Welcome to SYDE 142!! 11/09/2019 Catherine M. Burns

Course Introduction A “breadth” course in Human Systems engineering Not depth Pre-req for other courses in this area 11/09/2019 Catherine M. Burns

Texts Wickens 2nd edition - main text book, course material Casey - real life case studies, short stories 5-10 pages, easy to read You are responsible for all the material in these texts. You may be tested in an open book format. Please do not make any notations in your text beyond highlighting. 11/09/2019 Catherine M. Burns

Lectures Provide interactive exercises to demonstrate the material Provide high level summaries of the material Are NOT at the detail level of your exams Show areas of emphasis and focus Supplement the readings Encourage (hopefully) interest in the material. 11/09/2019 Catherine M. Burns

Assignments 2 Single Theme Assignments done in groups of 4 Practice assignments and solutions on the web – taken from old midterms and finals! 11/09/2019 Catherine M. Burns

Exams in this course Multiple choice (final only) Short answer (midterm and final) Case study analysis (midterm and final) Performance level last year = 69% final average 11/09/2019 Catherine M. Burns

The Nature of Work 11/09/2019 Catherine M. Burns

Human Factors Today In airport security, where would human factors be involved? 11/09/2019 Catherine M. Burns

Human Work People have worked for as long as they have existed Originally work for survival (hunting, growing, etc.) work for self and family Progression to craft Craft: specialization of work by skill, work for others, work for trade or $ 11/09/2019 Catherine M. Burns

From Craft to Industry Increased specialisation brings efficiency Efficiency and skill comes through repetition (repetitive work) specialization, and desire to make $, leads people to study work, search for greater efficiency efficient work means $ 11/09/2019 Catherine M. Burns

What are the possible downsides of very efficient work? 11/09/2019 Catherine M. Burns

The Disadvantages of Human Efficiency People get bored Humans viewed as “machines” Repetitive strain injuries People lose skills, don’t develop skills Personnel are not widely employable, poor future job prospects 11/09/2019 Catherine M. Burns

The Industrial Revolution mechanical expansion brought in a mechanised view of human work human in interaction with "machine" desire to improve human work the same way that technology could be improved 11/09/2019 Catherine M. Burns

Taylorism, Foundation of Ergonomics Frederick Taylor - concept of human optimization, looking for the one best way design for more efficient work start of physical ergonomics human based design 11/09/2019 Catherine M. Burns

The Impact of WWII Development of aircraft that could pull more G’s than people could withstand Development of radar that permitted faster flight in poorer weather conditions, at night Fly by instrument Technology that outpaced human abilities to use it (film Why Planes Crash) 11/09/2019 Catherine M. Burns

The Information Revolution Information and data flow rates that outpace human psychological capabilities Human become supervisors of automation/technology, asked to intervene only in highly unusual circumstances Problem? 11/09/2019 Catherine M. Burns

People working with automated systems End up with a very boring job (monitoring) Until something really hard has to be done Then they have to step in! 11/09/2019 Catherine M. Burns

The Automation Paradox What kind of tasks do you want to automate? Easy tasks Tasks of medium complexity Really hard tasks All tasks 11/09/2019 Catherine M. Burns

Most people say... What kind of tasks do you want to automate? Easy tasks Tasks of medium complexity Really hard tasks All tasks 11/09/2019 Catherine M. Burns

Automation Development If I had to code a solution for a problem, I’m best at coding for: Easy tasks Tasks of medium complexity Really hard tasks All tasks 11/09/2019 Catherine M. Burns

Most people say... If I had to code a solution for a problem, I’m best at coding for: Easy tasks Tasks of medium complexity Really hard tasks All tasks 11/09/2019 Catherine M. Burns

Do you see the problem? Most automation is done for very simple tasks. People can’t implement automation for very hard tasks, because they don’t know how to solve those kinds of problems. 11/09/2019 Catherine M. Burns