Analysis of a medication misadministration and how it reveals generic patterns in collaborative distributed work. In particular the study highlights the role of cross checks in resilience and safety. The study appeared in a special issue of IEEE SMC Part A in November 2004. analysis of a misadministration pdf
Co-editor of a special issue of IEEE SMC on Using Field Studies to Understand Technical Work in Healthcare. The studies will appear in IEEE SMC Part A in November 2004 edited by Chris Nemeth, Richard Cook and David Woods.
The introduction to the papers is intro to special issue pdf
New synthesis of key aspects of team coordination. Joint activity depends on mutual predictability of the participants’ attitudes and actions which is based on common ground—pertinent knowledge, beliefs and assumptions that are shared among the involved parties. Joint activity assumes a basic compact, which is an agreement (often tacit) to facilitate coordination and prevent its breakdown. One aspect of the Basic Compact is the commitment to some degree of aligning multiple goals. A second aspect is that all parties are expected to bear their portion of the responsibility to establish and sustain common ground and to repair it as needed. Joint Activity pdf
These concepts are applied to human-automation team work as 10 Challenges in Ten Challenges pdf
Why is recognizing event patterns amazing? A model of events/expectations event model pdf
As hospitals across the United States develop policies to prevent worker fatigue and ensure patient safety, a study at Ohio State University has identified key strategies that might make the job easier. Culled from high-risk environments as diverse as a railroad dispatch center and the NASA Johnson Space Center, the strategies address the most critical time during any workday -- the shift change -- when incoming and outgoing workers have to exchange information and hand-off important duties. handoffs in health care pdf
Press items include Business First pdf press release pdf
A study of how a concept for representing order of magnitude aids comprhension of the decibel scale. decibel scale pdf
W. Elm, S. Potter of ManTech/Aegis CSEC with D. Woods of OSU have developed a framework of what is support for intelligence analysis.
The basic insight is that success in analysis work is a process of convergence, while the risk is premature narrowing. The diference is that convergence alternates narrowing processes in cognitive work with broadening processes. The framework has 3 generic processes -- down collect that identifies potential relevant source material, conflict and corroboration that develops a set of findings to be explained, and hypothesis exploration that develops a coherent explanatory story that accounts for the findings. In between the support functions for these processes are phases of broadening checks (see entry on Study of Analysts under Data Overload for one set of supporting evidence). Successive cycles of narrowing and broadening produce convergence and avoid premature narrowing.
The framework of support functions is illustrated in these animations produced by A. Roesler (28 Megs and 11 Megs respectively):
Chapter from "Handbook of Cognitive Task Design," E. Hollnagel (ed.), Erlbaum, 2003. CTD Handbook Chapter pdf
Given the starting point that field settings also function as natural laboratories, the chapter shows how different classes of methods represent different ways to shape the conditions of observation. The chapter discusses the relationship of in situ obervation (or natural history techniques), staged or scaled world simulations, and experimenter created artificial tasks. The chapter provides guidance, especially on how to carry out process tracing methods.
Plenary address on coordination across distributed groups during anomaly response and re-planning at 6th International Conference on Naturalistic Decision Making, May 16, 2003, Pensacola, FL.
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for the studies on events as the base level for coordination see: Mission Control studies link and Making Sense of Change link
for the co-ladder model see Co-Ladder link
The modified Unit Marking Procedure or m-UMP is described as a means to discover the events practitioners find meaningful in dynamic data streams. The method is illustrated by results from a simulation study of anesthesiologists vital signs monitoring m-UMP pdf
Topic Landscape multimedia production that provides resources on "Facilitating Insight at the Intersections of People, Technology and Work." Facilitating Insight
Includes material on Cognitive Task Analysis, Joint Cognitive Systems, Functional Analysis, Process Tracing Methods, Building A Research Base, Using CTA to stimulate design, the Envisioned World Problem and more.
Part 3 provides an apprach to Practice-Centered Design that was the basis for Woods' plenary address at the International Ergonomic Association congress in 2000, "Complementarity and Synchronization as Strategies for Practice-Centered Research and Design."
The envisioned world problem--
~ How does one envision or predict the relation of technology, cognition and
collaboration in a domain that is in a process of becoming?
~ How will envisioned technological change shape cognition and collaboration?
~ How will practitioners adapt artifacts, given new capabilities and new
complexities to meet their own goals?
~ How can we predict the changing nature of expertise and new forms of failure
as the workplace changes?
For description of the envisioned world problem see pages 3 to 7 of animock pdf
It is also discussed in the following paper: technology change pdf
For an animation of technology change process see: black box mov
Scaled world simulation study of professional analysts under data overload.
study of analysts pdf
Produced a variety of design concepts that can seed new support systems. design concepts
Using CTA to Seed Design Concepts for Intelligence Analysts under Data Overload, Multi-media production. design concepts
The design concepts innovated based on studies of inferential analysis.
Series of papers based on studies of distributed cognition in mission control. papers on mission control
The results from this program of studies address the role of event recognition, distributed anomaly responses, re-planning, handoffs, cross-checks and more. See Making Sense of Change link; Co-Ladder link; Modifying plans in progress; Joint Activity link; Handoffs and shift change link
click on the -> to advance through voice loops as tool for coordination