[Sigia-l] Can UI designers kill people?

[Jonas Söderström]

>There's a huge amount of work done on these issues and has been for many
>years.  In light of that, the press release cited makes a pretty
>simplistic claim: "gosh, flying an airplane can be pretty darn
>complicated sometimes...we should design the cockpit better".

The most interesting part with this study is not the "kill" factor.
That deadly accidents can occur from poor design in high-risk environments is well known, of course.

I say this is the passage with broad implications.

"At the same time, onboard computers started to manage a number of functions and modes aiming at increasing safety and reducing workload.
Unfortunately, the workload is still very high and the complexity of the cockpit has dramatically increased."

This is the insight that is missing in so many (other) systems; certainly not just in airplanes.
New, promised "simpler" systems that turns out to be more complicated than previous ones...

/jonas

-- 

Jonas Söderström
senior information architect
Sweden

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For the lesson lies in learning and by teaching I'll be taught
for there's nothing hidden anywhere, it's all there to be sought
					- Keith Reid
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