IUW 2010 Event Program

11th Annual Human Factors Engineering Inter-University Workshop

November 13th, 2010. University of Waterloo

Held by the UW HFES Student Chapter

IUW 2010

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The Inter-University Workshop

The 11th Annual Human Factors Inter‐University Workshop is a

student workshop organized between the University of Waterloo,

the University of Toronto, and the State University of New York.

The purpose for this workshop is to allow graduate students to

present their research and ideas related to human factors

engineering. It is a chance for graduate students to discuss their

work with their peers and industry in a relatively informal

environment to encourage the exchange of ideas and contacts. It is

open to any university student who is interested in discussing

human factors research, and industry members interested in

sharing their experiences and developing relationships with

technology researchers. In previous years, the IUW has seen

participants from Trent, Guelph, Rochester, York, Ryerson,

Michigan, and Montreal.

This will be a day‐long workshop event consisting of a keynote

speaker, student speakers, a poster session, industry panel

discussion, and networking and social opportunities. Students will

be able to explore other relevant research that is happening within

their own university, within neighboring universities, and within

the industry, thus creating better opportunities for collaboration.

Industry members will be also be able to connect with researchers

and labs to seek opportunities for industry‐university collaboration.

SCHEDULE Event Emcee: Plinio Morita, University of Waterloo

Time Name Title8:45 – 9:00 Maryam Ashoori Introductory Remarks from the UW Student Chapter 9:00 – 9:30 Keynote:

Dr. Karen Collins Using games as a method in HCI research

9:30 – 9:45 Annie Cho Key Structural Features in Sectors and Training Implication of Variations in Airspace Structure

9:50 – 10:05 Steven Fischer The Three-Dimensional Hand Force Prediction Model (3DHFPM): A method for predicting maximal and sub-maximal hand force exposure thresholds in the workplace

10:10 – 10:25 Patrick Stahl A Human Factors Perspective on Open Pit Haul Truck Traffic 10:30 – 10:40 Kevin Kan Designing for Trust in an Automated Decision Aid using the

Abstraction-Decomposition Space Break

11:00 – 11:15 Winnie Chen Why half a second? An empirical approach to glance time in visual occlusion

11:20 – 11:35 Behzad Aghaei Supporting design meetings: Applying ubiquitous computing concepts to the design of a collaborative system

11:40 – 11:55 Wayne Giang Use of Temporal Synchrony as a Method for Showing Crossmodal Data Relationships

12:00 – 12:10 Bertina Lee Emotion and Touch in Product Design: examining ethnicity Lunch and Poster Session

13:30 – 13:45 Doug Glussich The Stable Approach Monitor (SAM): Supporting Flightdeck Decision Making

13:50 – 14:05 Piyush Bareria Susceptibility of bus drivers to Acute Low-Back injury while assisting wheel chair users on bus ramps

14:10 – 14:25 Zishu Liu Effects of Distractions on Injury Severity in Police-Involved Crashes

14:30 – 14:40 Xinhui Zhu User discomfort, work posture and muscle activity associated with the use of a touch screen in desktop PC setting

Break

15:00 – 15:10 Katie Cerar Impact of Increasing Location-Based Information Availability on Command Decision Making in a Mobile Command Centre

15:15 – 15:30 Mindy Seto Designing Digital Tabletop Menus for Public Spaces 15:35 – 15:50 Carmen Branje The Horror of Vibrotactile Stimulation? 15:55 – 16:10 Michael Jenkins

Geoff Gross Towards context-aware hard/soft information fusion: Incorporating

situationally qualified human observations into a fusion process for intelligence analysis

16:15 – 17:15 Industry Panel

Closing the Gap Between Industry and Academia: Gerard Torenvliet (Esterline|CMC Electronics), Jeff Bos (Research In Motion), Robert Barlow-Busch (Primal), Paul Lipton (Agfa HealthCare), Stacey Scott (Human Factors Group University of Waterloo). Chaired by Adam Euerby (Human Factors Group University of Waterloo)

17:15 – 17:30 Closing Remarks and Awards 17:45 – 21:00 Dinner Social and Networking Event

(9:00a) KEYNOTE SPEAKER: KAREN COLINS Using games as a method in HCI research

Karen Collins is Canada Research Chair in Interactive Audio in the Canadian Centre of

Arts and Technology, where she is developing

software for interactive audio applications. She

has recently published two books, Game Sound: An Introduction to the History, Theory and

Practice of Video Game Music and Sound

Design (MIT Press) and From Pac-Man to Pop Music: Interactive Audio

in Games and New Media (Ashgate). She teaches game design and sound for the Digital Arts Communication Program.

With a research focus on the role of music and sound in science fiction cinema, Collins succeeded in expanding existing models and developing

them so that they would better account for and accommodate the

additional layers of meaning and connotation generated by mixing visual

and auditory cues. In her post-doctoral studies at Carleton University, Collins took the next step by moving from linear cinema to interactive

media. As Canada Research Chair in Communication and Technology,

Collins will continue this research, further refining her models to account

for the impact of sound in media environments where audiences play an active role in co-creating the audio-visual experience.

Collins’ research couldn’t come at a better time. As well as playing a

central role in the multi-billion dollar video games industry—which has

been surprisingly slow in incorporating research’s latest findings on

sound-- interactive audio is increasingly being adopted in a wide range of other applications, including computers, cars, mobile phones, web sites,

theme parks, museum exhibits, education centres, and shopping

checkout systems.

(9:30a) Key Structural Features in Sectors and Training Implication of

Variations in Airspace Structure Annie Cho, Systems Design Engineering Department, University of Waterloo, [email protected]

Generic airspace, or air traffic control sectors with similar operational characteristics, is being evaluated as a

means of increasing staffing flexibility and reducing training times in Next Generation (NextGen) ATC

operational concepts. In an ideal generic airspace class, all airspaces would be related sharing similar

training, cognitive complexity, and all other factors, meaning any controller could control any airspace within

a certain generic airspace. Cognitive similarities in existing airspaces are being identified, then further being

broken down into “generic sets” which dictate categories of airspaces. In attempt to identify other airspaces

that a controller can easily adapt to with minimal additional training, the underlying principles which dictate a

controller’s information processing model and how we can assess these principles have been investigated.

In attempt to identify potential generic airspaces, first, key common patterns of organization in aircraft

behavior have been identified. With these features, two approaches to classifying current air traffic control

sectors are presented, a holistic classification approach and a decomopositional classification approach.

Techniques for analyzing air traffic radar data in order to characterize the basic building blocks will be

presented. The results for both approaches will be used to identify common groupings of sectors that

provide near-term potential as classes of generic sectors.

(9:50a) The Three-Dimensional Hand Force Prediction Model (3DHFPM): A

method for predicting maximal and sub-maximal hand force exposure

thresholds in the workplace Steven Fischer, Kinesiology, University of Waterloo, [email protected]

Accurate estimation of occupational performance capacity facilitates better proactive job design, or reactive

redesign, by informing appropriate changes to job demands. If a work station is not designed with the

workers’ occupational capacity in mind, the work situation may impose forces on workers that can ultimately

lead to the initiation or exacerbation of MSDs. The 3DHFPM was developed as a biomechanically based

approach to predict a workers hand force capacity for both maximum one time exertions, and for more

repetitive sub-maximal hand force exertions. The main function of the 3DHFPM is to identify the

biomechanical factor most likely limiting hand force capacity (whole-body balance, shoe-floor friction,

individual joint strength, etc.), then to determine the maximum hand force capacity possible given that

limiting constraint. Stochasticity was included, to provide population scalability, by randomly selecting

constraint thresholds from a normal distribution of probable thresholds and predicting the corresponding

hand force that would result. Monte Carlo simulation was used realize the likely distribution in maximum

hand force. Sub-maximal hand force capacity was incorporated using a psychophysical approach. The

psychophysical paradigm remains one of the most common methods for setting threshold hand force limits

for repetitive sub-maximal work. Within this paradigm a worker exerts as much force as they feel is

acceptable to them, without causing them any undue pain or discomfort. The 3DHFPM additionally predicts

psychophysically acceptable (or sub-maximal capacity) hand force limits using a novel scaling approach

based on the predicted maximum force capacity and the biomechanical factor limiting hand force capacity.

(10:10a) A Human Factors Perspective on Open Pit Haul Truck Traffic Patrick Stahl, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, [email protected]

While many traffic environments have been extensively researched, open pit mine traffic, and specifically the

safe and efficient operation of haul trucks, seems to have been overlooked. This talk will present findings

from an observational field trip made in July 2010 to two open pit gold mines in Nevada, undertaken as part

of the "Mine Traffic Optimization Project", a research collaboration between the University of Toronto,

Queen’s University and Barrick Gold Corporation, to enhance the safety and efficiency of haul truck traffic in

open pit mines. Looking at the problem from a human factors standpoint, the speaker will focus on the

perspective of the haul truck operator. Qualitative findings about the operator’s work environment,

particularly the haul truck cabin, will be presented, and conclusions regarding the human factors challenges

of the work will be drawn. Two main categories were identified to characterize the tasks carried out by the

drivers: Vehicle Control refers to the piloting of the haul truck and encompasses the motoric actions and

perceptual attention required to successfully navigate the vehicle, while Communication & Information

Management refers to the reception, processing, and communication of information crucial to mine operation

(e.g., dispatching information and radio transmissions). While from a safety perspective, Information

Management may be considered a secondary task, it is of utmost importance the productive mine operation,

and must be carried out in parallel to the handling of the truck. Particularly, the dispatching display, as the

crucial interface for Information Management, will be analysed from a human factors perspective. A

discussion of possible future directions and foci of research will close the presentation.

(10:30a) Designing for Trust in an Automated Decision Aid using the

Abstraction-Decomposition Space Kevin Kan, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, [email protected]

The Intelligent Drinking Water Monitoring System (IDWMS) is an automated decision aid being developed to

support water distribution networks with monitoring water quality, and with detecting and identifying

contamination events. As with any introduction of automation to a work domain, there is a need to study

human-automation interaction in order to prevent automation surprises when the automation behaves or

fails unexpectedly. To this end, one design goal is to support workers with appropriately trusting automation,

which can be achieved with a display that presents workers with the necessary information about the

automation in an effective format. Literature in automation trust has identified dimensions of automation

information, but specific information requirements are required to inform design. Modelling the IDWMS with

the abstraction-decomposition space (ADS) is proposed as a means to inform the design of a display that

supports appropriate aid trust. Since t he ADS was originally intended for modelling work domains, the

theoretical foundations of the ADS are discussed with respect to their translation to modelling an automated

decision aid that lacks control agency. The decision aid ADS remains a psychologically relevant

representation of goal-relevant constraints, and is also able to identify information requirements that

correspond with the automation information dimensions in the trust literature. As a result, the ADS appears

to support learning about the aid, and to support appropriate calibration and specificity of trust. Finally, the

application of these ideas to designing an interface for the IDWMS is discussed.

(11:00a) Why half a second? An empirical approach to glance time in visual

occlusion Winnie Chen, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto,

[email protected]

The last few decades have seen increased complexity in our traffic environment both outside and inside the

vehicle, as the urban population grows and new in-vehicle systems continue being introduced. To design

better, safer traffic environments and automobile systems, it is important to establish a reliable means of

understanding and assessing driver behaviour with regard to processing of driving-related information. One

technique that has stirred considerable interest is the use of visual occlusion. Visual occlusion is based on

the idea that during complex information processing tasks such as driving, people do not allocate all of their

attention all the time to the task. By temporarily blocking the driver’s view during an experimental task, and

allowing them only controlled glimpses of the roadway, researchers can analyse the driver’s sampling

strategies in various driving situations. To study the occlusion technique systematically, we start with an

investigation of a basic parameter in the occlusion paradigm that lacks an empirical basis in research. This

parameter is how long the occlusion device remains open after each viewing request, otherwise known as

the “glance time” in an occlusion experiment.

(11:20a) Supporting design meetings: Applying ubiquitous computing concepts

to the design of a collaborative system Behzad Aghaei, Systems Design Engineering Department, University of Waterloo,

[email protected]

As more elements of ubiquitous computing appear in commercial computing products (i.e. smartphones),

their applications revolve around single users with emphasis on user interfaces and human computer

interaction. Recent research has studied the application of concepts from ubiquitous computing to a

collaborative workplace, however some current studies in this field revolve around future hardware

capabilities that are not sufficiently available in today's workplaces (i.e. tabletop computers), and some

others stop short of a practical design proposal. This paper first studies the results of on-going field tests in

real-world collaborative design sessions. It then identifies medium-related breakdowns in collaboration (i.e.

due to grounding), and attempts to address them by proposing a design that applies concepts from

ubiquitous computing and HCI research. The proposed design is a multi-platform software application,

spanning across a variety of available present-day computing devices, which aims to minimize collaborative

effort among members of a design group through a ubiquitous networking of their devices and information

(i.e. through cloud computing), intuitive support of deictic referencing, and gesturing. The paper presents a

high-level design proposal through interface mock-ups, story-boarding, and a system-level view of the

software. Future work includes prototype development and conduction of field experiments to determine if

existing breakdowns in collaboration can be adequately addressed by the design, and whether its

application introduces breakdowns of its own.

(11:40a) Use of Temporal Synchrony as a Method for Showing Crossmodal

Data Relationships Wayne Giang, Systems Design Engineering Department, University of Waterloo,

[email protected]

In large complex systems, such as nuclear power plants, operators are often overloaded by the large

amount of information that they must perceive, understand, and act upon. Traditionally, this information has

been presented visually, with the occasional use of auditory alarms. Research has shown that operators are

often unable to cope with the information demands placed upon both their perceptual and cognitive

resources. Recently, interface designers have begun to make use of non-visual modalities, such as audition

and touch, as a method for supplementing the over-used visual channel. These two tactile channels provide

their own unique benefits that can assist an operator with information perception. Some of these benefits

include the ability to be perceived even when attention is directed elsewhere, and more accurate

representation of temporal information. There are many similarities between auditory and tactile information

presentation, and past researchers have taken advantage of the similarities in the form of cross-modal

training. Participants were able to recognize auditory patterns after being trained using a tactile pattern, and

vice-versa. This showed that some characteristics of the auditory and tactile channel are amodal, and can

be recognized across different modalities. This current work examines how the amodal characteristic of

temporal synchrony can be used as a method for grouping information in the tactile and auditory modalities.

These perceptual groupings, when used with the ecological interface design methodology can be used as a

method for organizing the presentation of information, which reduces the complexity of large complex

systems.

(12:00a) Emotion and Touch in Product Design: Examining Ethnicity Bertina Lee, Systems Design Engineering Department, University of Waterloo,

[email protected]

Pleasing product experience is an important component of product success. However, the process of

engineering the pleasurable experience is currently more of an art than a science, as predicting emotional

response to something seems very dependent on fashions of the time. The objective of this research is to

create some theoretical basis for pleasure-based decisions in design when those decisions relate

specifically to the experience of touch for any given product. We have decided to focus on investigating

touch because its experience is more visceral and more likely to be generalizable. Several factors relating to

touch have been investigated for their impact on emotional response. Preliminary results show that ethnicity

(Asian vs. Caucasian) may impact emotional response to texture in unexpected ways.

(12:15—1:30) LUNCH AND POSTER SESSION

Musculoskeletal symptoms among mobile hand-held device users and their

relationship to device use: A preliminary study in a Canadian university

population Sophia Berolo, Kinesiology, University of Waterloo, [email protected] The objectives of this study were, in a population of university students, staff, and faculty, to: 1) determine

the distribution of seven measures of mobile device use; 2) determine the distribution of musculoskeletal

symptoms of the upper extremity and neck; and 3) assess the relationship between measures of mobile

device use and musculoskeletal symptoms. An internet-based questionnaire was used to collect measures

of daily mobile device use and symptoms of pain among 140 students, faculty and staff at a Canadian

university. A dichotomous exposure variable (low/high) was created for each of six measures of mobile

device use and for total use. Pain data were dichotomized as any/none. By controlling for covariates,

multivariable logistic regression was used to examine the relationship between seven exposure variables

and 24 outcomes. 137 of 140 participants (98%) reported using a mobile device. The mean time these

individuals spent using their device(s) on a typical day was 4.65 hrs (SD 5.67). Most participants (84%)

reported pain of any severity in at least one body part. Right hand pain was most common at the base of the

thumb. Significant associations found included time spent browsing and pain in the base of the right thumb

(odds ratio 2.21, 95% confidence interval 1.02-4.78), and total time spent using a mobile device and pain in

the right shoulder (2.55, 1.25-5.21), left shoulder (2.06, 1.00-4.24), and neck (2.72, 1.24-5.96).

The Lunch and Poster Session will be held in the Fishbowl in the DC Building

POSTER ABSTRACTS

Supporting design meetings: Applying ubiquitous computing concepts to the

design of a collaborative system Behzad Aghaei, Systems Design Engineering, University of Waterloo, [email protected] As more elements of ubiquitous computing appear in commercial computing products (i.e. smartphones),

their applications revolve around single users with emphasis on user interfaces and human computer

interaction. Recent research has studied the application of concepts from ubiquitous computing to a

collaborative workplace, however some current studies in this field revolve around future hardware

capabilities that are not sufficiently available in today's workplaces (i.e. tabletop computers), and some

others stop short of a practical design proposal. This paper first studies the results of on-going field tests in

real-world collaborative design sessions. It then identifies medium-related breakdowns in collaboration (i.e.

due to grounding), and attempts to address them by proposing a design that applies concepts from

ubiquitous computing and HCI research. The proposed design is a multi-platform software application,

spanning across a variety of available present-day computing devices, which aims to minimize collaborative

effort among members of a design group through a ubiquitous networking of their devices and information

(i.e. through cloud computing), intuitive support of deictic referencing, and gesturing. The paper presents a

high-level design proposal through interface mock-ups, story-boarding, and a system-level view of the

software. Future work includes prototype development and conduction of field experiments to determine if

existing breakdowns in collaboration can be adequately addressed by the design, and whether its

application introduces breakdowns of its own.

Implications of Automation for Situation Awareness in a Process Control

Microworld Adam Smith, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, [email protected]

Due to the widespread implementation of automated systems, process control as a work domain has

evolved such that the operator’s role is drastically different than in the past. The modern plant operator

engages in supervisory control of systems with varying degrees of automation, characterized along two

dimensions: level of autonomy and stage of information processing. Automation is known to contribute to the

out-of-the-loop (OOTL) performance problem, particularly for operators engaged in supervisory roles. The

conventional wisdom is that higher levels and/or stages of automation correlate with performance

decrements attributable to OOTL operators. This is sometimes referred to as the lumberjack effect “the

higher they are, the further the fall”, and is held to be universally applicable. However, recent research

suggests that OOTL performance issues are highly dependent on other factors such as interface design,

task design and operator state. This study therefore uses the AutoCAMS microworld to investigate the

relationship between degree of automation and OOTL performance, framed in the context of situation

awareness (SA). It has been suggested that different theories and measures of SA are more or less

sensitive to domain characteristics such as complexity, opacity, and so on. The second phase of this work

thus explores the robustness of the SA construct across different methodologies and domains.

(1:30p—4:10p) Presentations Resume

(1:30p) The Stable Approach Monitor (SAM): Supporting Flightdeck Decision

Making Doug Glussich, Systems Design Engineering Department, University of Waterloo,

[email protected]

One of the misconceptions about aviation is that technology plays a primary role in the decision making

process of aircraft operations. This is not necessarily the case. The human has a vital contribution to the

process. Unfortunately, the communication between these two sources can become degraded resulting in

potential aircraft exposure to the threat of an accident. Unfortunately, the communication between these two

sources can become degraded resulting in potential aircraft exposure to the threat of an accident. One

example of this “interoperability breakdown” is the case of Air France flight 358. Air France 358 was an

Airbus A340-300 on a flight from Paris to Toronto on August 2nd 2005. Its approach to landing, during a

thunderstorm over the Toronto airport, resulted in the aircraft approach becoming “unstable”, the aircraft

touched down with excessive speed, overran the runway, and crashed into the valley beyond the runway

environment. This presentation is the continuation into the examination of aircraft unstable approaches and

a potential solution to this undesirable condition. Initial data gathering was from professional pilots

recounting stories of their experiences with approaches that can be classified as unstable. This was

retrieved via questionnaires and focus groups. From this data collection and correlation, common latent

factors were identified. These latent factors then contributed to the initial design and development of a low

fidelity prototype of a stable approach monitor (SAM).

(1:50p) Susceptibility of bus drivers to Acute Low-Back injury while assisting

wheel chair users on bus ramps Piyush Bareria, Industrial and Systems Engineering, University at Buffalo, [email protected]

Combination of exposure to vehicular vibration, lifting, pulling, and pushing has been suggested as important

risk factors for Low Back Pain. The primary objective to the study is to provide a model-based evidence to

support, or refute, the suggestion that assisting manual-wheelchair users on bus ramp make bus drivers

susceptible to acute low back injury. The key independent variables are ramp slope and weight of the

occupied wheelchair. The experiment involved video recording and active-LED based motion capture of bus-

drivers as they assist wheelchair user embark a bus mock-up using a ramp. The data was analyzed for

postural information which would then be used in University of Michigan’s 3D Static Strength Prediction

Program (UM3DSSPP) to estimate L5-S1 disc compression and shear force values across a range of

occupied wheelchair weights, subject anthropometry and ramp slopes. The outcome of the study suggests

that while assisting a wheelchair user, a bus driver should pull while boarding, push while disembarking and

never attempt to lift the wheelchair at any time. Additionally, caution must be taken while assisting if the total

mass of the occupied wheelchair seems more than moderately heavy since it can lead to unexpected

loading of the low back. The regulation code could be modified to accommodate refusal to assist wheelchair

users if doing so is seen as injury risk to the driver.

(1:30p—4:10p) Presentations Resume

(2:10p) Effects of Distractions on Injury Severity in Police-Involved Crashes Zishu Liu, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto

[email protected]

A patrolling police officer is in a more technologically complex driving environment than a passenger-vehicle

driver, and thus is subject to more distraction sources. Although technology-based distractions appear to be

a concern for police drivers, the effects of distractions on police-involved crashes have not been empirically

studied before. In this study, injury severity in police-involved crashes under varying types of distractions is

estimated by an ordered logit model. The model was built on a national crash database: U.S General

Estimates System (2002 to 2008). The results of the model reveal that, given that a crash has occurred,

police involvement increases the odds of resulting in more-severe injuries. In general, in-vehicle distractions

are associated with a higher likelihood of severe injuries. This effect is more profound for police involved

crashes, as the odds of severe injuries increase by almost two fold. Cognitive distractions were also found to

increase injury severity when the distracted driver was a police, whereas the opposite effect was observed

for civilian crashes.

(2:30p) User discomfort, work posture and muscle activity associated with the

use of a touch screen in desktop PC setting Xinhui Zhu, Industrial and Systems Engineering, SUNY at BUFFALO, [email protected]

An experimental study was conducted to evaluate physical risk factors associated with the use of touch

screen display in desktop PC setting. Subjective rating of visual/body discomfort, shoulder and neck muscle

activity, and user-preferred positions of the workstation were quantified from 24 participants during a

standardized computer use task with a keyboard and a mouse (no touch), with a keyboard and touch control

(mixed use) and with touch typing and touch control (touch only) interfaces. The use of touch screen was

associated with the significant increase of subjective discomfort on shoulder, neck and fingers, mean activity

of shoulder and neck muscles, and percentage of task duration that arms were floating. Participants placed

the display closer and lower when using touch interfaces. Touch screen PC users would need more frequent

breaks and proper armrests to reduce physical risks that are greater than typical desktop PC workstations

can produce.

(3:15p) Designing Digital Tabletop Menus for Public Spaces Mindy Seto, , Systems Design Engineering, University of Waterloo, [email protected]

Much research has gone into the design of efficient menu systems, however with the relatively recent

movement towards natural user interfaces and gestural interaction, the design of menu systems is changing.

Digital tabletops are large, horizontal, interactive surfaces that rely on natural user interfaces. They present

particular challenges to menu design as digital tabletops are typically collaborative, use touch interaction,

and are still a new technology to many. In public spaces, the majority of digital tabletop users are novices

and the focus of menu design needs to shift from efficiency to usability. This project focuses on designing

usable digital tabletop menus for public spaces. Using a user-centered design approach, various menu

designs are being proposed, prototyped and tested with attention to how visual affordances can support

discoverability. As an ongoing project, preliminary work and the design methodology of the project will be

presented.

(3:00p) Impact of Increasing Location-Based Information Availability on

Command Decision Making in a Mobile Command Centre Katie Cerar, Systems Design Engineering Department, University of Waterloo, [email protected]

As command and control operations become better supported through large displays and more accurate

information, there may be impacts in the decision making and command processes they are intended to

improve. Recent reports from US military studies suggest that the unprecedented level of access to detailed

information to command staff may be leading to an increase in micromanagement practices. This project

intends to study the command decision making tasks taking place in a mobile emergency response

command trailer to see if there are noticeable effects when a large display showing real-time location-based

information of field personnel and vehicle assets is installed. The project is in its early stages, having

recorded ethnographic observations within the command trailer and started baseline testing. Both the early

results and planned research methods will be outlined. The impact of the study will be to show if and how

the presentation of new and more easily accessible location-based information changes the way decision

making occurs within a command station.

(3:55p) Towards context-aware hard/soft information fusion: Incorporating

situationally qualified human observations into a fusion process for intelligence

analysis Michael Jenkins and Geoff Gross, SUNY, University at Buffalo, Industrial and Systems Engineering,

[email protected], [email protected]

This paper describes a methodology for developing error characteristics for categories of situationally

qualified human observations. The goal of developing these error characteristics is to integrate them within

a hard+soft information fusion process for counterinsurgency intelligence analysis. Incorporation of human

observations into the information fusion process is important as it extends the ability of the fusion algorithms

to associate and merge disparate pieces of information by allowing for information collected from soft data

sources (e.g., human observations) to be included in the process along with information collected from hard

data sources (e.g., radar sensors). Integration is accomplished through the employment of fuzzy

membership functions (based on the situationally qualified error characteristics) used in similarity scoring, for

data association and situation assessment. Error characteristics represent the key to this process by al!

lowing for accurate uncertainty alignment based on the known and/or unknown state of context dependent

variables that have been empirically determined to influence the accuracy of human estimation for a given

category- in this case human age estimation.

(3:35p) The Horror of Vibrotactile Stimulation? Carmen Branje, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto

[email protected]

Closed and open captions have a limited ability to convey the characteristics of non-dialog audio artifacts

such as sound effects, music or speech prosody. The Emoti-Chair is a high resolution vibrotactile display

that was designed to provide the deaf and hard of hearing with access to said artifacts. Through the

measuring of skin conductance levels, it would appear that Emoti-Chair users are able to perceive at least

some of the emotional content of the film music through the vibrations presented by the Emoti-Chair to the

skin of participants. While seated in The Emoti-Chair participants observed four video clips extracted from

popular horror films in one of five audio conditions including, “silence”, “envelope following white noise

presented as vibration to the skin”, “vibrations presented to the skin”, “audio only presented to the ears” and

“vibrations presented to the skin and audio presented to ears”. The film soundtrack was directly presented

to the participants as vibrations applied to the skin by The Emoti-Chair. It was found that the change in

participant skin conductance level that occurred during the viewing of the horror film clips increased steadily

as the audio condition was varied from” silence” through to “vibration presented to the skin and audio

presented to ears”. This suggests that some of the emotional aspects of the film soundtrack were conveyed

through vibrations presented to the skin of participant by The Emoti-Chair.

(4:15p—5:15p) INDUSTRY PANEL: Closing the Gap

Between Academia and Industry

Moderated by: Adam Euerby, Candidate for M.ASc Systems Design Engineering, University of Waterloo In this event, Adam will host a conversation with human factors specialists both in industry and academia. During the session we will peer into the lived experience of doing human factors work in hopes to give students an understanding of how to make their work more impactful in industry. We will also explore how industry can draw new human factors talent from academia. After a day full of research presentations, we taking the focus off of what human factors work is being done, and putting the spotlight on how human factors work is being done. Take the opportunity to meet our panelists and ask your burning human factors questions. After a day of presentations, the panel will be the perfect lead up to our networking and social event at the University of Waterloo Laurel Room at South Campus Hall.

Paul Lipton is Functional Product Manager at AGFA. He sees that in the healthcare IT

industry, Human Factors Research plays an important role as we expand health information

access to beyond the hospital walls. Transforming highly complex and medically specific data

into universally accessible information will help define the future of improved patient

care. Agfa HealthCare is leading the way by defining interfaces for the discovery and access of

patient information by healthcare provider and patients.

Stacey Scott is a Collaboration Technologies researcher in the Human Systems

Engineering research group in the University of Waterloo's Systems Design Engineer-

ing department. Her background is in human-computer interaction, computer-supported col-

laboration, and computer science. Her research focuses on developing technology that en-

hances human-human interaction in both face-to-face and distributed environments.

Jeff Bos is a User Experience Researcher at RIM focused on mobile device hardware

and software usability. Jeff has 10 years experience conducting research in the human factors

field. He has conducted applied research on hardware ergonomics, cognitive workload model-

ing, and input device performance.

Robert Barlow-Busch is Director of Product Design at Primal in Waterloo. In this

role, Robert helps to imagine, conceptualize, and design Web applications for new markets,

leveraging Primal’s proprietary semantic technology. Robert co-founded UX Waterloo, which

has brought together over 300 students and professionals who share a passion for product

design and usability. Robert’s thoughts about leveraging user research to drive product design

have been published in books such as User-Centered Design Stories and The Persona Lifecy-

cle. You’ll find him online as @becubed on Twitter.

Gerard Torenvliet is a Sr. Human Factors Engineer with Esterline|CMC Electronics,

where he divides his time between product development for his company's line of aerospace

products, and HF-related defence research for external clients. Gerard's current research inter-

ests include the application of social computing in military contexts, and the development of

procedures to help pilots better understand and adapt to flight deck automation.

PANELISTS:

(5:45p—9:00p) DINNER SOCIAL AND NETWORKING EVENT

Please join us for the dinner social and

networking event. For those who have

RSVPed, a dinner buffet will be served at

the South Campus Hall Building (SCH).

If you are unsure of where to go, please ask

one of the event organizers or see the map

on the next page.

Dinner Social and Networking

Event (SCH)

Presentations, lunch, posters and industry panel (DC)

EVENT MAP

Event Organized by University of Waterloo HFES Student Chapter

[email protected]

http://hfes.uwaterloo.ca 1-519-888-4567 x34904

Plinio Morita Candidate for PhD,

Systems Design Engineering, University of Waterloo

[email protected]

Maryam Ashoori Candidate for PhD,


[email protected]

Wayne Giang Candidate for MASc,


[email protected]

Adam Euerby Candidate for MASc,


[email protected]

Sepinood Gashti Candidate for MASc,


[email protected]

Hojoon Lee Candidate for BASc,


[email protected]

IUW 2010 Event Program

Documents

Transcript of IUW 2010 Event Program