Case Study of Science Communication in Ergonomics: Introduction of ErgonomicThon Workshop

Abstract

To progress a science communication (SciCom) in the field of ergonomics, this study organized the project of “ErgonomicThon.” It was an ergonomics version of a kind of the Ideathon or Hackathon famous for brainstorming events. This case study introduced the first workshop of ErgonomicThon that was the special program to share useful research findings about disaster and evacuation behavior. Theme discussed in the program was the human behavior under emergency evacuation. The final goal of this program was sharing the ergonomic perspective of “4M (Man–Machine–Media-Management)” to utilize disaster risk management. The main program was group discussion and presentation to create new ideas about how stimulate appropriate human behavior under serious evacuation with sharing each experience. According to the results of questionnaire survey, many participants satisfied the ErgonomicThon workshop. Simultaneously, this study lead three suggestion to increase satisfaction levels among participants in the future challenge; (1) Localization of SciCom guideline for ergonomics, (2) Selection of academic topics for SciCom, and (3) Development of the specific guideline for short time event.