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The Federal Aviation Administration offers a free multi-module course on Human Factors through its Web site. The course covers a range of topics including visual displays, controls, cogntition and training. It is designed for FAA employees, but all of the content and most of the functions are available to site visitors. A good way to get an overview of human factors, or a particular sub-topic area.
Kim Vicente's book, The Human Factor discusses the impact of studying human-system interaction, not only at the product or interface level, but all the way through organizational and political systems.
Filled with examples ranging from the design of electric guitars to the contamination of water systems, Vicente demonstrates how human capabilities and behaviors need to be considered at every scale of system design. Often accidents that are initially attributed to the failure of a single individual and/or product are actually due to failures at multiple scales of a system.
This is recommended, non-technical reading for those with an interest in the background and philosophy behind human factors .
