This article was originally emailed as our monthly eBulletin at 11:30 on 12/04/2017. You can view older eBulletins here and register to receive them monthly.
APRIL FOOLS OR YEAR ROUND FOOLS?
Following my recent ‘Lies, damned lies and statistics’ comments, I am grateful to Jay Kuo (@nycjayjay) for a Tweet that helped me focus on one of the key issues about misinformation. Why is April 1st the only day of the year that we question the reliability of what we read online?
Whilst we are all particularly cautious about news stories on April 1st, many (perhaps even most?) of us are guilty during the rest of the year of seeing something online and taking it at face value without much thought about its origin or legitimacy. Then, having passively accepted its reliability, we share it with friends and colleagues! [more]
WEB DESIGN:
We know that ergonomics.co.uk is in need of a major design overhaul. We make frequent detail changes and updates but we are now planning a complete makeover. We shall be working on this over the next few months. We already have many ideas for its appearance, navigability and content but we welcome further suggestions. Is there a particular feature you would like us to include? Or have you seen a specific web site (not necessarily in our industry) that ‘ticks all the boxes’ for you? Please email us any ideas or hyperlinks. All responders will receive a small gift and one of you will win a Red Letter Day voucher.
CIEHF CONFERENCE:
The next event in my conference calendar is CIEHF’s Ergonomics & Human Factors 2017 in Daventry. We do not exhibit at this event but I attend as a delegate and it is a great opportunity to learn about the latest thinking and catch up with the leading (UK and worldwide) individuals in the profession. We are also sponsoring the first day’s plenary lecture by David Watts of CCD. In recent years, the conference has gone from strength to strength and I have been delighted to see the continuing high academic standards balanced with an increasing mix of more practical case study presentations.
PHYSIO FIRST:
For me, the most inspiring element of the recent annual Physio First conference was the Friday ‘Groundbreaking Goal 9 Symposium’ which explored the scope for creating a co-operative of private practice UK physiotherapists. Under the chairmanship of Pam Simpson, the executive has some exciting plans for the organisation to address the commercial and cultural demands of its members. At the AGM, I was appointed a Vice-President of Physio First. This is a significant honour and privilege and we look forward to working even more closely with the organisation and its members. More news soon.
INTERNATIONAL TV STAR:
Well, hardly! However, my LinkedIn posting of the interview I recorded at the Health & Wellbeing exhibition has been liked and commented on by people as far afield as New Zealand and the USA. I learned a lot from this, most notably the conspicuous fact that I have no future in television! Many thanks to Employment Innovation TV for creating this: is it obvious it was completely unscripted? At least it was not too full of ‘ums’ and ‘errs’ – was that me or very professional editing? If you are not a LinkedIn user, you can also find the video here.
Osmond Ergonomics 