Online Educational Materials on Specific Topics
Human factors/ergonomics (HF/E) is a multidisciplinary field that comprises aspects of several areas of practice and research. The scope of disciplines involved is extensive, including industrial engineering, cognitive psychology, anatomy and physiology, and statistics, to name just a few.
In the practice of HF/E, the applications are just as diverse, and human factors specialists frequently need new resources and knowledge to add to their tool belt. There are ample resources for this additional information via textbooks, journals, conferences, short courses, and the Internet.
The following list was put together as a brief compilation of some of the readily accessible HF/E materials available online, categorized by topic. The topics were selected because they represent areas that HFES members identified as a need in the Education and Training Committee’s 2003 membership needs survey.
Note that there are many more resources online, and this is by no means a comprehensive list! General use of online search engines can readily reveal additional specific topics with detailed information based on practitioners’ immediate needs. This list does not include offerings from commercial entities.
- Does the material deal with a specific field within HF/E?
- Is the information up-to-date for the topics covered?
- Is the source credible, and/or does the information appear to be accurate?
- Are the authors of the material affiliated with an accredited university or academic institution?
- Do the authors have industry experience in the area they are writing about?
- Do the authors have a related educational background?
- Does the material provide actionable items and/or other suggested reading/training?
- Only Web site links to these continuing education opportunities are provided. It is the user's responsibility to determine if access is free or requires payment of a fee.
- HFES does not guarantee accuracy. It is the user's responsibility to determine the accuracy of the tool and its results.
Note: HFES has attempted to indicate the required level of expertise (e.g., novice vs. expert) for the material offered.
HF/E Standards, Guidelines, and Principles
The HFES Web site has several links to standards.
The Department of Defense Human Factors Engineering technical advisory group has published a collection of handbooks, guides, and standards.
Usability
Wikipedia also has a good page on usability, including links to other resources, associations, and references.
Another good resource is the STC site on usability, which includes a wide range of related topics.
Human-Computer Interaction
Multiple sites exist; here are a few:
Wikipedia
SIGCHI
Linköpings Universitet
Cognition
Elsevier Journals
Wikipedia
Sensation and Perception
Indiana University East
Hanover College Psychology Department
University of Western Ontario, Canada
Display and User Interface Design
Wikipedia (Interface design)
Wikipedia
Environmental Design and Evaluation
The HFES Environmental Design Technical Group has a collection of resources at its primary Web portal.
Workplace Design
NIOSH has many documents pertinent to workplace design on their ergonomics page.
HFES 100
Task Analysis
Several sites have good information on this, including:
Wikipedia
Usability.gov
Federal Aviation Administration
Survey Construction
The Laboratory for Automation Psychology and Decision Processes at the University of Maryland has a project called the Online Survey Design Guide, which provides a good resource for survey construction and analysis.
Statistical Methods
Wikipedia has an excellent page on statistics, with information links to many additional resources by topic category.
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