The Human Factor: Revolutionizing the Way People Live with Technology

Charles R. Crawford, a former associate professor of computer science at
York University, is a computer programming and mathematics consultant in
Toronto.

Professor Vicente is a consultant and teacher of human factors
engineering at the University of Toronto. He says his original purpose
in writing this book was to “explain the social relevance of my
discipline to an educated audience.” He found, however, that the
problem “goes well beyond the frustrations caused by the myriad of
user-friendly widgets that surround us.” Rather than just explaining
his discipline, he needed to also show how it can be used whenever
technological solutions are needed to solve more complex social and
political problems.

Part 1 outlines the difficulties of using human factors in design and
lists five levels where these factors can influence design. The physical
level involves the size and shape of devices. The psychological level
includes less tangible ways individuals interact with devices and
systems. The last three levels—team, organizational, and
political—deal with the way in which groups of people are effected by
technology. Each of these levels is examined in more detail in Part 2.

Part 3 summarizes the human factors approach to design and suggests
ways in which Vicente’s “educated audience” could influence those
who do the design. In his examples, such as the voting system for the
2000 U.S. presidential election in the State of Florida and the water
purification system in Walkerton, Ontario, Vicente shows that using
human factors to find a technological solution to a problem requires
more than simply designing a device to be used by a person. He advocates
a systems approach that takes into account how technology influences the
organization or community where it is applied. He points out areas (such
as aviation) where these methods have been very successful. Particularly
interesting is his description of the work of a Danish engineer, Jens
Rasmussen, in the area of risk management.

The Human Factor goes beyond the two-dimensional cost/effectiveness
analysis and shows that risk is a third measure that depends more on the
interaction of the elements of a system than on the behaviour of its
parts. A cheap, risky system often appears to be very effective.