IWCSpecial Issue in Human Factors and Interaction Design for Critical Systems
Huawei Tu, Paolo M. Masci, Chris Vincent, Yunqiu Li, Harold Thimbleby · Interacting with Computers · 2016
The study of Human Factors (HF) and Interaction Design (ID) plays a central role in critical systems design. HF discovers and applies information about human behaviour, abilities, limitations and other characteristics to the design of tools, machines, systems, tasks, jobs and environments, for productive, safe, comfortable and effective human use. Successful ID is inherently multidisciplinary, forward looking, and aims to sketch, synthesise and prototype the future. Although the two fields are closely related, there are critical differences in approaches. Interaction designers typically seek to shape, create and explore future solutions, whereas HF researchers seek to operationalize social, psychological and behavioural theory to optimize design, often with constraints, such as error-free interaction, generally for skilled workers. HF work has a long tradition in the workplace, often concerned with dangerous and critical activities performed by skilled operators, whereas ID is increasingly focused on the huge market of discretionary consumers, often concerned with the likes and dislikes of people.