9 research outputs found
To Develop Viable Human Factors Engineering Methods for Improved Industrial Use
Human factors engineering methodology is important for design of
complex systems, such as control rooms and distributed control systems.
Available methodologies are however seldom adapted to industrial needs,
which limits the use of the existing human factors engineering research base. In
this paper we argue that human factors engineering methods have to be
developed and adapted to the engineer working under industrial project
constraints. Otherwise human factors engineering is unlikely to achieve a broad
industrial impact. The paper suggests how the industrial viability of methods
can be improved by applying a use centered approach to method development
The challenges of establishing social learning spaces at a Johannesburg university student residence: Student views
Work, Locales and Distributed Social Worlds
this paper, we propose Anselm Strauss' (1993) Theory of Action as a candidate from which to evolve a framework to ground an understanding of work for the following reasons: (1) it already exists as a coherent, related set of abstractions - a big picture - which makes the social more accessible, and provides a background against which other concepts from CSCW can be mapped or be seen to complement; and (2) it provides analytical leverage for systems developers who do not have a social science background nor the services of a social science team member. In the second section, we propose that insights from Strauss' work on the importance of structural conditions for social world (cooperative ensemble) interactions can help us to view support systems in a new role as setting/ locale for cooperative work interaction, thus providing a bridge between the social and the technical. We then provide a brief overview of WORLDS, a locales-based environment we are building concurrent with our theoretical exploration. Action, Social Worlds and CSC