From the monthly archives:

August 2009

Developing the “science of error measurement”

by Anne McLaughlin

I woke up this morning to the People’s Pharmacy on NPR and an interview with Peter Pronovost (of checklist fame in a previous post) and David Newman-Toker. These two M.D.s hope to inspire research into accurate error measurement as an essential to developing systems that avoid errors in medical diagnosis. The goal of their commentary, published in JAMA, is to [...]

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HF/Usability Hodgepodge

by Richard Pak

Things too small for their own post but interesting nonetheless…it’s a hodgepodge, a mélange, a potpourri!

Stay in touch with those who don’t have or want a computer (via Gadgeteer)
“upgrading customer usability without breaking the bank” (via UXforward)
If Craigslist got a makeover, what might it look like? (Wired)
Men and women use car navigation systems differently (GPSworld)

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Two HF Driving News Articles

by Anne McLaughlin

1. Although I had trouble finding corroborating sources, it looks as though the government of Samoa is going to switch what side of the road people drive on in a few weeks. You don’t have to be a human factors expert to guess at the trouble this will cause.
2. New study says older drivers are not “such a hazard.”
What I [...]

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HF Potpourri

by Richard Pak
Thumbnail image for HF Potpourri

Some interesting items that have passed through my reader:

Jerk can be emulated in software.  Cars with continuously variable transmissions sound and behave differently from other cars.  In this video, the speedometer and RPM smoothly increases (in most cars the RPM would bobble as gears shift and you’d feel a slight jerk).  I don’t know how I reached this page but [...]

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Fitts’ Law and Your Microwave

by Anne McLaughlin

Most of you are familiar with Fitts’ Law and how it can be used to calculate movement time in an interface. You may even be familiar with how it ostensibly speeds up your use of menus on the Mac. But did you know it could improve your daily life? My friend Jeff Wilson did, and posted this helpful note over [...]

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Consumer Reports story on Automobile Ergonomics

by Anne McLaughlin

Zoom over to the Consumer Reports car blog for a case study of accessibility by Gabe Shenhar .

Driving with an injury: Features that can ease the pain (excerpted):

…I have come to a new appreciation, surveying our vehicle test fleet, of what everyday life must be like for people with physical challenges or limited mobility.
For me right now, the key is [...]

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911: Trying to fight slips via warnings

by Anne McLaughlin

I got a newsletter in the mail today from the City of Raleigh. Here are some excerpts centering on the problems with our area code:
RALEIGH/WAKE 911 CENTER WANTS YOU TO KNOW THAT HANG UPS HURT
What do a child playing with a telephone, an unprotected non flip cell phone and someone dialing a ten-digit phone number in the 919 area code [...]

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