From the category archives:

technology

Complex Clickers in Class

by Richard Pak
Thumbnail image for Complex Clickers in Class

I will be teaching general psychology to a large undergraduate class this Fall.  I had planned on using the “Clicker” to encourage interaction with students (link to company that makes them, wikipedia page that describes them).  They are essentially remote controls that allow the instructor to record votes from students.  For example, I could present a multiple choice question to [...]

Read the full article →

Human Factors Blog @ SXSW

by Richard Pak
Thumbnail image for Human Factors Blog @ SXSW

Anne was invited to be a panelist at SXSW on Friday, March 12 at 05:00 PM.  SXSW is a yearly music, movie, and interactive media festival held in Austin, TX.  The title of the interactive panel is With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility: The Future of Video Games. Here is a description:
Video games are more popular than ever, and [...]

Read the full article →

Making virtual worlds more accessible – a new context area for Human Factors

by Anne McLaughlin
Thumbnail image for Making virtual worlds more accessible – a new context area for Human Factors

The Consumerist blog (of Consumer Reports) posted an article on the state of California suing Sony because their online Playstation services were not accessibly designed.
Quoted from The Consumerist post:
At the crux of the plaintiff’s failed case was their contention that, because PlayStation allows people all over the world to connect and play games together via their now-repaired PlayStation Network, that [...]

Read the full article →

Redesigning Toyota’s Keyless Ignition System

by Richard Pak
Thumbnail image for Redesigning Toyota’s Keyless Ignition System

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 [...]

Read the full article →

Keyless Ignition in Emergencies: Do you know what to do?

by Richard Pak
Thumbnail image for Keyless Ignition in Emergencies: Do you know what to do?

This story in the LA Times illustrates several important HF/usability issues.  First, the  importance of knowing what the user knows before introducing new, seemingly “simple” technology, or changing the way they currently do things (in this case, what people know about ignition systems and how they start their cars).  Second, like the story about the alarms, it also clearly illustrates [...]

Read the full article →

Human Factors in the World’s First “Purpose-Built” Law Enforcement Vehicle

by Richard Pak
Thumbnail image for Human Factors in the World’s First “Purpose-Built” Law Enforcement Vehicle

In the near future, you may see one of these cars in your rear-view mirror. They are new purpose-built law enforcement vehicles that will appear in 2012. I found this press release while searching for something else on the web. The cockpit was designed with human factors input from the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI):

[...]

Read the full article →

Usability/Design/HF Potpourri

by Richard Pak
Thumbnail image for Usability/Design/HF Potpourri

Just in time for the end of the year:  Top 10 interaction design books from Kicker Studio
Making cooking safe for the blind (via Real World Design)
Deciding when you need graphics (via uxforward)
We’ve posted before about the man who designs the UIs in movies, but Gizmodo has posted his new streaming demo reel…fascinating.
How will reading change with e-books?  (via Twitter/Steve Portigal)
Traffic [...]

Read the full article →

Driving and Writing: Audi MMI

by Richard Pak
Thumbnail image for Driving and Writing: Audi MMI

The new Audi A8 sedan has a novel text entry input system:  writing.  Instead of using a knob (an indirect velocity control) or touchscreen (direct position control), the system accepts input using a touch sensitive pad (indirect position control) that can recognize letter input:
This seems to be an improvement over current systems that make you use an indirect input device [...]

Read the full article →

Healthcare IT does not save money, increase efficiency

by Richard Pak
Thumbnail image for Healthcare IT does not save money, increase efficiency

The reasons for widescale introduction of information technology into health care is that: it will reduce costs, and reduce errors. We know that in some cases it may not necessarily reduce errors.  Now we know that it doesn’t necessarily reduce costs.  Harvard researchers examined 4000 “wired” hospitals to determine the effect of widespread adoption of IT in [...]

Read the full article →

HFES Conference Part 6: Health & Human Factors

by Richard Pak

The medical domain is an area where human factors research is very active. Here are some highlights from the conference.
Health Records
The following two presentations/proceedings papers examined Personal Health Records (user-maintained medical records):
Improving the user interface and adoption of online personal health records. (2009).  Peters, K. A., Green, T. F., & Shumacher, R. M.
This paper was a usability evaluation of [...]

Read the full article →

HFES Conference in San Antonio, Part 3 – Health/Internet…and ROBOTS!

by Richard Pak
Thumbnail image for HFES Conference in San Antonio, Part 3 – Health/Internet…and ROBOTS!

One of my major interests at the moment is in the use of technological tools (primarily the Web) in the management of health.  So it was with great pleasure that there was so much research on this topic (I will mention more in future posts).
The first was presented in the Aging session (where Anne was program chair).  Jessie [...]

Read the full article →

“Replicants are like any other machine – they’re either a benefit or a hazard. If they’re a benefit, it’s not my problem.”

by Richard Pak

Electric cars are utterly silent making them hazardous when they sneak up on you at low speeds.  Nissan is thinking about having their Leaf electric car emit the whine reminiscent of the flying cars in Bladerunner.  It’s one of my favorite movies so I approve!
“We decided that if we’re going to do this, if we have to make sound, then [...]

Read the full article →

Consequences of Mobile Phone Usability…big consequences

by Richard Pak
Thumbnail image for Consequences of Mobile Phone Usability…big consequences

Time.com is reporting that part of the economic recession may have been caused by Warren Buffet not being able to check his voice mail:
as Buffett was rushing out to a social engagement in Edmonton, Alberta, he got a call from Bob Diamond, the head of Barclays Capital…[ed. Diamond was creating a plan to save an investment bank and needed money [...]

Read the full article →

Usability issues in navigating your life

by Richard Pak

Gordon Bell, a Microsoft Researcher, is recording his life in excruciating detail in a project dubbed MyLifeBits:
Web sites he’s visited (221,173), photos taken (56,282), emails sent and received (156,041), docs written and read (18,883), phone conversations had (2,000), photos snapped by the SenseCam hanging around his neck (66,000), songs listened to (7,139), and videos taken by him (2,164).
Why is he [...]

Read the full article →

When Users Complain: Blackboard

by Anne McLaughlin
Thumbnail image for When Users Complain: Blackboard

There is a great article over at Inside Higher Ed. describing what happens when a company without evidence of a usability process finally asks its users for feedback.
At an open “listening session” with top executives of Blackboard here Wednesday at the company’s annual conference, college officials expressed frustration with many of the system’s fundamental characteristics. At times, the meeting seemed [...]

Read the full article →

Augmented Reality for Everyone

by Richard Pak

There have been many recent examples of consumer friendly augmented reality applications for smart phone users.  I remember reading about augmented reality research over a decade ago (in an HCI class) and remembering how bulky, expensive, experimental, and out-of-reach it seemed back then.  The systems back then required head-mounted displays and were physically attached to cameras and large computers.  Now [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries