What is human factors and what do we do?

Human factors is the engineering discipline that uses a systems approach to fit tasks to human capabilities and skills while optimizing technology and human interactions. It also has the goal of minimizing error and injury. Although human factors input for product designs is becoming more accepted, the recent past is fraught with examples of systems that require the user to adapt to the system design rather than a system design-adapted to suit the user. Everyday life is affected by this unsatisfactory approach. Just think about some of the VCR programming tasks on remote controllers, some of your automobile diagnostic repair problems or setting up and using a business or personal computer. Human factors is also called human factors engineering, ergonomics, human engineering, and applied cognitive science. Multiple terms are used to describe the skills applied to the designing and developing of systems and their products so that the results are user-centered, and not equipment-centered.

Why use human factors?

The motivation for using human factors engineering as a part of every new technological development is simple. It saves money, lowers operational errors and increases the likelihood of success. Our technological future will depend on our ability to compete in a world economy. Usability as well as reliability will be key in maintaining our technical competitive status in engineering products.

In our near future, human - machine interfaces may change dramatically. The information explosion will be transported to more and more people. Virtual reality approaches promise new simulation platforms and new entertainment media at the very least. Those that are able to master these and other, as yet undiscovered, technical environments, and place the human in not only efficient but comfortable and safe control, will dominate future global markets.

When should you use human factors?

The human factors engineering process is intertwined with the entire engineering process. It is a complementary systems engineering approach from the perspective of the user. It starts with mission and activity analyses during design and carries through to the production stage with failure mode analyses, operational sequence analyses, workload assessments and risk analyses. During these processes, there is an underlying goal to minimize or eliminate training requirements to promote usability. Human factors engineering methods do not stop with the fielding of a system but continue in the critical role of training personnel for maintenance and repair.

The human factors engineering specialist is most valuable in the early design stages of a project when the functional requirements are being determined. These requirements are what shape the final usability for the user or operator for which the system or product is being designed. The same specialist can propose changes to improve a completed design that the user can't use effectively or doesn't like, but this need for redesign frequently occurs when the appropriate human factors talent and consideration of the users or operators of the product were omitted in the beginning. Designing in usability is an early quality goal of any design.

What does the Potomac Chapter do?

We believe that in the future, the human factors specialist will be a vital part of every design team as a routine association. This does not imply that he/she will be in charge, but it does mean that new, high quality technology will certainly not be successfully developed and marketed without the synergistic linking of the engineering and human factors disciplines. It is the goal of our chapter and the national society to foster growth of our field and to increase the awareness of others about our work.

When do we get together?

The Potomac Chapter meets several times during the year except for July through September. The meeting locations vary, switching among Virginia, Maryland and District locations. Our speaker and topic varies each meeting. The meeting schedule is included in the Newsletter. But please feel free to contact us any time.

Our recent meetings were:

• January, 2004 – Doug Wickland, curator of the National Rifle Association Museum – “Human Factors in Developing Gun Technology”
• January, 2004 – Carl Pritchard, independent consultant – “Motivating through Risk Management” – luncheon co-sponsored by the POC and the local chapter of the Institute for Industrial Engineering
• March, 2004 – Col. Greg Belenky, Director, Division of Neuropsychiatry, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research -- “Sleep, Performance and Network Centric Warfare” -- held in conjunction with the joint meeting of the POC and APA Division 19 & 21 Mid-Year Symposium, Engineering and Military Psychology: Improving Lives and Enhancing National Security
• March, 2004 – Potomac Chapter Panel at Capital Science 2004, a conference sponsored by the Washington Academy of Sciences and its Affiliated Societies
• April, 2004 – DCS Corporation Ergonomics Briefing and Lab Facility Tour
• May, 2004 -- Dr. Jen McGovern Narkevicius, Director, Human Systems Engineering, ARINC Engineering Services -- "You Want Me to do WHAT? The Navy Enterprise Approach to Human Systems Integration"
• June, 2004 – Dr. Wendy Rogers, Professor, School of Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology and President Elect of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society -- "Human Factors at Home: Supporting the Functional Independence of Older Adults"
• September, 2004 -- Dr. Stephanie Guerlain, Assistant Professor of Human Factors, Department of Systems and Information Engineering at the University of Virginia –- “Information Visualization, Decision Support, and Training Systems Design for Individual and Team Work in Process Control, Military Command and Control, and Surgery Applications"
• November, 2004 – Tour and student presentations, Information Systems Department, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
• December, 2004 - Informal Town Hall Meeting
• January, 2005 - Installation of Officers for 2005, & Dr. Mark Livingston, Naval Research Lab -- "Measuring the Effectiveness of Augmented Reality"
• March, 2005 - Dr. Harold Wain, Program Psychologist and Chief, Psychiatry Consultation Service, Walter Reed Army Medical Center Washington, DC. -- "Optimizing Recovery after Traumatic Limb Loss: U.S. Army Amputee Patient Care Program"
• April, 2005 - Teri O'Connell, Humans and Computers, Inc. -- "Usability Engineering and Software Engineering: Interections" (joint meeting with DC Chapter of the Usability Professionals' Assocation)
• May, 2005 - Gary Orr, ORR Consulting -- "Latest OSHA Initiatives on Ergonomics"
• December, 2005 - Organizational Meeting
• January, 2006 - Marlyn Sue Bogner, Ph.D., Institute for the Study of Human Error, LLC -- "How to Prevent Human Error: Usability and the Artichoke" (joint meeting with DC Chapter of the Usability Professionals' Assocation)
• February, 2006 - George Mason University Student Presentations: Melanie Diez, "Let My Resumption Not Provoke thy Wrath: Where do people resume a task following an interruption?"; L. Ricardo Prada, "Training the Flight Deck of the Future: An autoflight computer interface evaluation"; and Raj Ratwani, "The Effect of Interruptions on Task Performance"
• March, 2006 - Dr. Julius Persensky, Nuclear Regulatory Commission -- "Human Factors at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission: A Psychologist's View"
• September, 2006 - George Mason Arch Lab Open House and Tour
• October, 2006 - Dr. Ben Shneiderman, University of Maryland -- "Creativity Support Tools: A Grand Challenge"
• November, 2006 - Dr. Arthur Fisk, Georgia Institute of Technology --"Designing Aware Homes as Collaborative Systems: Acceptance, Trust, and Privacy Concerns"
• December, 2006 - Dr. Ben Bederson, University of Maryland -- "A Library for the World’s Children: The International Children’s Digital Library"
• January, 2007 - Dr. Deborah Mayhew, Deborah J. Mayhew & Associates -- "The Business Case for Usability Engineering"
• February, 2007 - Dr. Sharon Laskowski, National Institute of Standards and Technology -- "Developing Standards for the Usability and Accessibility of Voting Systems."
• March, 2007 - Dr. Sharla P. Rausch, Director, Human Factors Division, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Science and Technology Directorate -- "Human Factors at the Department of Homeland Security: Know our enemies; understand ourselves; put the human in the equation"
• September, 2007 - Dr. Janice (Ginny) Redish, Redish & Associates, Inc. -- "Letting Go of the Words — Writing Web Content that Works"
• January, 2008 -- Dr. Salvatore Schipani, NIST -- "Maze Hypothesis Development in Assessing Robot Performance During Teleoperation"
• February, 2008 - Dr. Zachary Koutsandreas, Ergoworks Consulting, LLC -- "Are All Mice Created Equal?"
• March, 2008 - Dr. Michael Drillings, Director for MANPRINT, US Army, "Human Systems Integration -- A Wider Perspective "
• May, 2008 - Karl Groves, SSB BART Group, "Accessibility Audit Methods"

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