February 2010

Careers in Human Factors & Aging

February 25, 2010

A graduate student contacted me with questions about career paths for those of us in HF with an aging background.  This sounded like a great opportunity for discussion so I’m posting it here.  If you can contribute responses to any or all of these questions, please leave a comment! I am giving a presentation on the Aging Technical Group [of [...]

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Redesigning Toyota’s Keyless Ignition System

February 10, 2010
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The LA Times reporters Ken Bensinger and Ralph Vartabedian recently wrote a story about keyless ignition systems and the associated HF issues (we blogged about it here).  In a follow-up story, they report that Toyota is considering redesigning the system so that instead of requiring a single 3-second press to shut off the engine, it now requires 3 consecutive presses.  [...]

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Visual Search and Airport Security Screening

February 8, 2010
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Funny I should have mentioned conjunction search the other day, since this post is all about new research by Jeremy Wolfe who has and continues to contribute to the visual search literature. In this new work, already mentioned on i09, Wolfe and his former research assistant Michael van Wert investigated complex visual search as it applies to baggage scanning at [...]

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Dissecting the iPad’s User Interface

February 5, 2010
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This Flickr image set does a nice job of pointing out the unique UI elements of the iPad.  Much of the interface is adapted from Apple’s extensive work on the iPhone but there are several unique elements. Say what you will about Apple (positive or negative) but their tight reign on software and hardware and extreme focus on details really [...]

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HF Graduate Programs: North Carolina State University

February 4, 2010
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This is the second post in our 2-part look at some HF programs.  Rich’s post about Clemson’s program can be found here. The psychology graduate program at NCSU in Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S.A, boasts eight faculty in the Human Factors and Ergonomics specialization. This is in addition to the faculty in our sister program in Industrial Engineering and related faculty [...]

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The Spatial Demands of Assembly Instructions

February 3, 2010
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I purchased a “build it yourself” cabinet over the internet, naively thinking that it couldn’t be too complicated if they really expected me to assemble it. Boy, was I wrong. Take these instructions for example: “Tap in post with a hammer to start and screw down with a screwdriver or with a small allen wrench until the shoulder of the [...]

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This does not bode well for the on-device user experience…

February 2, 2010
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Gizmodo reviewed the Nook e-book reader from Barnes & Noble. Unfortunately (for B&N), the process of opening the package was so cumbersome, most of the review dwells on that aspect: In other words, the Nook packaging actually necessitates these lengthy instructions, as ridiculous as they are in their own right. Somehow, Barnes & Noble invented a box that’s every bit [...]

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Similar Medical Bottles Strike Again: Flu Shots and Insulin

February 1, 2010
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One of this blogs most popular posts concerned the similarity of adult and pediatric containers for the blood thinner Heparin.  A story from 2008 concerns the mix up between “nearly identical” bottles of flu vaccine and insulin. When you don’t have high blood sugar, a shot of insulin is serious business and sends you straight to the hospital. Five Bedford [...]

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