journals or meeting proceedings over the past three
decades leaves little doubt that the field has become
In his 1964 presidential address to the Human Factors
Society, entitled ‘Words, words, words...,’ Alphonse
Chapanis suggested that organized research involving
the words and language of ergonomic systems was a
badly-neglected, though a potentially compelling
domain of study (Chapanis, 1965). Chapanis noted
that sometimes modifications in ‘words and language’
in ergonomic systems could enhance human-machine
interactions to a greater extent than changes in
‘engineering’ features.
Chapanis’ assertions about the importance of words
and language in ergonomic design and research has
had substantial impact. A casual glance at the
professional human factors/ergonomics researchintensely focused upon words and language as a critical
tool to benefit people’s performance, satisfaction and
safety. There has been a trend towards research
emphasizing attention, encoding, comprehension,
memory, attitudes, beliefs, behavioural intentions and
behavioural compliance to the instructions on product
labels and other kinds of documentation (Laughery et
al, 1994). Modern human factors research and design
efforts are frequently directed to finding and designing
optimal ways of communicating procedural and
conceptual information. The direction of these
investigations indicates that many of Chapanis’
suggestions have taken root in ergonomic design and
research.