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Kim J. Vicente

Kim J. Vicente, Ph.D., P.Eng.

Biography | Books | Curriculum Vitae (CV; PDF format)

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The Human Factor: Revolutionizing the Way People Live With Technology (2003)

Description

What we really need, argues Kim Vicente, is technology that works for people. Technological innovation is progressing so quickly that we have fallen behind in our ability to manage it. Our world is filled with objects that invite human error —from VCRs and stoves to hospitals, airplane cockpits and nuclear power plant control rooms. Problems —some potentially catastrophic —continuously arise when designs are developed without human nature in mind. Our reaction to this dilemma has been to create more sophisticated technology —perpetuating a vicious cycle as we struggle to keep up.

In this populist, groundbreaking work, Vicente makes vividly clear how we can bridge the widening chasm between people and technology. He investigates every level of human activity —from simple matters such as our hand-eye coordination to complex human systems such as government regulatory agencies, and why businesses would benefit from making consumer goods easier to use. He shows us why we all have a vital stake in reforming the aviation industry, the health industry, and the way we live day-to-day with technology.

The Human Factor offers solutions that have enormous implications for human life. Accessible, entertaining, anecdotal, it is on a par with such bestsellers as The Psychology of Everyday Things, Design for Success, The Ingenuity Gap, and Sources of Power. It is certain to create much public debate over dinner tables, in governments, industry and corporations large and small.

"We already know how to design technology that works for people. If we could just apply this knowledge much more widely, we could help solve many persistent social problems of global interest and improve the quality of life of everyone on the planet." —From The Human Factor

Awards

The Human Factor has been awarded or has been shortlisted for a number of awards:

Reviews

"[Kim Vicente] calls for a revolution in thinking." —Winnipeg Free Press

"Refreshingly, The Human Factor is not a techonophile's rant. [Vicente] takes a considered look at how we can turn around our sometimes frustrating dealings with machines and bureaucracies and use them instead of them using us. And, even more importantly, how we can make all of this safer. Vicente underlines his premise with extraordinary statistics. [H]e simplifies complex ideas and presents them along with simple diagrams." —Christopher Dewdney (poet, author of The Natural History), The Globe and Mail

"Vicente has a wonderful ability to find the perfect example to illustrate each of [the book's] principles. Each chapter of this amazing book has its own strengths. This is no ordinary book; it is a joy to read, instructuve and provocative. Vicente has been hailed as one of the 25 Canadians under 40 who will reshape Canada. Having read The Human Factor, I find that easy to believe." —The Edmonton Journal

"By turns enchanting and disturbing, Vicente's marvellous book is full of advice on how to make this a more elegant, as well as a safer, world." —Maclean's

"What form of social change could save lives, boost the economy, and increase health and happiness, all without political wrangling or moralistic finger-pointing? The answer: making our technology work better with human minds and bodies. This delightful and important book explains how we can at last reap the fruits of the recent revolution in technology. It should be required reading for all engineers." —Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and author of The Blank Slate and How the Mind Works

"This book may well be a landmark in changing our view of technology, and its place in our world. Kim Vicente is a visionary. He understands the value of using technology to help people, rather than technology for the sake of technology. He places human needs and values first. The world today badly needs such people." —Alan Lightman, author of Einstein's Dreams

"Kim Vicente is an engineer who understands how all our lives are being engineered. You will put down this book with a new awareness of the link between devices and those who use them. And you will have been greatly entertained." —John Polanyi, Nobel Laureate

"This book saves lives. Strong words? Yes, but this is a strong book: engaging, easy to read, but carrying a powerful message. We have far too long neglected the human and social side of technology. When accidents happen, we rush to find blame, to sue, fire, penalize and otherwise punish people when it is the system that is at fault. The result is needless accidents in vehicles, hospitals, manufacturing plants and, worse, no way of stemming the tide, of learning from our actions and making life better, safer, more enjoyable. The Human Factor can indeed revolutionize the way we live with technology. Read this book: it can save lives." —Don Norman, author of The Design of Everyday Things and co-founder of the Nielsen Norman group

"We've all had frustrating experiences with gadgets, devices, and machines that seem to have been designed by idiots. They make our lives more difficult and sometimes even dangerous. The designers weren't really idiots, of course, but they failed because they hadn't taken full account of the physical, psychological, social, and political context in which their designs had to function. Kim Vicente peels away this context like the layers on an onion, and in the process tells the true story of why so many of the technologies critical to our lives fall so short of their potential. He shows us how technologies are far more than mere machines —they are creations of societies as well as scientists and engineers. And he shows us, too, how we all have an urgent responsibility to understand what makes technologies succeed or fail. Moving from toothbrushes to nuclear reactors to the Walkerton water tragedy, The Human Factor is a triumph of investigation, analysis, and marvelous storytelling —a must-read at the dawn of the technology-supercharged 21st century." —Thomas Homer-Dixon, author of The Ingenuity Gap

"The Human Factor shows very convincingly that succesful design involves more than just technical considerations. Kim Vicente, a professional engineer, emphasizes the importance of taking people — with all their foibles — into account. Heeding his call for a more human technology, designers should be able to make anything — from a bathroom fixture to a health care system — not only more user friendly but safer." —Henry Petroski, A. S. Vesic Professor of Civil Engineering, Duke University, and author of Small Things Considered: Why There is No Perfect Design

Resources (from www.bookclubs.ca)

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(Note: The content in the Canadian and American versions of the book is exactly the same.)

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Cognitive Work Analysis: Toward Safe, Productive, and Healthy Computer-Based Work (1999)

Description

This book describes, for the first time in pedagogical form, an approach to computer-based work in complex sociotechnical systems developed over the last 30 years by Jens Rasmussen and his colleagues at Risų National Laboratory in Roskilde, Denmark. This approach is represented by a framework called cognitive work analysis. Its goal is to help designers of complex sociotechnical systems create computer-based information support that helps workers adapt to the unexpected and changing demands of their jobs. In short, cognitive work analysis is about designing for adaptation. The book is divided into four parts. Part I provides a motivation by introducing three themes that tie the book together—safety, productivity, and worker health. The ecological approach that serves as the conceptual basis behind the book is also described. In addition, a glossary of terms is provided. Part II situates the ideas in the book in a broader intellectual context by reviewing alternative approaches to work analysis. The limitations of normative and descriptive approaches are outlined, and the rationale behind the formative approach advocated in this book is explored. Part III describes the concepts that comprise the cognitive work analysis framework in detail. Each concept is illustrated by a case study, and the implications of the framework for design and research are illustrated by example. Part IV unifies the themes of safety, productivity, and health, and shows why the need for the concepts in this book will only increase in the future. In addition, a historical addendum briefly describes the origins of the ideas described in the book.

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