
that it was there at all.
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O que importava era que ele estava lá.
01:39
Just seeing it there
made people feel better,
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A simples presença da barra fazia
as pessoas se sentirem melhor,
01:42
and that was the most surprising thing.
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e esse foi o fato mais surpreendente.
01:44
He has all these ideas
about what this thing could do.
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Ele teve muitas ideias
daquilo que a barra poderia fazer.
01:47
Maybe it could make people
relax effectively.
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Talvez pudesse fazer com que as pessoas
relaxassem de maneira eficaz.
01:51
Maybe it would allow people
to turn away from their machine
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Talvez permitisse que as pessoas
se afastassem do computador
01:56
and do something else
of exactly the right duration.
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e fizessem outra coisa
exatamente na mesma duração.
01:59
They would look and say,
"Oh, the progress bar is half done.
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Elas observariam:
"A barra de progresso está na metade.
02:02
That took five minutes.
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Isso levou cinco minutos.
02:03
So now I have five minutes
to send this fax,"
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Então, tenho cinco minutos
pra enviar este fax"
02:07
or whatever people were doing in 1985.
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ou o que quer que se fazia em 1985.
02:10
Both of those things are wrong.
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As duas coisas estão erradas.
02:11
Like, when you see that progress bar,
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Quando vemos essa barra de progresso,
02:13
it sort of locks your attention
in a tractor beam,
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ela prende nossa atenção
numa faixa de luz móvel,
02:16
and it turns the experience of waiting
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e torna a experiência de esperar
02:18
into this exciting narrative
that you're seeing unfold in front of you:
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uma narrativa emocionante
que vemos se desenrolar a nossa frente.
02:24
that somehow, this time you've spent
waiting in frustration
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Assim, de algum modo, o tempo
que ficamos esperando, frustrados,
02:27
for the computer to do something,
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até que o computador faça algo,
foi reconceituado como:
02:29
has been reconceptualized as:
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02:31
"Progress! Oh! Great stuff is happening!"
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"Progresso! Está dando certo!"
02:33
[Progress...]
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[Progresso...]
02:36
But once you start thinking
about the progress bar
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Mas uma vez que começamos a pensar
sobre a barra de progresso
02:39
as something that's more
about dulling the pain of waiting,
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como algo que tem mais a ver
com amenizar a dor da espera,
02:42
well, then you can start fiddling
around with the psychology.
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então podemos começar
a nos envolver com a psicologia.
02:46
So if you have a progress bar
that just moves at a constant rate --
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Assim, se temos uma barra de progresso
que se move a uma velocidade constante,
02:50
let's say, that's really
what's happening in the computer --
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digamos que seja isso mesmo
que está acontecendo no computador,
02:53
that will feel to people
like it's slowing down.
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as pessoas sentirão
como se ela estivesse diminuindo.
02:57
We get bored.
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Ficamos entediados.
03:00
Well, now you can start
trying to enhance it
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Agora podemos começar tentando melhorar,
03:02
and make it appear to move
more quickly than it really is,
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fazendo parecer que está se movendo
mais rápido do que de fato,
03:04
make it move faster at the beginning,
like a burst of speed.
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indo mais rápido no início,
como uma rajada de velocidade.
03:08
That's exciting, people feel like,
"Oh! Something's really happening!"
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É empolgante, as pessoas pensam:
"Algo está realmente acontecendo!"
Então podemos voltar a um crescimento
mais natural da barra de progresso
03:12
Then you can move back into a more
naturalistic growth of the progress bar
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03:16
as you go along.
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enquanto ela continua.
03:17
You're assuming that people are focusing
on the passage of time --
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Assumimos que as pessoas
se concentram na passagem do tempo,
tentando observar a grama crescendo,
03:20
they're trying to watch grass grow,
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ou uma panela com água,
esperando que ela ferva,
03:22
they're trying to watch a pot of water,
waiting for it to boil,
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e apenas tentando tornar isso menos chato,
doloroso e frustrante do que era antes.
03:25
and you're just trying
to make that less boring,
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03:27
less painful and less frustrating
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03:30
than it was before.
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03:31
So the progress bar at least gives you
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A barra de progresso, pelo menos,
nos dá a visão de um começo e um fim,
e de que trabalhamos por um objetivo.
03:34
the vision of a beginning and an end,
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03:36
and you're working towards a goal.
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03:38
I think in some ways,
it mitigates the fear of death.
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Acho que, de certo modo,
mitiga o medo da morte.
Exagerei?
03:44
Too much?
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Translated by Maricene Crus
Reviewed by Carolina Aguirre

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Daniel Engber - Journalist
Daniel Engber explores science and culture as an award-winning journalist for Radiolab, the New York Times, Slate and Wired, among others.

Why you should listen

Daniel Engber's scientific method of distracting free-throw shooters in the NBA appeared in the New York Times Magazine's "Year in Ideas" and his viral website, Crying While Eating, earned spots on "The Tonight Show," VH1 and National Public Radio. He studied literature at Harvard College and neuroscience at the University of California, San Francisco and has won several awards for his writing, including the National Academies of Science Communication Award in 2012.

More profile about the speaker
Daniel Engber | Speaker | TED.com