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extended-abstract

Software ergonomics: relating subjective and objective measures

Published: 04 April 2009 Publication History

Abstract

The use of computers in the workplace is now commonplace. Correspondingly, injuries associated with computer use have increased. However, little research has been done investigating whether these injuries are associated with the software being used. One reason is the difficulty in measuring muscle strain (a predictor of muscle related injuries). Here we present preliminary results of study on the relationship between objective and subjective measures of muscle strain during computer use. As users completed sets of tasks using MSWord®, SEMG muscle activity was recorded for the muscles associated with using a keyboard and mouse. After each task set, users completed surveys asking the level of strain they experienced during the tasks. Correlations between the measures suggest that subjective measures can provide reliable information regarding the muscle strain associated with software use. These easily obtained subjective measurements could assist in producing software interaction designs that are better for users.

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Cited By

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  • (2015)Comparing Fatigue When Using Large Horizontal and Vertical Multi-touch Interaction DisplaysHuman-Computer Interaction – INTERACT 201510.1007/978-3-319-22723-8_13(156-164)Online publication date: 30-Aug-2015
  • (2009)Keyboard Shortcut Users: They Are Faster at More than Just TypingProceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting10.1177/15419312090530150853:15(975-979)Online publication date: 1-Oct-2009

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cover image ACM Conferences
CHI EA '09: CHI '09 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems
April 2009
2470 pages
ISBN:9781605582474
DOI:10.1145/1520340
Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be honored. For all other uses, contact the Owner/Author.

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 04 April 2009

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Author Tags

  1. human-computer interaction
  2. musculoskeletal disorders
  3. self-report of strain
  4. software ergonomics

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CHI EA '09 Paper Acceptance Rate 385 of 1,130 submissions, 34%;
Overall Acceptance Rate 6,164 of 23,696 submissions, 26%

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Cited By

View all
  • (2015)Comparing Fatigue When Using Large Horizontal and Vertical Multi-touch Interaction DisplaysHuman-Computer Interaction – INTERACT 201510.1007/978-3-319-22723-8_13(156-164)Online publication date: 30-Aug-2015
  • (2009)Keyboard Shortcut Users: They Are Faster at More than Just TypingProceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting10.1177/15419312090530150853:15(975-979)Online publication date: 1-Oct-2009

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