Andreas,
This sounds pretty much like the ergonomic standards the Germany
enforces(?) through the GS mark from their test houses. There is a real
problem with these things as they are, or at least, were very subjective
rather than qualitative in nature. The present ZH618 (Sorry I'm trying to
pull the number out of my memory so I hope this is correct) would exclude a
keyboard that actually has had some human factors concerns addressed. Some
of the more recent keyboards such as the Microsoft Natural (Hi Anne - I know
you're reading this!) and others which provide some ergonomic features such
splitting into two key groups, angling them slightly to more easily
facilitate and to match the angles of your hands/shoulders, overall keyboard
slope, and a palm rest had a real fight on their hands because the
standards specified the shape as rectangular. These types of keyboards
typically have some "curvy edges" to facilitate the palm rest.
So even though, in my opinion at least, it is a much more
comfortable keyboard and reduces the stress on the wrists, it doesn't meet
the existing standard.
One would hope that any new standard is much better specified but I
think it is pretty much the equivalent of speech recognition in computers.
Computers and standards don't handle variation very well, but people are
nothing but variable.
My guess as to who would enforce these issues would be Unions,
National Heath and Safety organizations etc. The latter has a nasty way of
showing up in the relevant safety standards. In fact that is how the
ergonomics really got incorporated into the German safety standards.
Human factors are important (I drag my keyboard from place to place
and even have a backup because of its benefits) but I am skeptical of the
ability to really write a good standard. Hope I'm proven wrong.
Once again, this is just opinion and personal history but I think it
is reflective of what occurred
Gary
-----Original Message-----
From: andreas.tho...@toshiba-teg.com
[SMTP:andreas.tho...@toshiba-teg.com]
Sent: Thursday, March 25, 1999 6:37 AM
To: emc-p...@majordomo.ieee.org
Subject: prEN ISO 13407
Dear Group,
the standard prEN ISO 13407 is dealing with "human-centred design
processes
for
interactive systems".
More:
"The document provides guidance on
human-centred design activities throughout the
life cycle of computer-based interactive
systems. It is aimed at those managing design
processes and provides guidance on sources
of information and standards relevant to the
human-centred approach. It is concerned with
both hardware and software components of
interactive systems. It addresses the planning
and management of human-centred design. It
does not address all aspects of project
management."
Now, who can tell something about the actual or possible future
importance
of this standard ?
Is there someone "out there" who is planning to check conformity to
this
standard ?
Kind regards
Andreas Thomas
Toshiba Europe
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