Abstract
Let me take this opportunity to introduce myself as well as to introduce this issue of Ergonomics in Design.
First, the issue. This is the last issue of EID under the direction of my friend and colleague, Carol Stuart-Buttle, who, as I see it, has done a terrific job for the past 6 years. Because I just took over EID as of January 1, Carol is responsible for this one. As you’ll see, the issue has three articles on an extremely timely topic: automation. Although the specific focus is on aviation, I expect the takeaways from these articles to be relevant to most of us, in that the Internet of Things is quickly coming online, bringing with it a dramatic increase in the “intelligence” of our products and systems.
As smart systems automate more and more tasks currently performed by humans, we need to make sure that these systems work well, including their interfaces with people, and that people trust them to work well. The issue provides (via the two articles by Lyons and colleagues and that by Marstall et al.) what I think is some useful guidance, both for the design of systems and for additional research on the subject as we move forward.
Another important topic, not unrelated to automation, is how we can make devices usable by our increasingly aging population. Victoria Claypoole and colleagues address this question in the context of what has to be the fastest-growing type of user interface, the touch screen. We also have an article regarding another growing technology – the e-reader – by Hancock and colleagues.
Finally, we offer you some history of the discipline: the article by Proctor and Kim about what’s been going on at Purdue for the past 100 years, including the particular contributions of Frank and Lillian Gilbreth.
I hope you find the issue interesting and valuable.
Now, let me introduce myself. I’m a PhD psychologist (Penn State). My areas of focus in graduate school were visual perception and the psychology of language. For the past 30-plus years, I’ve been working in product development, first for HLB, then, since 1991, with my own practice, Design Science. It follows, then, that I can’t deny something of a bias toward human factors/ergonomics as it applies to product design. I think this makes sense for EID, given that design-related ergonomics (the focus of EID, as the name indicates) mostly means ergonomics applied to hardware and software products and systems of products. However, a goal of mine is to feature ergonomics/human factors as it applies to other design areas as well – architecture, fashion design, interior design, graphic design, and so on. I know that some interesting things are going on in these areas, so I hope we can interest experts to send us articles on those topics.
The Internet of Things is quickly coming online, bringing with it a dramatic
increase in the “intelligence” of our products and systems.
Within product design, my particular areas of focus for the last several years have been on medical device design and inclusive design (i.e., design that is usable by as many people as possible regardless of age and disability). Although I hope to leverage some of my expertise in these areas, I promise not to bias EID by my own special interests.
Needless to say, my goal is to make EID as good as it possibly can be. For me, this means relevant, rigorous, and fascinating. You can help by sending us articles. The more articles you send us, the better EID will be. We’re looking for work that is, yes, relevant (that helps our community to do better work and/or that shows the value of our work to the outside world), rigorous (that’s based on sound science or other principles), and fascinating (that people can’t wait to read).
So, send us your stuff.
