Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics International NEWS

The Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics International NEWS is a newsletter about Ergonomics and Human Factors topics, the Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics International 2012 conference deadlines and activities, the Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics International 2012 Exhibition, news in the area of Ergonomics and Human Factors, and more. If you have any questions or comments, or if you would like to contribute, please contact the editor, Dr. Abbas Moallem (abbas.moallem@sjsu.edu). The opinions that are expressed in this Newsletter are the sole responsibility of its authors and do not represent any institution or company.

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Resource for Attendees of Exhibit Hall Event:
https://www.psbill.com/

AHFE International 2012 Website:
www.ahfe2012.org

AHFE International 2012,   July 21-25, 2012 - San Francisco, California, USA

Deadline for Posters/Demonstrations Submission: 15 May 2012.

The conference venue hotel Hilton San Francisco at Union Square is fully booked.

A few rooms, with conference rates, are still available at Parc 55 Wyndham, hotel Nikko and Western St Francis all at Union Square

• “Consumer” versus “User” Behavior
• A NEW EDITION of the Handbook of Human Factors and Ergonomics, Edited by Gavriel Salvendy

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“Consumer” versus “User” Behavior

Our behaviors as “consumers” are not necessarily the same as our behaviors as “users” of a product. Our behavior as a “consumer” when deciding whether to select and purchase a product is more driven by functionality rather than by the ease of use or usability. As a “consumer” we become more cost-oriented rather than comfort-oriented. Our decisions also tend to be more emotional instead of rational. For instance, we might make a decision merely based on the visual appeal, the packaging, or simply the brand name. As a "consumer", we sometimes become obsessed with the number of features in a product, even when we are aware of how unlikely it is that we will use all those features; how many of them will never be touched. Just take a look at your latest digital camera and consider how many of its features you have actually used, or even attempted to use. I remember a digital watch that came out a couple years ago which offered a feature where one was able to enter over 100 telephone numbers into it. Of course you would have to enter each number digit-by-digit with a pen since the enter button was so very small, and if by chance you were one of the few courageous people who did such a thing, you were still only an accident away from losing all of your data.

Our behavior changes to “user” immediately after we begin to interact with a product, a process starting from the moment we open the product packaging and ending on the day we replace it.

As a user, we interact with the product on a regular basis. We need to problem solve it when we have issues and work on maintaining it. These activities generally happen after the period that we can return the product, and so if the interaction and user experience is not satisfactory we are still obliged to live with our unhappiness until we can afford to replace it. This unhappiness will most certainly affect our decision to acquire the same brand or a similar product.

Consequently as “users” we are more comfort-oriented than functionality-based; we prefer the product that provides us with ease of use for the most important and frequently done tasks. We love error-free products as well as ones that are easy to maintain. We prefer being able to problem solve eventual issues by ourselves, rather than ever having a relationship with a customer support line—which we connect to long phone calls, spelling out our names multiple times, stating the case number serial again and again, completing pre and post call surveys, and so on until finally our support agent starts to investigate our problem and eventually helps us to solve it. Often times we even feel the agent is just as clueless as us, the only difference being their access to manual pages which they read robotically.

Users love a product that offers a better user experience, becoming more forgiving when the product does not always behave as expected. Users who like a product with good user experience will continue to buy the same brand as long as they are built with their type of user in mind.

A.M.

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Handbook of Human Factors and Ergonomics
A new edition of the leading reference on human factors and ergonomics: Completely Updated and Revised

The field of human factors and ergonomics has attracted a lot of attention in recent decades, owing in large part to the wide-ranging influence of the Handbook of Human Factors and Ergonomics. Now in its fourth edition, this bestselling, award winning work continues to provide indispensable advice on the design of workplace environments and human-machine interfaces, while examining the latest thinking on how to best use this knowledge to reduce health and safety risks and improve productivity. With highly regarded authority Gavriel Salvendy at the helm, the Fourth Edition brings together contributions from more than 130 of the top experts in the field, offering in one complete, self-contained volume an encyclopedic collection of topics culled from over 7,500 sources. Numerous case studies and examples, as well as hundreds of figures and tables, are also included. All chapters in this edition have been completely rewritten, first explaining the scientific essentials, then exploring detailed practical applications. Some of the new topics in this edition include:

• Managing the risk of lower back pain in the workplace
• Neuroergonomics, office ergonomics, and user requirements
• Online interactivity and social networking
• Human factors in ambient intelligent environments
• Human factors and ergonomics in motor vehicles and aviation

A value-packed resource for all human factors and ergonomics specialists as well as engineers, industrial hygienists, safety engineers, and human-computer interaction (HCI) specialists, the Fourth Edition is also available electronically through the Wiley Interscience website.

ISBN: 978-0-470-52838-9, Hardcover, 1752 pages, March 2012
Visit wiley.com and select your local region to find out more about pricing and availability.
www.wiley.com/buy/9780470528389

April 2012

April 3-5: International Conference on Social Computing, Behavioral-Cultural Modeling, & Prediction (SBP12), , U. of Maryland, College Park, MD,
www.umiacs.umd.edu/conferences/sbp2012/.

April 16-19: Ergonomics & Human Factors 2012 International Conference (EHF2012), , Blackpool, UK.
www.ehf2012.org.uk.

April 17-19:: The 3rd International Conference on Appearance Edinburgh, , Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.
www.perceptions.macs.hw.ac.uk.

April 22-25:: The 9th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response Management (ISCRAM 2012), Vancover, Canada.
www.iscram2012.org/ .

May 2012

May 19-23: 2012 Industrial and Systems Engineering Research Conference, Orlando, Florida USA.
www.iienet.org/annual

“The Health and Safety Report,” The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS), March 2012 http://www.ccohs.ca/ccohs/liaison/current.html

“Human Factor sand Ergonomics Society Bulletin,” March 2012, Volume 55 Number 3.
http://www.hfes.org/web/HFESBulletin/mar2012awards.html

NIOSH eNews, Volume 9 Number 11 March 2012,  .
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/enews/enewsV9N9.html

We welcome your input to the Applied Ergonomics International NEWS. Please send us interesting news, short articles, interesting websites, etc. We will consider your comments and contributions for upcoming issues. Please send your contributions to the editor Dr. Abbas Moallem .

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