Tuning in to
Human Factors

In a world with ergonomic keyboards and where electronic gadgets respond to a sweep of the fingers, the term “human factors” takes on a high cultural significance. But what about in parts of the world where technology has not progressed?

Many Africans are surrounded by grain they can’t eat. They remain hungry because they lack the technology to prepare it. Threshing – separating seed from husks to make it edible – is a huge challenge for villagers with no access to mechanized devices.

“Give African villagers access to simple threshing technologies and they could end hunger in their communities”, said Jeff Wilson, an expert on pearl millet with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture Research Service.

Presently, women place stalks of pearl millet in hollowed-out logs and grind them with heavy sticks. Sometimes villagers run donkeys or the area’s only truck or tractor across it.

Developing a simple threshing technology to help this arduous process is a huge challenge, according to Wilson and volunteer engineers, scientists, and technicians at Compatible Technology International. 

The problem comes when people from the industrialized world try to develop helpful technologies for use in third-world countries. Even with vast information about—and travel to—places where the mechanisms will be used, it’s hard to understand how people will actually interact with the products and the culture in which they’ll be used. Both are necessities for functional design.

Design for Use

The type of human-factors-engineering problem we’re facing is how to best design when we’re not totally clear how your products will be used, says Rolfe Leary, a CTI volunteer.

One small thresher that CTI developed involves a crank and ringers from old-fashioned washing machines. It works, but Wilson says it’s still too advanced for those who are expected use it. They’ve never seen a crank and would have no idea how to use one. Locals who haven’t seen technology more advanced than a rake or hoe will be expected to set up the machines, to use them, and to fix them when they break.

For the thresher, it’s back to the drawing board for CTI volunteers. Feedback from Wilson—who understands pearl millet, how pellets should look after threshing, and who has interacted with people who will use it—is vital when it comes to development, Leary said.

Simple Tools

Heather Fleming, CEO of Catapult Design, works with third-party organizations to create technologies and products for populations in need. They believe successful products aren’t defined by technological feats, but are rooted in a holistic perspective of the development process centered on the end-user’s needs.

Catapult’s designers and engineers rely on the same software common to the industry, and they follow usual product development processes regardless of whether the product will be used in a third-world or a first-world country. But they’re uniquely sensitive to cultural differences since the products must be designed specifically for the people who will use them.

There is an added layer of cultural complexity when working with developing countries that you have to be patient with. It is important to partner with other specialists. Assume you know nothing, she says.

Just Observe

Catapult’s designers regularly consult with an anthropologist, who brings new understandings to those working outside their cultural norms. Fleming notes that anthropologists phrase questions differently during field studies. She asks things they may not have thought to ask and in different ways. The anthropologist isn’t a solutions driver. She observes without offering specific solutions.

Catapult Design recently worked with Clean Water International on incorporating a water filtration system into a product called the Hippo Roller. The roller, which looks like a plastic rain barrel on its side, allows African women who traditionally fetch water from a great distance to get four days’ water supply rather than make daily trips.

Having an anthropologist talk on-site with the women who actually use the roller proved invaluable, Fleming said. An engineer would ask, ‘What are the different water purification technologies available to incorporate here?’ But she helped us take a step back and ask ‘What are people using the water for?’

They discovered only 25 percent was used for drinking. “So maybe we could make a smaller filtration system, or one that sits on the side”, Fleming said. It is much faster and cheaper to clean only a few liters.

Many engineers and designers work to develop products to help developing countries. But all those products, if they are to prove their value, must be used by people.

The human factor is the most important influence in the way people use their tools. Designing for that requires quieting one’s own cultural expectations, observing, asking the right questions, and listening.

[Adapted from “Tuning in to Human Factors,” by Jean Thilmany, Associate Editor, Mechanical Engineering, June 2010]  

There is an added layer of cultural complexity when working with developing countries that you have to be patient with. It is important to partner with other specialists. Assume you know nothing. Heather Fleming, CEO of Catapult Design