As a ball-sitting convert, I just can’t get enough ball sitting articles:
Excerpts from a WSJ article on the rise of ball chairs in the workplace:
Long used by fitness buffs and physical-therapy patients, those big spheres you see at the gym (commonly known as exercise balls) are rolling into an increasing number of workplaces as a [...]
Archive for February, 2007
Ball Chairs Inspire ‘Ball Envy’
Published by February 28th, 2007 in Chairs and Furniture, Fitness Balls, Office Ergonomics and Uncategorized. 110 CommentsMicro Compact Home: Can We Live in a Box?
Published by February 27th, 2007 in Ergonomics at Home, Product Design and Uncategorized. 0 CommentsA team of researchers and designers based in London and at the Technical University in Munich developed the Micro Compact Home as an answer to an increasing demand for short stay living for students, business people, sports and leisure use and for weekenders. Living in an m-ch means focusing on the essential - less is [...]
Serious Games: Video Games for Social Change
Published by February 26th, 2007 in Gaming, Human Computer Interaction and Uncategorized. 16 CommentsAmerica’s Army is a video game owned by the US government and used as a recruitment tool. Obviously it has had a fair amount of criticsm for being a propoganda machine. But America’s Army is just one of many video games designed to get people to think and act a certain way.
Excerpts from: [...]
Insolia High Heel Inserts Ease the Pain
Published by February 23rd, 2007 in Clothing Designs, Ergonomic Nightmare, Ergonomics and Society and Uncategorized. 7 CommentsHigh heels are truly an ergonomic nightmare from which some women refuse to awaken. Any podiatrist will tell you that high heels aren’t designed for walking.
Great! Women’s shoes aren’t designed for walking…yay…we live in the 21st century!
Why high heels are so bad:
Wearing high heels cause the foot slides forward, cramming the toes into [...]
Walking While Working
Published by February 22nd, 2007 in Chairs and Furniture, Human Computer Interaction, Office Ergonomics, Product Design and Uncategorized. 10 CommentsIn a previous post I mentioned that it would be ideal if it were possible to get an aerobic workout while using the computer. Little did I know that there is a movement underway that allows us to do just that. It’s called “walking while working” and basically entails rigging a treadmill with [...]
Banana Ergonomics
Published by February 21st, 2007 in Humor, Other Products, Product Design and Uncategorized. 1 CommentBananas are among the most widely consumed foods in the world, and are a major staple food crop for millions of people in developing countries. In most tropical countries unripe bananas are used for cooking. Cooking bananas are very similar to potatoes in taste and texture.
Export bananas are picked green, and then usually ripened in [...]
Ergonomic Nightmare of the Week: Lifeguard Towers
Published by February 20th, 2007 in Chairs and Furniture, Ergonomic Nightmare, Occupational Safety and Uncategorized. 3 CommentsSitting on the beach all day getting a tan may be your dream job…but is lifeguarding an ergonomic nightmare?
Decades ago, the image of bronzed lifeguards basking in the sun while sitting on simple red chairs was an icon of what Southern California beach life was all about.
Then emerged the dangers of skin cancer, along with [...]
Ergonomics and Labor Today
Published by February 20th, 2007 in Ergonomics and Society, Occupational Safety, Uncategorized and macroergonomics. 0 CommentsRichard W. Marklin Jr. lops branches, shovels clay, carves 30-pound cattle femurs, pulls 270-pound manhole covers and studies the workers who make their living performing these tasks. The 50-year-old professor in Marquette University’s mechanical engineering department examines the way we work and the toll that work takes on our joints, muscles and bones.
”As humans, we’re [...]
Opel Astra Design Flaw
Published by February 9th, 2007 in Product Design, Travel and Commuting, Uncategorized and Videos. 4 CommentsRowan Manahan writes on This is Broken:
So there I was, ready to buy a spanking new Opel Astra convertible for my wife. She had the Hermès headscarf and the Jackie-O sunglasses all ready for a test drive.
The Opel salesman couldn’t have been better informed or more courteous. He went outside to demonstrate the roof dropping [...]
The Industrial Revolution and Worker Satisfaction
Published by February 8th, 2007 in Ergonomics and Society, History of Ergonomics, Office Ergonomics, Uncategorized and macroergonomics. 4 CommentsErgonomics is not just about how comfortable our chairs are…it’s about how we feel everyday at work and how our work affects our lives. The Industrial Age (followed by the Information Age) has brought us many things that would never have been possible without highly organized labor and methods of production. But has [...]