AVI/Psych 358/IE 340: Human Factors

Why Study Human Factors?

August 29, 2008

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Admin

• Reorganized groups (check blog for updated list)

• Add yourself to the blog (if you have not already): http://psych358.blogspot.com

• Add yourself to the facebook group• Readings for next class

– Human Factor (Chapter 1, 2)– Class discussion

• Attendance from next class• Fill out the survey

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Robot Remote Activity

• What did you learn from the activity?– Need to consider the task– Need to consider the user– Need to think about the constraints in the

environment

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What is Human Factors?

• How people and technology interact

• HF designers work on improving the human-technology interaction– Usability– User experience– Performance– Safety

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Why is the user so important?

• Understanding the user can lead to better products

• Understanding the user can save lives

• Understanding the user can save money

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Better products

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Why was IPod such a success?

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IPod Success

• Quality user experience

• Sleek appearance

• Novel and simple interaction style

• Distinct plain color

• Pleasure to learn and use

• Great marketing (e.g., catchy name)

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Saving life (1)

• Three Mile Island Tragedy (March 1979)– Operators were overwhelmed by the

information that was presented– Operators read one of the dials erroneously

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Saving life (2)

• Therac-25 (1985-1987)• Radiation overdose of cancer patients

– Software error on a medical device – Wrong electron mode– Not detected for a long time

• 6 accident cases• Caused due to a variety of social, technical and

usability issues

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Saving life (3)

• Air traffic and Airline safety

• Aviation students– Any examples of pilot error?

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Saving Money

• Nynex telephone operators– Optimization of their work process led to

saving over $2 million a year (Gray et al., 1992)

• Time = Money (so less intuitive and difficult to use corporate systems lead to loss of employee time)

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Saving Money

• Nynex telephone operators– Optimization of their work process led to

saving over $2 million a year (Gray et al., 1992)

• Time = Money (so less intuitive and difficult to use corporate systems lead to loss of employee time)

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What should HF designers think about?(1): Goals of Design

• Effective to use: Is the product capable of allowing people to learn, carry out their work, access the information they need, or buy the goods they want?

• Have good utility: Does the product provide an appropriate set of functions that will enable users to carry out all their tasks?

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What should designers think about?(2) : Goals of Design

• Efficient to use: How productive can users be to carry out their tasks?

• Safe to use: What is the range of errors that are possible using the product and what measures are there to permit users to recover easily from them.

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What should designers think about?(3) : Goals of Design

• Easy to learn: Is it possible for the user to work out how to use the product by exploring the interface and trying out certain actions?

• Easy to remember how to use: What kinds of interface support have been provided to help users remember how to carry out the tasks, especially for products and operations they use infrequently?

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What else?: Think about User Experience

• satisfying • aesthetically pleasing• enjoyable • supportive of creativity• pleasurable • rewarding• exciting • fun• entertaining • provocative• helpful • surprising• motivating • enhancing sociability• emotionally fulfilling • challenging• engaging

• boring • annoying• frustrating • cutesy

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Class Activity: Wii Remote

• What made the Wii remotes (and the Wii) extremely successful?– Explain in the context of the goals of design

described earlier (select 2 goals)– What about user experience of Wii remote?

• Effective to Use• Efficient• Good Utility• Safe to use• Easy to learn• Easy to remember how to use

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What do I think?

• Goals of design– Easy to learn– Effective to use

• User Experience– Fun– Engaging