Human Factors Cast Episodes

This week on the show, we talk about how our minds distinguish between various social influences and answer some questions from the community about prioritizing for very broken products, feeling overwhelmed in new positions, and we debate the merits of paper prototyping.

This week on the show, we talk about how to unlock creativity in the workplace through the use of Human Factors Psychology and answer some questions from the community about knowing how Human Factors is for you, certificates in HCI being worth the investment, and the best and worst UX/HF applications we’ve experienced this week.

This week on the show, we talk about what the term “mental health” really means and its impact on Human Factors. We also check in with the community about what keeps us excited and motivated  about Human Factors and User Experience, how to store research, and our opinions on sign up vs. sign in.

On this week’s show, we discuss how an app enabled a paralyzed man to walk, and take some questions from the community about the Longterm Unemployment Zone, the differences in experience gained between lab work and internships, and when you might want to consider a coursework graduate degree versus a thesis graduate degree.

This week on the show, we discuss the human factors challenges with remote unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the context of controlling a drone swarm, and talk about the types of projects that would be most impressive to a prospective employer, and our thoughts on whiteboard exercises.

This week on the show, we discuss e-learning in the context of learning from videos at twice the speed, and talk about our happiness in the field of human factors, how we organize user data, and what it means to jump from a junior role to a mid level role.

This week on the show, we talk about living your entire life in the metaverse and answer some questions from the community about the difference between accredited and not accredited graduate programs, the importance of job titles, and what makes a good statement of purpose.

This week on the show, we talk about how virtual conferences are more inclusive and eco friendly and answer some questions from the community about useful electives to take in school to augment your Human Factors journey, how to network when most networking events are happening online now, and our favorite/recommended exercises throughout the Design Process.

This week on the show, we talk about how COVID has changed the study of human behavior and answer questions from the community about taking a part time contracts on top of your full time job, writing interview questions for two different user groups, and discussing what’s up with the anti-academic sentiment in UX.

We did it. We made it through 2021. Huge thank you to all of our listeners (old and new) that make it worth it for us to do the show. Seriously, we could not do this without you! Now let’s recap every single news story we looked at, but didn’t cover on the show. We’re looking at every single Human Factors News story of 2021!

Join us for our first HFES Presidential Town Hall. HFES President Christopher Reid and HFES President-Elect Carolyn Sommerich will join Human Factors Cast host Nick Roome for an hour long podcast discussing latest HF/E industry news and trends.

Addressing climate change, and sustainability efforts requires us to change our beliefs, assumptions, and thinking about the environment, our economies, and our well being. In order to change these, we must be aware of many common oversights when considering sustainable thinking. Most people look for evidence that confirms existing beliefs and tend to reject contradictory information, resulting in confirmation bias. When considering the future, it's easy to have misplaced confidence that the future will be similar to the past, which will make it difficult to identify mistakes and alter behavior when conditions change. Humans have a tendency to have wishful thinking, and believe that more favorable outcomes are more likely to happen than undesirable ones. Many choose to associate only with people who share their views, which often results in belief polarization, sometimes even to the effect of denying the existance of climate change. By directly addressing our biases and oversights whe…

This week on the show, we talk about how scientists are building trust in human-robot relationships through performative music and dance and answer some questions from the community about the ethics of working for companies that encourage detrimental behaviors and how to improve morale in companies and teams.

Many plastics are used for single-use disposable applications, such as packaging, agricultural films and disposable consumer items, and is the main source of waste plastics. Human factors plays a key role when considering the materials and design features of these plastics and can help manufacturers achieve functional yet reusable product designs. However, In many cases, reusable device manufacturers do not consider reprocessing until after the design is complete. One way in which Human Factors can impact these reusable products is through design considerations. The choice of material is crucial for a product to ensure it is reusable, reliable, and durable. Ensuring a device is reusable includes avoiding design decisions that create inaccessible areas or excessive wear by the user especially when considering devices that need to be cleaned and sterilized (like in the medical field). Ease of disassembly must also be considered when designing for reuse as users will be discouraged from …

This week on the show, we talk about how Mars Mission astronauts are worrying scientists by increasing their autonomy in remote isolation and answer some questions from the community about mustering up motivation to work on your tasking, how to negotiate salary through counter offers, and how to deal with difficult clients who don’t know what they want.

Ensuring trash and recycling makes it into proper receptacles is important because it prevents pollution, reduces the need to harvest new raw materials, and is critical for reducing runoff of materials into the ocean

This week on the show, we talk about how Artificial Intelligence in vehicles will be able to adapt to our needs and answer some questions from the community about working at a company that doesn't use particular tools, how to approach a situation if you do the work of a Human Factors or UX person, but don’t have the job title, and how to create a portfolio with projects that don’t have “real users”.

..and now for another Human Factors Minute! Oil …

Safety is a large concern in waste collection as it has a higher than average fatal injury rate when compared to industry.

Recorded live on November 18th, 2021, hosted by Nick Roome, &  Barry Kirby.

The Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human F…

Recorded live on November 11th, 2021, hosted by Nick Roome, &  Barry Kirby.

...and now for another Human Factors Minute! Hum…

Recorded on November 8th, 2021, hosted by Nick Roome.