Departments of Industrial Engineering, University of the Philippines, Diliman and De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines
– Visited December, 2008
The Philippines is a relatively new area for the development of usability expertise with a large potential for growth. In particular, given further development it could serve as a location for off shoring of expertise, given its central Asian location and its cultural and language associations with the US. Currently, two universities are pioneering the development of usability knowledge.
Dr. Aura Matias is chair of the Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research at University of the Philippines, Diliman. Dr. Matias has for a number of years been prominent in human factors and ergonomics and is president of the Philippines Ergonomics Society and an International Ergonomics Association board member. Dr Matias is currently promoting an interdisciplinary approach to usability in her university by getting her students to collaborate with students from other design related departments. She has allocated a lab space for design evaluation, which was made possible through donations from past students.
Dr. Rosemary Seva, is chair of the Industrial Engineering at De La Salle University, she has studied at the Centre for Human Factors and Ergonomics in the School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Dr. Seva has developed a Human Factors and Ergonomics Center at De La Salle, which has a fully equipped human factors/usability lab. She has carried out research in collaboration with local Telecom companies. One problem she noted was that many local companies that require usability expertise are not aware that such expertise exists in the Philippines, they will often go to overseas companies for help in this area. There is therefore a need for Filipino specialists not just to promote usability as a design concern, but also to publicize and support its development locally.
Test room in Human Factors and Ergonomics Center at De La Salle
Open Lab in Human Factors and Ergonomics Center at De La Salle. This is equipped with track mounted cameras to capture group activity.
