Anne McLaughlin

Rudder knob in cockpit mistaken for door latch

November 1, 2011
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Any aviation experts want to chime in about a knob turning a plane upside down? Also, please note this was characterized as “pilot error.” Pilot error causes airliner to flip, fly upside down From the article: According to the safety board, an analysis of the aircraft’s digital flight recorder indicated the co-pilot, alone in the cockpit while the captain used [...]

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Call for Papers! APA 2012 in Orlando, FL

October 21, 2011
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A message from the Program Chair: APA Division 21 (Applied Experimental and Engineering Psychology) invites submissions for the 2012 Convention of the American Psychological Association, to be held in Orlando, Florida, August 2-5, 2012. Proposals for papers, posters or symposia in areas related to applied experimental/engineering psychology or human factors/ergonomics are encouraged. Broad topics of interest include, but are not [...]

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Update on the BMW iDrive

September 8, 2011
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Nice writeup by BimmerFile on the iDrive, a single-button input device for the non-driving functions of the BMW. I’ve excerpted my favorite portions below — specifically their connection of iDrive design to the proximity-compatibility principle and the principles of importance and frequency of use.  BimmerFile was recently invited to Munich and into the very secret BMW labs that birthed the [...]

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Human Factors in the News: Next Generation Aviation

August 17, 2011
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I don’t know how I missed this back in March! They even use the words “human factor” in the title! The article is an interesting overview of the “NextGen” systems coming to aviation and explains our field to the general public. Air traffic overhaul hinges on ‘human factor’ From the article: Human factors’ engineering Even amid the amazing technological achievements [...]

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Coming to APA 2011: A Conversation Hour on Use of Electronic Health Records in Clinical Practice

August 2, 2011
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Drs. Kelly Caine (of guest post fame)  and Dennis Morrison will be presenting on human factors considerations for the design and use of electronic health records.  Audience participation is welcome as they discuss this important topic. See abstract below. In this conversation hour we will discuss the use of electronic health records in clinical practice. Specifically, we will focus on [...]

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Treemapping Your Way to Healthier Food Choices

August 2, 2011
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Renee Walker, MFA in Design, came up with an innovative use of treemaps to provide nutrition information – winning the Rethink the Food Label contest. Can you imagine the horror of food companies once they realize how much of their treemap has to say SUGAR? This visualization is certainly easier than the rule of thumb I was taught: “If sugar is [...]

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Humans and Automation on the Colbert Report

August 1, 2011

Look! A human factors colleague on the Colbert Report! Does this mean we’re cool? Dr. Missy Cummings, Associate Professor at MIT Director of the Humans and Automation Lab The Colbert Report Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

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Verdict Reached for Air France Rio Crash

July 29, 2011
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The BBC has reported the incident analysis of the Air France crash that killed 228 people was due to lack of pilot skill in dealing with a high altitude stall. Here is a link to the BEA Report from the Bureau d’Enquetes et d’Analyses. It’s a frightening read, as they give a moment by moment analysis of the last minutes in the cockpit. No emergency [...]

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Are we too trusting of GPS automation?

July 26, 2011
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A GPS certainly makes life easier — and although I think many of us might consider what would happen if we were without it or it was unable to identify where we were, it is less often we consider how it may lead us astray. One of our early postings on the Human Factors Blog was about a bus driver [...]

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Coming to APA in August: Information Foraging in the Social Web

July 21, 2011
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Peter Pirolli (currently a Research Fellow at Xerox/PARC) will be presenting on Information Foraging Theory. See below for an abstract of his upcoming talk. Information Foraging Theory is a theory of human-information interaction that aims to explain and predict how people will best shape themselves to their information environments, and how information environments can best be shaped to people.  The approach involves [...]

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Hope to see you at APA 2011!

July 17, 2011
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There will be an extensive program for the Applied Experimental Division of the American Psychological Association at their conference in D.C. from August 4-7, and I invite all to come! We’ve collected a who’s-who from established to up-and-coming researchers to bring you cutting edge work in human factors, ergonomics, automation, human machine systems, aviation, video gaming, and much more! Below [...]

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Failure to Design Out, Guard, or even Warn Results in Worker Pulled Through 5-inch Opening

June 3, 2011

The story of a UK man who was pulled through a small opening meant for steel poles is in the news again as the companies involved pleaded guilty to not having safety measures in place. Read the article here (with a picture of the machine). I’ve excerpted the reported accident factors below: “His clothing snagged on the machine and he was [...]

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For projectors, new technology means new training (and new errors!)

May 23, 2011
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Mode errors! Coming soon to a theater near you? Have you ever forgotten to set your camera back to Auto from Portrait? How about not understanding what those modes mean? Apparently a similar phenomenon occurs in the professional world of movie theaters. There is a special lens filter used for 3-D movies and when it is not removed for normal [...]

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Bill Buxton Likes Input Devices

May 13, 2011
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And now you can browse his collection with him — all 28 minutes and 48 seconds worth! Channel 9 has the whole story and you can browse the collection one by one on the Microsoft Research site for Buxton. (Buxton obviously has his own site as well.) Photo credit andreakirkby @ Flickr

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“Feel the pleasure of the mind in the least allayed”

May 6, 2011
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Enjoy this short but entertaining look at “Benjamin Franklin – the first American ergonomist?” by Dr. John Senders (who has appeared previously on this blog). An excerpt: Professor Chaplin states of Franklin (p. 65): Cato Major, or His Discourse of Old Age (1744). Franklin solicitously printed the book in large type so that elderly readers (beyond the help even of [...]

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Does this color make me look fat?

May 2, 2011
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Funny post from Consumer Reports showing that perceptions are altered by color: Wearing black is the time-honored technique for appearing thinner without shedding an pound. Apparently it works for the iPhone 4, as well. Recently an avalanche of news and tech sites reported that the white iPhone 4 was thicker than the black iPhone, even showing side-by-side photos claiming it [...]

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