FEETS flat, back straight and look forward. If that sounds uncomfortable, it’s all designed with the goal to reduce any injury at your cubicle.

The Logitech Cordless Desktop Wave Keyboard

The Kinesis Advantage

Yeo says the employer first has to be aware of the work hazards and then create awareness to the workers.

Also known as the science behind the prevention of repetitive strain injury and the dreaded carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), ergonomics today is built into everything from keyboards and mices to non-reflective screens and even hammers.

Microsoft tested a few ergonomic designs in the past, with the most famous being the Natural Keyboard.

It has a raised split design that slopes towards the edges from the centre, which promotes correct typing posture and reduces chances of the user developing CTS.

The Natural Keyboard has evolved over the years. Retaining the split keys design, it now comes with wireless and USB connectivity.

Another ergonomic split key typing product is the Logitech Cordless Desktop Wave Keyboard. With a curvaceous outline and an uneven wave keys design, it lets the human finger easily access each key.

Likewise, both the Logitech mouse and Harmony universal remote control feature a curvaceous design to contour the human’s hands, eliminating any sharp edges that might potentially become pressure points.

Kinesis, a manufacturer of ergonomic keyboards favoured among programmers who often spend long hours coding away, has the Kinesis Advantage that combines both aspects of a split design and wave keys with an overall contoured design with two hollow out keypads, which let the fingers easily reach keys and thumbs to access modifier keys such as Enter, Alt, Ctrl and Backspace.

While the original Microsoft Green Eye Mouse has more edges than buttons, it’s hard to even find an edge on any modern-day mouse.

Even the no-brand mice generally have a rounded shape which does away with any pressure points.

But like all mice, the overall shape remains. Kinesis’ Evoluent Vertical Mouse 2 & 3, as its name suggests, works vertically in a relaxed handshake position.

The manufacturer claims that it can reduce muscle tension in the forearm, neck and shoulders while needing little adaptation period. - By Lim Yeh Ern

Taking short breaks helps

ergonomics are the result of long days in the office specifically, think again. The proliferation of mobile ICT devices is also a significant contributor, says Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas)’s Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology associate professor Dr Alvin Yeo Wee.

He emphasises that work is now not only done in the workplace during office hours, but completed after office hours, be it on the way home or at home.

“It is generally accepted that ICT is necessary to run an organisation effectively and efficiently. Computer applications in widespread use would probably be for communications such as e-mail and basic office tools like word processors, spreadsheets and slide presentations.

“With the introduction of mobile devices today (such as the BlackBerrys, iPhones, netbooks and the availability of online access through 3G or WiMax), even if you are away from office, you may still be working on your smartphone, laptop or desktop at home,” he says.

In the workplace, Yeo says the employer first has to be aware of these issues and then create awareness to the workers.

“But (since we also work at home) responsibility also falls on the worker. They have to be aware and to educate themselves on such health problems as well as how to alleviate them.” Yeo suggests sitting with the right body posture at the desktop, or taking microbreaks when working on the computer – stop every 20 or 30 minutes and look at something at a distance for 20 to 30 seconds, or take a short walk to get a drink. The key issue here is to take a break.

Unimas is currently covering research mainly on human computer interaction.

“This is a discipline where we study how people use computers and how we can make these tools easier to use. We also focus on issues of usability (that a user can use the tool to complete a specific task, effectively and satisfactorily; generally known as user-friendly).

“There is also an ongoing research in multi-modal interaction (the use of speech and sketch in interacting with computers) and eye-gaze drawing (a cursor is manipulated based on where your eye is looking), all with usability as a goal,” Yeo explains.

Also in the pipeline is research on machine translation – research in ICT for ethnic languages – and providing ICT to rural communities. – By Rozana Sani