Psych Seminar talk by Dr. Catherine Burns on "Human Factors in the World of the Internet of Things"

Abstract:  With an increase in pervasive technologies, cheap and ever present sensors, and increasing connectivity (aka “Internet of Things”) there are new opportunities and new challenges. These new technologies present the opportunity to self-monitor, to automate home and life, and to interact and monitor friends and relatives more directly, even when remote. Our everyday user can now become a controller and decision maker on many more dimensions. Ironically, regardless of the novelty of the technologies, the human interaction issues remain the same – how to allocate function effectively with these new capabilities, what level of automation to employ, how to manage the user experience. Cognitive work analysis, with its system engineering and human factors foundation is equipped for some of these issues, but must be employed more creatively, in partnership with design approaches from human-computer interaction, such as persuasive design.