ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to develop in the reader a view of Human factors/ergonomics (HFE) broader than that acquired from university training. HFE parameters include the discipline’s basic elements, the human and technology, but the scope of the discipline, its purpose and subject matter, its desired effects, the functions the discipline performs, how the discipline is conceptualized, and the factors affecting the discipline. The infrastructure of HFE is composed of the building blocks that form the conceptual and operational structure of the discipline. The human elements with which HFE must be concerned are three: physical, cognitive or intellectual, and motivational. The discipline, considered as an organizing mechanism, plays a primary role in the research function by providing concepts that will eventually become research topics and publication/presentation outputs. Analysis of human-technological relationships enters more immediately into the design or application function, over which the discipline has relatively little control.
