NEXT TALK: Next talk 31st of October, 7pm - Sesonal mood disorders
Cittie Of Yorke, 22 High Holborn, WC1V 6BN
Being smart; staying safe: why we make mistakes and how to avoid them.
2014/06/26
We all make mistakes: some funny, some serious. Some are easily explained by a single cause: incorrect knowledge, poor understanding of the situation, or inattention. At other times, an incident occurs because of many contributing factors. Equally importantly: people can develop strategies to reduce the likelihood of making a mistake, and systems can be designed to help people to avoid, detect and recover from mistakes so that they don’t escalate. In this talk, I'll present some of the science behind human error and system safety, and discuss implications for the design of systems where safety matters. I'll illustrate the talk with examples from two areas that matter to all of us – transport and healthcare – and also from my hobby: rock climbing.
Prof. Ann Blandford
Professor of Human–Computer Interaction in the Department of Computer Science at UCL, and a member of UCL Interaction Centre (UCLIC, jointly supported by the Department of Computer Science and the Division of Psychology and Language Sciences). Director of UCLIC 2004-2011.
Her first degree is in Mathematics, from Cambridge University, and her PhD is in Artificial Intelligence and Education, from the Open University. She started her career in industry as a software engineer, followed by a period managing the Computer Assisted Teaching Unit at QMUL. She gradually developed a focus on the use and usability of computer systems. In 1991, she joined the Applied Psychology Unit in Cambridge as a research scientist, working on the AMODEUS project. She moved to Middlesex University, initially as a lecturer, and subsequently as Professor and Director of Research in Computing Science. She moved to UCL as a Senior Lecturer in 2002 and became a professor (again) in 2005.
She have been technical programme chair for IHM-HCI 2001, HCI 2006, DSVIS 2006 and NordiCHI2010. She chaired AISB (1997-1999), and was a member of the EPSRC Information and Communications Technologies Strategic Advisory Team (2004-2008). She was Vice Chair of IFIP Working Group 2.7/13.4 (2010-2013). She is a Fellow of the BCS.
