From: cohill@vtserf.cc.vt.edu (Andrew M. Cohill)
Subject: PUBS: New Journal, ERGONOMICS IN DESIGN
Date: 10 Jun 92 12:39:14 GMT
Message-ID: <4166@vtserf.cc.vt.edu>
Organization: Fire in the Mountain


Crossposted from comp.human-factors:


I have felt that the human factors research agenda has been in trouble
for years;  back in the early eighties when full screen editors were
becoming common, HF researchers were still studying the best way to
design line mode editors.  It's appalling how little research has been
done on the basics of window design, as another example.  

It's the old story about the passerby who stopped a drunk under a
streetlight who appeared to be looking for something.  The passerby
asked him what he dropped and where, and the drunk replied that he
dropped a quarter back in the alley.  The passerby then asked why he was
looking out under the streetlight, and the drunk replies that there is
more light there.

Most real world applications are being done back in the dark alley, but
there is not much light there, meaning that it's damn hard to design a
nice clean factorial study with carefully controlled conditions that
will get published in the Journal of the HFS, so all the research takes
place in the lab, studying, for the most part, itty bitty stuff that has
little relevance.

Seems like a good time to remind everyone that the Human Factors Society
is going to start publishing a *practitioner's" magazine called
"Ergonomics in Design", and we are soliciting articles about practice
and experience, *not* research!  Case studies are especially solicited;
we are also looking for articles outside the domain of HCI--consumer
product design, aerospace problems, visual performance--you name it, we
want to hear about it.  

Send manuscripts (10-12 double-spaced pages) to:

Andrew Cohill
Associate Editor
Ergonomics in Design
1700 Pratt Drive
Blacksburg, VA  24060

or email me at:    cohill@vtserf.cc.vt.edu





-- 
|          ...we have to look for routes of power our teachers never       
|              imagined, or were encouraged to avoid.   T. Pynchon          
|                    
|Andrew Cohill        cohill@vtserf.cc.vt.edu            VPI&SU