Maybe it’s just because I’ve lived in this world for so long, but I think the term “human factors” is fairly self-explanatory, and would even be a little odd if we didn’t create so much technology that frankly does a crap job at them.  There’s plenty of great thinking on how to create great technology and design: Don Norman, Edward Tufte, the guys at IDEO & 37Signals, and so on.

So far, we’ve made pretty good progress making computers work with people (“users,” much as I hate the term).  Not that there’s no room for improvement, but most folks other than my mom can pretty much sit down at a computer and know what to do, if the interface is done right.

We have a language of interface conventions we can use to make our tools self-explanatory.   But we’re just scratching the surface of what we can do in the way of collaboration and human interdependence.  This internet thing hasn’t been up and running that long.

As makers of stuff that organizes people, we have a big responsibility.  Group dynamics can be set up to tend toward good or ill, toward vicious cycles or virtuous ones.  There are going to be a ton of unintended consequences along the way. Sometimes in this blog, I’ll be focused on the specific.  I have a whole post brewing on door handles, f’rinstance.  Don’t miss it.

But I’m looking forward to fleshing out these principles of human interaction, with help from my readers.  Both of them.  There are clues in the accumulated wisdom of millenia of civilization- we’re hard-wired to like certain fairly well understood tribal & interpersonal patterns- but there will also be completely new questions, too. We’re still in the horse and buggy days of figuring out how teamwork can be updated for an internetted world.