Ergonomics in Design

New Directions for EID

By Carol Stuart Buttle, Editor, Ergonomics in Design

     Ergonomics in Design, now in its 18th year of publication, has been nurtured and sustained by its editors and HFES members to become a rich source of diverse and interesting articles on the applications of our profession. EID began, to quote Daryle Jean Gardner-Bonneau, the first editor of EID, as a "platform upon which we can effectively communicate our problems, solutions, opinions, and ideas - not only among ourselves but, more important, to our clients, our customers, and our colleagues in allied professions." The quarterly has progressed through the years and has become valued by the members of the Society. In the latest HFES publications survey, 80% of respondents regarded EID as very or somewhat useful in their work.

     I am honored to take over the reins as editor of EID from Melody Carswell. Melody has my heartfelt thanks for her wonderful assistance through the handover. As we move forward, I hope to build on the success of EID under Melody's editorship.

Rich Content, Balanced Issues, and Accessible Science

     As editor, I plan to perpetuate the original objectives of EID in the context of our current times. As you all are aware, keeping up with the literature in our field can be a challenge. EID is a reliable resource that can help you stay current. In EID, not only can we share interesting applications, but we can also support that information by providing links to data, core research papers, standards, and refreshers on the science behind an article. These are just a few of the ways we plan to provide a rich blend of useful information to EID readers. You will notice some of these enhancements in the Winter 2010 issue, our Health Care Speical Issue.

     Many of us have become specialized in our work domains. Another goal for EID is to have each issue be of interest or value regardless of the reader's specific area of expertise. We will strive to keep the issues balanced and to draw from the articles the core science that we can all apply or of which we need to be aware.

     EID readers are primarily members of HFES, but we intend to reach out to the many practitioners who are not members by taking the science to them. A strong Web presence provides immediate access to information. I plan to investigate how to develop EID on the Web to provide more links to useful information and to facilitate subject searches so that we might grow to be practitioners' primary science resource.

Submit Your Work!

     This exciting evolution of EID is ambitious and necessary but also dependent upon us all. Quality articles, interesting and useful content, and cohesive issues are possible only if we receive submissions from you, the practitioners, researchers, and students in the field of HF/E. I invite you all to contribute to EID so that it becomes a publication that each one of you reads as well as draws an audience beyond HFES. This is a call for papers!

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