148 research outputs found
Sense-making of an emergency call
No full textWork in control rooms, or so-called Centers of coordination, challenges both humans and technology. The people working there have to be able to make quick decisions as well as be alert during less busy times. The work has to be coordinated within the group, since the operators are much depending on each other's work. This places special demands on the technology; it should be fast, trustworthy and easy to manipulate so that the complexity of the work is reduced.SOS Alarm is a company that is responsible for managing the telephone calls made to the emergency telephone number 112 in Sweden. The SOS operators receive, categorize, document, dispatch and monitor the incoming cases. This paper discusses SOS operators work; how they coordinate the information and tasks between them; how the technology supports that work. This study presents a fully computerized setting, compared to many other studies of centers of coordination that are not.</p
Book Review: Cooperative Work and Coordinative Practices : Contributions to the Conceptual Foundations of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), Kjeld Schmidt
No full textOpen audio/video links as means for coordination - two case studies
No full textFrom the multitude of workplace studies that we have seen during the last decades, it has been shown that a common environment to a large extent supports coordination of work. The use of common artifacts and awareness of the co-workers activities effortlessly afford communication of the current state of work. Inevitably, a question arises: how can we get similar support for distributed groups? One idea has been to use a continuously open video and/or audio link, i.e. a media space, to support the informal coordination possibilities that are lacking in a distributed setting. In this paper, two cases from air traffic control are presented, where the long-term use of video and audio links plays an important role for communicating real-time updates of the state of work. The possibility to overhear and oversee what the colleagues are doing in remote positions reduces to a large extent the amount of obtrusive and time-consuming phone calls. The features and the successful use of these so-called focused media spaces are discussed in this paper.</p
The coordinative functions of flight strips
No full textCooperation in time-critical and physically distributed worksettings, such as air traffic control, requires extensive coordinationbetween the involved actors. For this coordination to beefficient the controllers rely both on the comprehensive use ofrules and procedures, and on artifacts supporting them infollowing these procedures. At the Copenhagen Air TrafficControl Center this coordination is largely carried out throughthe use of a flight plan database system, paper flight strips, anda closed-circuit television system. In relation to the introductionof a new and increasingly automated system in the year 2003 this paper discusses the coordinative functions served bythese three, soon to be replaced, artifacts from a design perspective.Despite the skepticism expressed in previous research,our results show that a further computerization couldbe successful if the coordinative functions the system currentlyfulfills are properly preserved.</p
Using technology for real-time coordination of work : a study of work and artifact use in the everyday activities at SOS Alarm [Elektronisk resurs]
No full textWork in control rooms, or so-called Centers of coordination, places demands both on humans and technology. The people working there have to be able to make quick decisions as well as be alert during less busy times. The work has to be coordinated within the group, since the operators are much depending on each other's work. This places special demands on the technology; it should be fast, trustworthy and easy to manipulate so that the complexity of the work is reduced. This type of work has been a source of interest in the research area of Computer Supported Cooperative Work, especially so since the needs for real-time coordination is great in these settings.SOS Alarm is a company that is responsible for managing the telephone calls made to the emergency number 112 in Sweden. They have 20 centers covering Sweden. This thesis present an overview of the SOS operators work; how they coordinate the information and tasks between them; how the technology supports that work. This study presents a fully computerized setting, compared to many other studies of centers of coordination that are not.This ethnographic workplace study has been inspired by ethnomethodological perspectives as well as earlier field studies of work and technology use. Its main results are a description of the work practice and technology at two centers, implications for design of a new computer aided dispatch system that is currently developed at SOS Alarm and general design ideas for control rooms.</p
Transforming field observations into functions : on the use of an ethnographic study in the design process
No full textUsing technology for real-time coordination of work : a study of work and artifact use in the everyday activities at SOS Alarm
No full textWork in control rooms, or so-called Centers of coordination, places demands both on humans and technology. The people working there have to be able to make quick decisions as well as be alert during less busy times. The work has to be coordinated within the group, since the operators are much depending on each other's work. This places special demands on the technology; it should be fast, trustworthy and easy to manipulate so that the complexity of the work is reduced. This type of work has been a source of interest in the research area of Computer Supported Cooperative Work, especially so since the needs for real-time coordination is great in these settings. SOS Alarm is a company that is responsible for managing the telephone calls made to the emergency number 112 in Sweden. They have 20 centers covering Sweden. This thesis present an overview of the SOS operators work; how they coordinate the information and tasks between them; how the technology supports that work. This study presents a fully computerized setting, compared to many other studies of centers of coordination that are not. This ethnographic workplace study has been inspired by ethnomethodological perspectives as well as earlier field studies of work and technology use. Its main results are a description of the work practice and technology at two centers, implications for design of a new computer aided dispatch system that is currently developed at SOS Alarm and general design ideas for control rooms.</p
Work and Technology Use in Centers of Coordination : Reflections on the relationship between situated practice and artifact design
No full textThe research problem explored in this thesis is how technology and work practice are related in coordinative situations (collocated and over distance). Further, the problem of how this kind of research results can be transformed and used in the development of new technology is discussed. Air Traffic Control and Emergency Call Centers are the two domains where the complex process of coordination in a time and safety critical setting has been studied. The methodological approach taken in the field studies is ethnographic, a qualitative method with a descriptive outcome. Air traffic controllers focus on keeping the airspace organized so that the aircraft are separated at all times, as well as are given an economic route by e.g. slowing down so that they do not have to wait in the air for traffic ahead. In order to manage the control of the national airspace, it is divided into geographical sectors each of which is controlled by 1-2 controllers. The aircraft cross many sectors during one flight and each time they cross a sector border there is a handover of responsibility between the controllers. The controllers have a large number of tools that they orchestrate in order to maintain control and keep records of the orders given to the pilots. The situation in one sector has therefore been locally stored at their work position. It is shown in the thesis how the social interaction and the technology support are ordered to broadcast the locally stored information. Emergency call centers at SOS Alarm are in contrast to the ATC centers fully computerized. The operators use CoordCom, a system that is currently in the process of being renewed. When a telephone call to the emergency number 112 is received in one of the 20 local centers in Sweden, a receiving operator initiates the case by interviewing the caller in order to categorize the incident. Often, an incident consists of a number of conditions that together make an emergency. It is shown that accountability of decisions and local knowledge of the center’s responsibility area are two important parts of coordination at SOS Alarm. A question that has been of interest during the studies is what possibilities ethnographic observations provide when used as a starting point in a design project. The final study provided a description of how the ethnographic material from the emergency call center study was explored and transformed in order to create concrete functionality and design. The thesis contributes with examples from the workplace studies of how people interact with each other through the technology and how skills, local knowledge and professional concerns shape the interaction. It also contributes with reflections on how descriptions and experiences of work practice and technology use in the field can serve as a foundation in shaping and designing new ideas and new functionality for future systems. The papers included in this thesis shows results on four issues in relation to coordination and technology: -Coordinative work practice and implications in using video/audio in a distributed setting -Support for accountability in decision-making in a distributed setting -The role of local knowledge and combined expertise in a local collocated center -The transformation of ethnographic observations in the design process The thesis also shows the importance of a further definition of the dichotomy of collocated and distributed work in order to inform technology. An analysis of the dichotomy based on the field study results is presented in the thesis.QC 2010101
Using technology for real-time coordination of work : a study of work and artifact use in the everyday activities at SOS Alarm
No full textWork in control rooms, or so-called Centers of coordination, places demands both on humans and technology. The people working there have to be able to make quick decisions as well as be alert during less busy times. The work has to be coordinated within the group, since the operators are much depending on each other's work. This places special demands on the technology; it should be fast, trustworthy and easy to manipulate so that the complexity of the work is reduced. This type of work has been a source of interest in the research area of Computer Supported Cooperative Work, especially so since the needs for real-time coordination is great in these settings. SOS Alarm is a company that is responsible for managing the telephone calls made to the emergency number 112 in Sweden. They have 20 centers covering Sweden. This thesis present an overview of the SOS operators work; how they coordinate the information and tasks between them; how the technology supports that work. This study presents a fully computerized setting, compared to many other studies of centers of coordination that are not. This ethnographic workplace study has been inspired by ethnomethodological perspectives as well as earlier field studies of work and technology use. Its main results are a description of the work practice and technology at two centers, implications for design of a new computer aided dispatch system that is currently developed at SOS Alarm and general design ideas for control rooms
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