Human Factors Minute

...and now for another Human Factors Minute! The International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (AHFE) offers keynotes, workshops, and networking opportunities with professionals that span from the application of human factors in disease control to the impact of neuroergonomics in cognitive engineering. The AHFE conference objective is to provide an international forum for the di...

...and now for another Human Factors Minute! Did you know that the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society has 24 technical groups that are concerned with the human factors aspects of specific application areas? One of those is the Virtual Environments Technical Group. The Virtual Environments Technical Group (VETG) is concerned with human factors issues associated with human-virtual environment inte...

...and now for another Human Factors Minute! Iterative design is a design methodology based on a cyclic process of prototyping, testing, analyzing, and refining a product or process. Based on the results of testing the most recent iteration of a design, changes and refinements are made. This process is intended to ultimately improve the quality and functionality of a design and may be applied thro...

...and now for another Human Factors Minute! Focus groups are a type of qualitative research method that can be a powerful tool in system development, but they should not be the only source of information about user behavior. the proper role of focus groups is not to assess interaction styles or design usability, but to discover what users want from the system. These can be on a one-to-one intervi...

...and now for another Human Factors Minute! User analysis: User Analysis is a process that is focused on designing for the intended user or operator by establishing the characteristics that define them, detailing key features or attributes to be included in a desing, and creating a persona for the target user base. This analysis is best done at the outset of the design process to identify most co...

...and now for another Human Factors Minute! Did you know that the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society has 24 technical groups that are concerned with the human factors aspects of specific application areas? One of those is the Augmented Cognition Technical Group This Technical Group is concerned with fostering the development and application of real-time physiological and neurophysiological sens...

...and now for another Human Factors Minute! Critical incident technique (CIT) is a research method in which participants are asked to recall and describe a time when a behavior, action, or positive or negative occurrence impacted a specified outcome for example, the accomplishment of a given task. The technique was developed by Flanagan and fellow psychologists from the US Aviation Psychology Pro...

People who identify as LGBTQIAP+ have a higher risk of mental and physical health challenges as compared to the general population.  These include sexually transmitted diseases, substance use, cancers, cardiovascular diseases, obesity, bullying, isolation, rejection, anxiety, depression, and suicide. Health care providers may lack adequate training on the specific needs and challenges faced b...

Did you know that the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society furthers their diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives through Affinity Groups that create opportunities for community, mentoring, and support based on areas of collective identity? These groups aim to challenge the Human Factors and Ergonomics industry while advancing science to combat long standing social disparities. One such group...

HFC Pride content: https://www.humanfactorscast.media/blog/pride-2022/ In celebration of pride month, how can designers create LGBTQIAP+ inclusive interfaces, websites, and products? Inclusivity can create not just a welcoming environment for the community, but it can improve the experience for allies as well through setting a groundwork of acceptance of all identities. There is more to inclusivit...

...and now for another Human Factors Minute! In recent years, leaders and organizations within Human Factors, HCI, and UX have focused efforts on improving inclusivity throughout the fields. While these efforts have not gone unnoticed, the lack of diversity, specifically the inclusion of the LGBTQIA+ community, persists. In our research, we found a limited availability of resources for marginalize...

Addressing climate change, and sustainability efforts requires us to change our beliefs, assumptions, and thinking about the environment, our economies, and our well being. In order to change these, we must be aware of many common oversights when considering sustainable thinking. Most people look for evidence that confirms existing beliefs and tend to reject contradictory information, resulting in...

Many plastics are used for single-use disposable applications, such as packaging, agricultural films and disposable consumer items, and is the main source of waste plastics. Human factors plays a key role when considering the materials and design features of these plastics and can help manufacturers achieve functional yet reusable product designs.  However, In many cases, reusable device manu...

Ensuring trash and recycling makes it into proper receptacles is important because it prevents pollution, reduces the need to harvest new raw materials, and is critical for reducing runoff of materials into the ocean Human factors plays a key role when considering the design of these recepticles and their environment to encourage adoption Some ways in which Human Factors can encourage people to ut...

Oil spills happen in rivers, bays and the ocean and are most often caused by accidents involving tankers, barges and oil rigs, among other facilities . But a common cause across all of these oil spills is people making mistakes In the oil and gas industry, Human Factors is an essential component in the effort to operate in a safe and efficient manner to prevent oil spillage. Some areas in which Hu...

Safety is a large concern in waste collection as it has a higher than average fatal injury rate when compared to industry. Waste collection work is associated with a variety of physical, chemical, and biological hazards.  Some studies and reports suggest that fatal injuries when exposed to these hazards are more than doubling when considering door-to-door waste collection occupations.  W...

The Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors have released a document Defining climate ergonomics Climate ergonomics is a scientific discipline that focuses on human interactions, and their effect on the macro-climate that they inhabit. Climate ergonomics applies theory, data, and methods to optimize both human and climate well-being and operates within three main areas: Cognitive, whic...

Human Factors Cast has partnered with a ton of other content creators for #TeamSeas! The goal is to get 30 million pounds of trash out of the ocean.  By partnering with non-profit cleanup organizations all over the world, for every dollar this makes, there will be one less pound of trash in the ocean, beaches, and rivers.  From trash-eating robots that sit on the river, to beach cleanup...

...and now for another Human Factors Minute! The Clinical Human Factors Group is a charity that works with healthcare professionals, managers and service-users partnering with experts in Human Factors from healthcare and other industries to campaign for change in the National health service and healthcare. Their vision is of a healthcare system that places an understanding of Human Factors at the...

...and now for another Human Factors Minute! Did you know that the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society has 24 technical groups that are concerned with the human factors aspects of specific application areas? One of those is The Cognitive Engineering and Decision Making Technical Group This Technical Group is focused on the study and applicatoin of human decision making and cognition to the design...

...and now for another Human Factors Minute! Think aloud protocol: Also known as "concurrent verbal protocol", is the process of asking a user to execute a series of tasks or use technology, while continuously verbalizing their thoughts so that a researcher can gain insights into the users' analytical process. This method can be useful for identifying design flaws that do not affect task performan...

...and now for another Human Factors Minute! Did you know that the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society has 24 technical groups that are concerned with the human factors aspects of specific application areas? One of those is the USABILITY AND SYSTEM EVALUATION TECHNICAL GROUP which changed their name from Test and Evaluation Technical group in April, 2019. which focuses on the quantitative and qua...

...and now for another Human Factors Minute! The Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors is a professional member organisation for ergonomists and human factors specialists. This organization accredits education and training courses and recognises quality ergonomics services. Their activities raise awareness about the broad scope and positive impact of the discipline in all aspects of...

...and now for another Human Factors Minute! The outbreak of World War II, witnessed the tipping point where the technological advances had finally outpaced the ability of people to adapt and compensate to poor designs. This was most evident in airplane crashes by highly-trained pilots due to problems with control configurations. The two decades following the end of World War II saw the continuati...

...and now for another Human Factors Minute! In the United States, the discipline of human factors and ergonomics, is generally considered to have originated during World War II, although advances that contributed to its formation can be traced to the turn of the 20th century. Prior to World War II, the focus was “designing the human to fit the machine” (i.e., trial and error), instead of designin...