Technology has enabled the mass production of hybrid and electric vehicles. Interest in these alternative-energy vehicles has been heightened due to air quality concerns in urban areas. However, these vehicles are capable of very quiet operation, which could have negative side effects on pedestrian and driver safety because of the lack of sound cues. A survey of 380 people was conducted to explore interest and concerns about electrically powered vehicles. The data show that there is substantial positive interest in driving quiet hybrid and electric cars. However, in the role of pedestrian, participants expressed concern over the reduced auditory cues to the presence of a moving vehicle. Implications of quiet vehicles are discussed including the additional consideration of reduced driver awareness of their speed. Precautionary measures and suggestions for effective engine noise substitutes are presented.

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Executive dashboards have become popular in enterprise software applications. Consequently, much advice has been offered by private consulting firms on how best to design dashboards. This paper details a couple of studies testing the advice given by the dashboard experts. The results suggest that some of the notions about how dashboard widgets should be designed might be incorrect. The results indicate that colored widgets are not necessarily inferior to simpler, colorless widgets. Similarly, fancy widgets (i.e., those with three dimensional characteristics) were not demonstrated to be inferior to plainer widgets. While some methodological challenges must be overcome in similar future studies, the results of the described studies do not support some popular ideas about executive dashboards (and data visualization in general), and suggest that the area of interest is ripe for further investigation.

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