Presentation

· Contributors · Organizations · Search Program · Flagged · Happening Now

Human Factors for a Better World: Case Studies in Community Ergonomics

DescriptionThere is great potential for Human Factors and Ergonomic approaches to be applied to improve the health and quality of life of marginalized and minoritized populations. At the 38th Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, Michael J. Smith and colleagues first introduced the concept of community ergonomics to suggest just that. Their initial conceptualization of community ergonomics was of designing the “interfaces between people and system design in societal context” (Smith et al., 2002, p. 289). In a recent paper, Barton et al. (2025) reflect on the progress we have made in the area of community ergonomics, present six lessons learned derived from a variety of case studies, and conclude that these lessons learned point to a fundamental gap between the epistemological traditions in which most Human Factors professionals are trained and the skills and approaches required to effectively and ethically collaborate with community. This panel aims to bring additional case studies of community-engaged work into conversation with Barton et al. (2025)'s lessons learned and expand on the recommendations for shifting our epistemological starting point and, consequently, our methodologies.

Panelists