Week 9 - IT, Risks and Ergonomics
Ergonomics comes from two Greek words: ergon, meaning work, and nomoi, meaning natural laws. After reading many articles about the term "ergonomics", I would define it as a proper design of a tool, object, space, or system that increases productivity. It is all about designing for people's needs, and sometimes the term "human factors" can be used interchangeably. It is a collection of natural and technical research and development studies, examining the physical and psychological characteristics of humans. In simple words, It is the science of work. There have been many ergonomics examples throughout the years of technology, some resulted in success, while others were complete failures. In the following paragraph, I will mention two opposing examples from the IT world.
ABC layout in keyboards (Bad Ergonomics)
American inventor Christopher Latham Sholes invented the typewriter in 1867. That typewriter contained mechanical letter keys and was able to write on paper with the help of mechanical arms when these keys are pressed. Until 1870, the original design of the keys was in alphabetical order. This made typists very fast for the conditions of that time. The history of the modern computer keyboard that we use these days has a direct connection with the invention of the typewriter. When computer keyboards were invented, some companies decided to use the ABC layout. People used to insist that using the alphabetic keyboard makes the most sense for anyone learning the alphabet and starting to read because the keys are in alphabetic order. It is possible to find people who still support the usage of ABC layout keyboards, but the practice has shown that they are ineffective in typing and not a universal design.
QWERTY layout in keyboards (Good Ergonomics)
Christopher Sholes was also the inventor who created today's QWERTY-type keyboard keys layout in 1874 by distributing the most used letters to places that are partially difficult for the hands to reach and increasing the distance between the keyboard keys, which resulted in a significant increase in typewriting. Later, all manufacturers used this letter order (QWERTY) without disturbing it. These days, It is nearly found in all computers and laptops. In Discovery Magazine Jared Diamond also talks about another piece of wisdom that is found in QWERTY keyboards. As a sales gimmick, the T, Y, P, E, W, R, I, T, E, R, keys are designed at the top of the keyboard layout to allow the seller to quickly type “Typewriter” during the demo.
DVORAK layout in keyboards (an Alternative):
Dr. August Dvorak created the DVORAK layout in 1932. In his article, Jared Diamond explained that in the period of two years, Dvorak users had beaten QWERTY typists in speed competitions. A study conducted in one of the schools of the USA in the 1930s clearly showed that 34% of children preferred to type in a DVORAK keyboard. Although the studies show that the DVORAK layouts are better for typing fast, nobody would be interested to learn type on a keyboard from scratch. QWERTY may sound outdated but it is still one of the most used layouts. I strongly believe that the tendency of using the QWERTY layout will not decrease because of its popularity.
To conclude, I have mentioned three types of keyboard layouts that have been practiced throughout the history of keyboard usage. ABC layout is one of the oldest and most impractical ones. It is extremely rare to find someone to use it these days. The invention of the QWERTY layout has made ABC layout obsolete. It is now widely used around the world and will be in practice for many years.
Sources:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/fact-of-fiction-the-legend-of-the-qwerty-keyboard-49863249/
https://www.webopedia.com/definitions/qwerty-keyboard/
https://www.webopedia.com/definitions/dvorak-keyboard/
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