CEL In the NewsBelow you can find a sampling of the media coverage enjoyed by the work of the Cognitive Engineering Laboratory. For more information about these stories, or to arrange an interview with any of the members of the CEL, please contact us. CEL Receives Funding for Energy Conservation & Demand Management ResearchCEL has received funding from the Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) to study energy management at large Ontario industries. Energy managers work to identify electrical cost savings opportunities, develop action plans, and champion conservation project implementations, playing a key role in the development of a sustainable society. Partnership with the Association of Major Power Consumers of Ontario (AMPCO) and AITIA Analytics Inc. will enable the field study to make a comprehensive survey of a wide range of industries. (More...) CEL Awarded Contract for Trust in Combat Identification ResearchCEL has won a contract from Defense Research and Development Canada (DRDC) to develop and test human-machine interfaces to support appropriate trust and reliance on automated combat identification systems. Combat identification systems aid infantry soldiers in deciding whether to engage an individual... (More...) Human Factors Meets SustainabilityCEL is embarking on a new research program to study the application of human factors engineering to the design of sustainability aides and systems for the home and workplace. Our aim is to support sustainable behaviour by creating an effective feedback control system around resource consumption... (More...) The Globe & Mail - 28 January 2006 Genius couldn't compute his own suicidal behaviour - A review of The man who knew too much: Alan Turing and the invention of the computerThe Man Who Knew Too Much is a densely argued biography about a boy genius who very quickly came to know far more than most of us can ever aspire to in a lifetime, and far less than almost any of us ever exhibit on a daily basis.... (More...) The Human Factor: An interview with Professor Kim VicenteIn 1999, TIME Magazine chose him as one of 25 Canadians under the age of 40 who is a "Leader for the 21st Century who will shape Canada's future" and also mentioning that... (More...) Globe & Mail - 5 November 2005 A post-human Brave New World?In his 1932 classic, Brave New World, Aldous Huxley portrayed a future in which humans became adapted, and subordinate, to science and technology. People behaved as they ought to because... (More...) Nurses not reporting faulty devices to Ottawa94.2% unaware of Health Canada data collection. Nurses in Ontario are almost totally unaware of a Health Canada program to collect data on malfunctioning medical devices... (More...) An Interview with Kim VicenteKim Vicente's unassuming air and ready smile belie his brilliance and perspicacity as an international star in "human factors engineering." He flops down enthusiastically into the chair at the lounge of the exclusive Wedgewood Hotel in downtown Vancouver for our "author interview"... (More...) Why Design MattersTwo new books illustrate why good design is crucial to keeping modern technology working safely — and also makes people feel better (More...) Optimize Magazine - March 2004 The Human FactorWhat can CIOs learn from the Fender Stratocaster electric guitar? Quite a lot, says Kim Vicente, author of a new book, The Human Factor: Revolutionizing the Way People Live with Technology (Routledge, 2004). According to Vicente, the Strat is an example of technology designed with... (More...) NOW Toronto - 26 February 2004 Tuning into techWhen people can't figure out how to fix a computer problem or program their VCR, you often hear them sigh, "I'm just not tech-savvy." U of T engineering professor Kim Vicente suggests you look at it another way: it's not that you don't get the technology, it's that the technology doesn't get you. (More...) Polemics and ElegiesBy its very nature, Canadian non-fiction can never offer the thematic unity often found in CanLit. But every year writers pour as much passion as any novelist or poet -- and considerable literary skill -- into topics that matter to them. The best also deserve our consideration. (More...) The Globe and Mail - 29 November 2003 Design with a human faceA few days ago my new toothbrush, one of the latest generations of the Reach-style toothbrush, broke in half as I was brushing my teeth. It's not that I use inordinate force while I brush; the plastic snapped at a weak point. What I found even more irritating was the fact that I had grudgingly bought this "ergonomic" toothbrush after being unable to find a normal, classic, plain toothbrush, the type I've been using for decades... (More...) The Toronto Star - 15 November 2003 Techno dummies need not suffer in silenceYou know how this happens. You're filling out a questionnaire and when you get to the last line you discover that you should have started by writing above the first line, or below the first line, as the case may be, and you did the opposite, so you've screwed the whole thing up. What an idiot you are... (More...) ZeD - CBC Television Program - 23 October 2003 Luddites vs. TechiesLuddites vs techies : Can't we all just get along? Kim Vicente may unite us yet. (More... includes video clip ) The National Post - 18 October 2003 Factoring in why technology goes awry (Review of The Human Factor: Revolutionizing the Way People Live with Technology)In theory, one of the main purposes of technology is to simplify human life. But what happens when people are left out of the design equation? From nuclear disasters to urinal splash back, University of Toronto engineering professor Kim Vicente's The Human Factor explores the ways that technologies can disappoint and even devastate the very people they were designed to help... (More...) Eye Magazine - 16 October 2003 Science for the People (Review of The Human Factor: Revolutionizing the Way People Live with Technology)In the men's washroom at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, there is a picture of a fly in each urinal. When guys urinate, they instinctively aim to drown the fly, and successfully avoid that annoying "splash-back" when urine bounces off the porcelain. Why? The fly image is strategically placed in the perfect spot in the urinal to minimize splashing. (More...) The National Post - 10 October 2003 Gizmo geeks on trialIt is a fundamental misstep of our techno-culture that my cellphone claims to know my "biorhythm" and yet has an alarm clock that is impossible to program. This is no joke. On the screen, under the "special" menu (where else?), clicking on the biorhythm option delivers up a bar graph, five numbers and three letters. Today, I have an overall score of 37,890, the letters PEI, and no idea what it all means. I think it's astrology. (More...) The Edmonton Journal- 9 October 2003 Thousands die because of poorly designed technology, author says: Ill-conceived systems blamed for 'human error'A blinking VCR clock is trivial when compared with at least 5,000 needless deaths in Canadian hospitals every year. But the two problems are linked by the bad fit between technology and those who use it, says the author of a new book on the subject. What most people call "human error" is really the fault of bad design, says University of Toronto engineering professor Kim Vicente, who wrote The Human Factor. (More...) Poor pain pump designs increase patient risk: studyDesigns of patient-controlled pain pumps that do not take into account human interaction with the equipment pose a serious threat to patient safety, U of T researchers say. "We examined a particular type of pain pump and estimated how many deaths are likely to occur as a result of programming errors," says Professor Kim Vicente of U of T's mechanical and industrial engineering department. "The number was astounding." (More...) Pain pump study says patients at death riskPatient-controlled analgesia could carry a mortality risk similar to that of general anesthesia, according to researchers here. They have estimated that errors in programming the most popular model of PCA pump may have killed hundreds of patients over a 12-year period. (More...) Factoring for humansAnesthesiologists have led the way at designing medical devices to reduce human error—but other specialties are following. The airline and nuclear industries have long understood the importance of designing their systems to account for human nature. In comparison, another "safety-critical" field-medicine—has for the most part been slow to catch on. (More...) What you can do to make the system saferThere is not yet a national strategy on patient safety, but there are already mechanisms in place for doctors to report medication errors and problems with medical devices. (More...) Automotive News - 24 March 2003 Technology's worst nightmareKim Vicente has saved lives in hospitals and helped prevent nuclear plant accidents by looking at machine design through the eyes and touch of the people who run the things. But when he sees automobiles with high-tech navigation displays and computerized devices, Vicente shudders at the thought of being on the same road with some of them. (More...) NSERC News Release - 20 March 2003 Finding Ways to Stop Technology from Killing Us: University of Toronto engineer captures prestigious Canadian research prizePreventing medical errors that kill thousands of Canadians every year requires that we change the way we design the interaction between technology and people, says Dr. Kim Vicente, named today as one of two University of Toronto winners of the Steacie Fellowship. (More...) Related: Kim Vicente's biography, according to NSERC. The man behind the machineU of T prof. and cognitive engineer Kim Vicente has dedicated his career to making devices easier to use. He tells us why Palm got it right the first time and why BMW is getting it wrong. (More...) The Globe and Mail - 13 March 2003 A distant mirror on today's turbulent timesWhen I drove down from Toronto last summer to spend nine months as a visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, I had no clue I'd be faced with the situation I'm in today. As a Canadian living in the United States during these turbulent times... (More...) Get your freeze onYou finally make it home after a day you thought you'd never live through. You drop your bags at the door and limply stumble into the kitchen. As you yawn, your eyes survey the countertops, the stove, and then listlessly drift toward the fridge. It's flashing. (More...) The Toronto Star - 13 July 2002 In U of T prof's brave new world, humans come firstLast spring, when Kim Vicente was awarded the University of Toronto's McLean prize for outstanding basic research, the presenters summed up why in one powerful sentence: "How we interact with all of technology in the coming century will be in part dependent on Vicente's ideas." (More...) The Toronto Star - 8 July 2002 The hidden epidemicAs politicians bicker about our health-care crisis, they are virtually ignoring a lethal but controllable threat to Canadians' lives — inadequate patient safety. Funding and accessibility are important, but who would be eager to seek health care if they knew that "the treatment" could likely injure or kill them? (More...) Vicente wins McLean awardAs U of T's Cognitive Engineering Laboratory (CEL) approaches its 10th birthday, founding director Kim Vicente has received a great gift. Last week the 38-year-old professor of mechanical and industrial engineering was the first engineer to be awarded U of T's $100,000 McLean Award, given annually for outstanding basic research. (More...) Beyond technique: To be leaders in the 21st century engineers must be more than technically competentThe engineering profession is experiencing drastic changes. The demands imposed by society are quite different and more stringent than ever. Technology is changing at a dizzying pace, innovations have led to increasing complexity, companies now do business around the world, concern for sustainable development is at a peak and our ability to make sense of devices that are supposed to simplify our lives is falling sorely behind. (More...) Faculty member recognized by TIMEProf. Kim Vicente is one of 25 young Canadians who have already made a mark in their professional endeavours, says TIME Magazine. (More...) |
Copyright © 1992-2007 Cognitive Engineering Laboratory at the University of Toronto
All Rights Reserved