Why does design get trapped producing inadvertent, cumulative complexity in use?
A new project by D. S. Lee, D. Woods, D. Kidwell and H. Tran
An integration of methods from Cognitive Systems Engineering and Design Innovation to support how design finds promising directions. The integration, or de:cycle, coordinates three roles (and associated processes and artifacts produced through these design processes): practitioner—how they adapt to complexity, innovator—how they envision what would be useful, and technologist—how they bring the anticipated change into the world of practice.
Norhtwest passage in Design pdf
CSE research discovers what would be useful. What has emerged from this research are a set of generic support functions that provide basic requirements to be met during system development and criteria to test for success in evaluation of joint cognitive systems. If new development is to achieve high levels of performance in cognitive work, then it must tell us how the technology will support these basic requirements:
For a brief overview of the chart: Generic Support Functions pdf
Cognitive engineers face the same challenges in designing systems that users confront in working the tasks that the systems are intended to aid. A guide to overcome reductive biases in design. CTW00 pdf
A study of how a concept for representing order of magnitude aids comprhension of the decibel scale. decibel scale pdf
Principles for representation design to escape from data overload derived from material in the course and book in preparation, "Escape from Data Overload."
Overview of the basic theory of representation: Meaning in Data pdf
Techniques for pattern representations: Pattern Views pdf
Techniques for workspace coordination: Workspace Coordination pdf
Supporting Event Recognition: forthcoming
Series of animations that illustrate principles of correspondence around Apollo 13 events (also see Where's Waldo Apollo 13 example pdf)
"Message Overload from the Inbox to Intelligence Analysis: How Spam and Blogs Point to New Tools," David Tinapple and David Woods; to appear in the Proceeding of the Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, October, 2003.
message overload pdf
Conference paper on an interactive representation of order of magnitude. concept pdf See a demonstration in terms of the richter scale richter scale squidgy mov
An approach to R&D that replaces the discredited 'pipeline' model with synchronized cycles. The result is a guide for management.
"Balancing Practice-Centered Research and Design." by D.D. Woods and K. Christoffersen. In M. McNeese and M. A. Vidulich (editors), Cognitive Systems Engineering in Military Aviation Domains. Wright-Patterson AFB, OH: Human Systems Information Analysis Center, 2002, p. 121-136.
The chapter is based on Woods' plenary address at the International Ergonomic Association congress in 2000, "Complementarity and Synchronization as Strategies for Practice-Centered Research and Design." Multi-media animations from this talk provide dynamic illustrations of the chapter figures (see also part 3 of a Topic Landscape on Studying Cognitive Work in Context Facilitating Insight html
To see the approach in action on the topic of human-robot-interaction see the paper: Human-Robot Coordination pdf
Technique for aiding envisioning in design. animock mediapaper updated pdf For a description see later proceedings paper pdf
For descriptions of the envisioned world problem see animock mediapaper above pages 4 to 10 or following paper: technology change pdf
For an animation of technology change process see: black box mov
The basic cognitive triad is described at Cognitive System Triad html and illustrated at Cognitive System Triad mov
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
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.
Woods' plenary address at the International Ergonomic Association congress in 2000, "Complementarity and Synchronization as Strategies for Practice-Centered Research and Design." The talk provides a new approach to R&D that replaces the discredited 'pipeline' model with synchronized cycles. The result is a guide for management.
The content is available as a book chapter "Balancing Practice-Centered Research and Design." by D.D. Woods and K. Christoffersen. In M. McNeese and M. A. Vidulich (editors), Cognitive Systems Engineering in Military Aviation Domains. Wright-Patterson AFB, OH: Human Systems Information Analysis Center, 2002, p. 121-136. (See the entry Practice-Centered Design under Foundations or Design categories for more including animations of the chapter figures.)
The approach is part of a Topic Landscape on Studying Cognitive Work in Context (section 3) Facilitating Insight
To see the approach in action on the topic of human-robot-interaction see the paper: Human-Robot Coordination pdf
The envisioned world problem and a study illustrating one approach: the future incident technique. future incident study pdf
Paper introduces thinking about designs at the 3 levels of understanding, usefulness and usability in parallel. Designs are models of the field of practice (understanding level), hypotheses about what would be useful in the future (usefulness level) and objects to be realized (usability level). Designs are hypotheses pdf
For an animation of the concept see parallel levels in design mov