Heather Olson and Gavin Lew invited to present at HFES 2004 Conference

Heather Olson and Gavin Lew have been selected to speak at the HFES 48th Annual Meeting in New Orleans in September 2004.

Heather Olson will be presenting her research on ways to manipulate the visual presentation of menu items on small displays (such as cellular phones or other handheld devices) to help aid users in navigation through hierarchical menu systems. As technology continues to evolve, computerized products are becoming smaller and more portable, while internal menu structures remain constant, or even grow with added functionality. As a result, less of the menus are visible at any one time, which may cause users to have difficulty navigating through menu structures to access functions and search for information on small displays. Heather will discuss how visual momentum, a display technique that helps users integrate information across successive displays, may improve navigation performance for devices with small screens.

Gavin Lew will participate in a panel discussion on teaching Human Factors and Ergonomics (HFE) principles, guidelines, methods, and techniques to lay audiences. The panel will explore questions, such as: What are the potential benefits of teaching HFE to people with no HFE background? What should be emphasized in the curriculum? What are the possible "side effects" of educating lay people? What are implications of these teaching efforts on professional certification of HFE? Gavin will specifically focus on presenting the practices that are used at User Centric to engage clients, teach employees and position HFE to executives through deliverables.