Advancing Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Justice Through Human Systems Engineering

Rod D. Roscoe, Erin K. Chiou, Abigail R. Wooldridge, Rod D. Roscoe, Erin K. Chiou, Abigail R. Wooldridge

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9781138387980
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780429759390
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Human-Computer Interaction
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Winner of the "Outstanding Academic Title" recognition by Choice for the 2020 OAT Awards.

The Choice OAT Award represents the highest caliber of scholarly titles that have been reviewed by Choice and conveys the extraordinary recognition of the academic community.

Advancing Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Justice through Human Systems Engineering highlights how scholars and practitioners of HSE (inclusively defined to span many fields) can apply their theories and methods to understand and support healthy communities, include and empower diverse populations, and inspire strategies for a more inclusive future. This volume brings together experts from human factors, ergonomics, psychology, human-computer interaction, and more to demonstrate how these fields can be applied to societal challenges and solutions. Through a blend of research reports, literature reviews, and personal narratives, this volume explores these issues from the individual to the global scale, across diverse populations, and across multiple continents.

Features

• Draws upon human factors and ergonomics theories and methods to evaluate, understand, and confront systemic threats to inclusion and social justice

• Offers actionable methodologies, strategies, and recommendations for conducting human-centered research, design, and training with marginalized or vulnerable populations

• Offers a venue for reporting and reconsidering the work of human factors and ergonomics from the perspectives of diversity, inclusion, and social justice

Section 1

Understanding and Supporting Healthy Communities

1 Human Systems Engineering for Societal Transformation

A Tale of Two Cities

Nancy J. Cooke

In October of 2016, I had the great fortune of attending the International Ergonomics Association (IEA) Council meeting in Medellín, Columbia. I attended as president of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) to represent the society at this international meeting. I was excited to learn about the activities and accomplishments of human factors and ergonomics societies around the world, but little did I know that this visit would totally expand my view of the value of human systems engineering (HSE).

As part of the meeting, council members were given a “VIP tour” of Medellín. The tour inspired me, to say the least. But first, some background. I learned that Medellín had a long and violent history. It was once the “murder capital of the world.” In the 1980s, drug cartel leader Pablo Escobar carved out a criminal empire in the city of Medellín. By the early 90s, the murder rate had skyrocketed. Then things got even worse. Escobar was shot and killed by police, yet the cartel continued under new leadership. The murder rate increased as the group took on a paramilitaristic character; urban warfare was rampant.

The other stunning thing about Medellín is its topological divide. There are mountains surrounding the city, and rapid population growth in the 50s and 60s tripled the population. Many immigrants were farmers from rural parts of Columbia who were fleeing violence, and poorer people moved into new neighborhoods in the mountains beyond the footprint of the city. Children built on top of their parents’ homes and growth continued in this fashion for years, creating not only a topographical divide but a socioeconomic divide (see Figures 1.1 and 1.2).

Key cultural and educational services were located in the main part of the city in the valley. Thus, the people living in the mountains had none of these services. In fact, it would take the people living at some of the highest points on the mountain a full two hours to walk into the city to go shopping, get medical attention, or find work. Conditions up the mountain were very poor. Urban violence was greater in these poor neighborhoods and gangs were prevalent. Conditions only worsened with the drug cartel violence of the 80s and 90s. There was no social equity—a visible divide between the “haves” and “have nots.”

Figure 1.1Poorer neighborhoods built up the mountain.

Source: Photo courtesy of Nancy J. Cooke.

Figure 1.2Wealthier neighborhoods in the valley.

Source: Photo courtesy of Nancy J. Cooke.

Now, back to the “VIP tour.” The tour was not of museums or fancy buildings in the wealthier part of Medellín. Instead, we were taken up the mountain to neighborhoods that in 1992 you would not set foot in for fear of being murdered. But we did not climb up the mountains on a two-hour hike. Instead we road on a metrocable transportation system. This was a metro or light rail to move people from the city to its edges and a cable car system (Figure 1.3) to lift you up and down the mountain. In some neighborhoods, outdoor escalators would take you on the last climb (Figure 1.4). I noticed dogs enjoying these as well!

We learned that in 2004, a program of social transformation was launched in Medellín. Planners, designers, politicians, university professors, and gang members collaborated on the plan. Instead of attacking the crime problem with brute force—use of police and armed guards—they came up with an innovative strategy. They would transform Medellín by connecting the poor and wealthy, making urban resources available to all. This was accomplished through the elaborate metrocable system, which changed the two-hour commute to a 15-minute one. They also built botanical gardens, schools, and museums in the poorest neighborhoods. Also located in these neighborhoods were “library parks” or centers for education and culture. The resources available for the “haves” were now available for the “have nots.”

Figure 1.3Cable cars running up and down the mountains.

Source: Photo courtesy of Nancy J. Cooke.

Figure 1.4Outdoor escalators.

Source: Photo courtesy of Nancy J. Cooke.

We were told that the plan was still being implemented, but the homicide rate had dropped, gang violence had decreased, and unemployment had decreased drastically (Vulliamy, 2013). We talked to former gang members who were proud of their neighborhoods and expressed themselves by painting beautiful graffiti murals (Figure 1.5).

What an amazing transformation! Then it hit me that this was a human system that was transformed through changes in technology and the environment; through accessibility. Penalosa (2013) has pointed out that enhanced mobility leads to equality. Behavior was changed through considerations of the needs of the people. Medellín became user-centered for the poorest of its people. Users (i.e., gang members) participated in the redesign of their city. I am to this day unclear as to whether human systems engineers were involved in the project, but I remain convinced that this was transformation of a human system through careful consideration of the needs of the humans in that system. Inequality was reduced through the smart use of technology and environmental design.

Figure 1.5One of the many graffiti murals.

Source: Photo courtesy of Nancy J. Cooke.

How can human systems engineering play a role in these sorts of transformations? I thought carefully about this as I prepared my presidential address to HFES in the following year. My trip to Medellín was inspirational, but I wondered how I could take this inspiration and turn it into a recipe for successful social transformation by those who are human systems engineers. I came up with three lessons learned from Medellín and other experiences from my past.

The first lesson is to take a problem-centric view. What is the problem that needs to be addressed? There is no shortage of problems—including some very big problems. You can start with the National Science Foundation’s Big Ideas (NSF, 2017) or the National Academy of Engineering’s Grand Challenges (NAE, 2016). Violence and inequality in Medellín were big problems that needed to be addressed, but sending in more police was obviously not a solution.

This brings us to the second lesson: take a systems perspective and then “blow it up.” Human systems engineers have typically adopted a systems perspective, but now they need to expand the scope of those systems. They have studied some very big systems such as the National Air Space System, military command and control systems, shipboard radar systems, and healthcare systems (Boehm-Davis, Durso, & Lee, 2015; Booher, 2003). When you avoid a myopic perspective on a problem, you might begin to see other factors at play. Muggah (2014), for instance, talks about problems regarding fast-growing cities, crime, and violence. One of the biggest factors is the increasing proportion of young people in the population. It is also important to recognize that a system is not just technology, but also includes the environment and social system. This big systems view would have had to be appreciated in the transformation of Medellín given that the solution was mobility for equality rather than increased policing. Once you have identified the interacting system components, new problematic factors and related solutions may become apparent.

Finally, the third lesson, and perhaps the most important one, is that no single discipline (including human systems engineering) can solve these systemic problems alone (NRC, 2015). It requires multiple disciplines, technologists, and users working together. However, human systems engineers bring together the technology, environment, and user and therefore, may have an opportunity to initiate, provide leadership, and coordinate the multidisciplinary team (Roscoe et al., in press). To me this is a very exciting prospect. Human systems engineers can lead the way in thinking out of the box and solving some of society’s biggest problems.

I delivered the presidential address at the 2017 HFES meeting. It was nicely followed by a talk by Ron Davis, President Obama’s appointee to the Community-Oriented Policing Task Force. Mr. Davis spoke about thinking of policing as a system embedded in the system of the community. Defining policing this way leads to new ideas for selecting and training police officers and interacting with the community. In a field typically dominated by technological systems, these two talks highlighted social systems and the role of human systems engineering in societal transformation. Many members remarked that they experienced an “aha!” moment like I’d had in Medellín. They felt inspired to use their skills to address some problems not typically thought of as human systems problems. I heard discussions in the conference hall about using human systems engineering to address policing, the gender gap, child abuse, and climate change. I was very happy to have been able to share the inspiring story of Medellín and the lessons learned from this experience with the audience that day, and now with the readers of this volume.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the VIP tour hosts in Medellín for providing me the opportunity to learn about the city’s transformation, and for Ron Davis who inspired me earlier when he gave a talk on community-oriented policing at a National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine meeting.

References

Boehm-Davis, D. A., Durso, F. T., & Lee, J. D. (Eds.). (2015). APA handbook of Human Systems Integration. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Booher, H. R. (2003). Handbook of human systems integration. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons.

Muggah, R. (2014). How to protect fast-growing cities from failing. TEDGlobal 2014. Retrieved from www.ted.com/talks/robert_muggah_how_to_protect_fast_growing_cities_from_failing?language=en

National Academy of Engineering (2016). Grand challenges for engineering: Imperatives, prospects, and priorities. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23440.

National Research Council. (2015). Enhancing the effectiveness of team science. In N. J. Cooke and M. L. Hilton (Eds.), Board on Behavioral, Cognitive, and Sensory Sciences, & Committee on the Science of Team Science, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

National Science Foundation. (2017). NSF’s 10 big ideas. Retrieved from www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/big_ideas/index.jsp

Penalosa, E. (2013). Why buses represent democracy in action. TEDCity2.0. Retrieved from www.ted.com/talks/enrique_penalosa_why_buses_represent_democracy_in_action?language=en

Roscoe, R. D., Becker, D. V., Branaghan, R. J., Chiou, E. K., Gray, R., Craig, S. D., … Cooke, N. J. (in press). Bridging psychology and engineering to make technology work for humans. To appear in American Psychologist.

Vulliamy, E. (2013, June 9). Medellín, Columbia: Reinventing the world’s most dangerous city. The Guardian. Retrieved from www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/09/Medellín-colombia-worlds-most-dangerous-city

2 Inclusive Decision-Making

Applying Human Factors Methods to Capture the Needs and Voices of Marginalized Populations

Jacklin Stonewall, Michael C. Dorneich, Linda Shenk, Caroline C. Krejci, and Ulrike Passe

In the face of large-scale climate change and growing populations, urban leaders must make strategic decisions about how to adapt their city and its neighborhoods to changing climate conditions. These decisions are particularly critical in low-resource neighborhoods where many residents face marginalization, and are often the most vulnerable to climate events (e.g., extreme heat) (Bolin & Kurtz, 2018). Despite higher vulnerability, individuals in these neighborhoods have historically been the least involved in community-level decision-making (Lasker & Guidry, 2009). Additionally, the unique needs of these residents are often overlooked when preparing information and resources for public dissemination.

To address this need, methodologies that integrate human factors and community development practices have been designed to engage marginalized populations in data collection efforts and information dissemination. These methodolog...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword
• Preface: Inclusive Scholarship for Inclusive Systems
• Editors
• Contributors
• Section 1 Understanding and Supporting Healthy Communities
• Section 2 Including and Empowering Diverse People
• Section 3 Inspiring Strategies for an Inclusive Future
• Index