Human-Tech: Ethical and Scientific Foundations

by Kim Vicente, Alex Kirlik

Overview

In The Human Factor, Kim Vicente coined the term 'Human-tech' to describe a more encompassing and ambitious approach to the study of Human-Technology Interaction (HTI) than is now evident in any of its participating disciplines, such as human factors, human-computer interaction, cognitive science and engineering, industrial design, informatics or applied psychology. Observing that the way forward is 'not by widgets alone, ' Vicente's Human-tech approach addresses every level--physical, psychological, team, organizational, and political--at which technology impacts quality of life, identifies a human or societal need, and then tailors technology to what we know about human nature at that level. The Human Factor was written for a broad audience, in part to educate general readers beyond the HTI community about the need to think seriously about the tremendous impact that poorly designed technology can have, ranging from user frustration to the tragic loss of human life. The articles collected in this book provide much of the technical material behind the work that was presented in The Human Factor, and the commentaries by Alex Kirlik situate these articles in their broader historical, scientific and ethical context. This collection of articles and commentaries forms a set of recommendations for how HTI research ought to broaden both its perspective and its practical, even ethical, aspirations to meet the increasingly complicated challenges of designing technology to support human work, to improve quality of life, and to design the way will live with technology. As the first book both to integrate the theory and research underlying Human-tech, and to clearly delineate the scientific challenges and ethical responsibilities that await those who either design technology for human use, or design technology that influences or even structures the working or daily lives of others, Human-tech: Ethical and Scientific Foundations will appeal to

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199765140
Publisher:	Oxford University Press, USA
Publication date:	09/30/2010
Series:	Human Technology Interaction Series
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Kim J. Vicente is Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science and Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto. He is author of Cognitive Work Analysis: Toward Safe, Productive, and Healthy Computer-Based Work, and The Human Factor: Revolutionizing the Way We Live with Technology.

Alex Kirlik is Professor of Computer Science, Psychology, and Industrial Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is editor of Adaptive Perspectives on Human-Technology Interaction: Methods and Models for Cognitive Engineering and Human Computer Interaction and co-editor of Attention: From Theory to Practice.

Table of Contents

Preface (K.J.V.)

Acknowledgments

1. Introduction (A.K.)

2. The Origins of Human-tech (A.K.)

3. A Human-tech Research Agenda and Approach (A. K.)

Reprint: Toward Jeffersonian research programs in ergonomics science (K.J.V.)

4. Inventing Possibilities: Understanding Work Systems and Tasks (A.K.)

Reprint: A theoretical note on the relationship between work domain analysis and task analysis
(K.J.V.)

5. Psychological Distance: Manipulating an Interface versus Controlling a System (A.K.)

Reprint: Toward theory-driven, quantitative performance measurement in ergonomics science:
The abstraction hierarchy as a framework for data analysis (K.J.V.)

6. Statistics for Human-tech Research (A.K.)

Reprint: The Earth is spherical (p < 0.05): Alternative methods of statistical inference (K.J.V.)

7. Constructing the Subject: Cognitive Modeling (A. K.)

Reprint: Operator modeling in a complex, dynamic work environment: a qualitative cognitive model based on field observation (K. J. V.)

8. Sociotechnical Systems, Risk and Error (A.K.)

Reprint: The Walkerton E. coli outbreak: a test of Rasmussen's framework for risk management in a dynamic society (K. J. V.)

9. Nested Systems: Economic, Cultural and Political Dimensions (A.K.)

Reprint: Human factors engineering that makes a difference: Leveraging a science of societal change (K.J.V.)

Author Index
Subject Index