Hedonomics – a Branch of Ergonomics Enshrined in the USA Constitution

这个是个旧闻了 很早就听过
后来Harry大人貌似提起 备忘一下

http://www.ergoweb.com/news/detail.cfm?id=1101

Hedonomics – a Branch of Ergonomics Enshrined in the USA Constitution

Happiness. The Founding Fathers advocated it. Most people pursue it. Ergonomists have embraced it and given their research a name – hedonomics.
Studying human motor control, perception and perceptual-motor relationships, as well as the cognitive capabilities and limitations of human beings, they discovered a vital role for happiness.
Barry H. Beith, founder and president of HumanCentric Technologies and of author of "Hedonomics: The Human Factors of Pleasure Gains Attention as World Grows More Complex," explained that finding a name for the specialty presented one of the first challenges. "Hedonomics" triumphed over "The Human Factors of Pleasure" and "Affective Human Factors" for its simplicity.
His paper, published in LocalTechWire.com, explains that hedonomics represents something of a departure for ergonomists, whose work generally focuses on factors associated with technology and work. The new specialty grew from research that shows modern life is growing ever more complex, and technology is increasing the stresses of our "on-demand" culture. Dr. Beith cites cellphones and computers as particular culprits. Add the stress associated with work, child-rearing, education, and financial security, he said, and it is clear to see that having fun and relaxing are vital.
Play and fun, two ingredients of happiness, have long been associated with stress relief – critical to health – so they have assumed new importance as a focus for research. Hedonomics emerges as a means of allowing ergonomists to design activities that optimize, maybe even maximize, our enjoyment of life.
"When we look at the things we do to "enjoy" life, whether it is skiing, hang-gliding, racing cars, bikes, planes, parachuting, playing video games, watching movies, playing sports, it is clear that technology is pervasive and growing more sophisticated all the time," Dr. Beith explained in his article. " ... we have throughout history put great energy, time, and attention into our toys, games, and pasttimes and must recognize that the human side of technology is just as pervasive and important in these things as in our work activities."
Hedonomics dovetails with traditional ergonomics in several areas. Fun can kill, according to Dr. Beith, and designs and solutions that lessen risk will always be important work for ergonomists. Another tie-in is the current effort to translate and adapt video-gaming controls and displays to the military need for unmanned vehicular technology for the military. He said adaptations of video-gaming skills are also being studied and transferred to medical application in which robotics and remote control are being used for telesurgical work.
The human factors associated with the pursuit of happiness are serious business for our health, effectiveness and safety, and are now enshrined in mainstream research as hedonomics.
Source: LocalTechWire.com
-- Jennifer Anderson