cognitive ergonomics on the ship bridge OICL/AHO - 2017 - C. - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

cognitive ergonomics

• n the ship bridge

OICL/AHO - 2017 - C. Pearsell-Ross

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cognitive ergonomics

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cognition /k!"#n$%(!)n/

noun

• 1. the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge

and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses.

• 2. a perception, sensation, idea, or intuition resulting

from the process of cognition.

ergonomics /&!'"!#n!m$ks/

noun

• 1. an applied science concerned with designing and

arranging things people use so that the people and things interact most efficiently and safely — called also biotechnology, human engineering, human factors

• 2. the design characteristics of an object resulting

especially from the application of the science of ergonomics

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first we can look to definitions of the words themselves

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cognitive ergonomics

“… is concerned with mental processes, such as perception, memory, reasoning, and motor response, as they affect interactions among humans and other elements of a system.”

• international ergonomics association

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and we can look to professional associations

perceive process interact

context

(situated cognition)

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so it is fundamentally about how humans perceive, process and interact with systems of all kinds

sensation & perception attention short-term (working) memory long-term memory language understanding & creation problem solving decision making reasoning learning expertise response time

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it is built on an understanding of how functional aspects of our brains actually work

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sense perception cognition

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it is built on an understanding of how functional aspects of our brains actually work

sense

DeviantArt user: Shawn10000

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We start with raw sensory input - the unprocessed signals our eyes, ears and

• ther senses pick up.

Wikimedia user: N1RK4UDSK714

perception

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Our brain starts to resolve those signals into usable information.

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perception

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Once we filter and begin interpreting that data, we get meaningful information, based on our previous experiences.

shipwreck

perception

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Once we filter and begin interpreting that data, we get meaningful information, based on our previous experiences.

memory knowledge attention situational awareness decision making behaviour

cognition

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Cognition refers to the thought processes that turn that usable information into knowledge, which we use to make memories, decisions, and to develop a mental model of the situation we are in.

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each of these processes have limitations

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Each of these processes are interrelated, and have limitations

If the brain’s limitations are not easily visible, like the body’s, how do we understand them and design for them?

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If the brain’s limitations are not easily visible, like the body’s, how do we understand them and design for them?

understand your users, do your research & test the fundamentals:

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user research, task analysis, interviews, observations, etc. best practices, standards, ergonomics guidelines, etc.

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testing, testing, testing

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It also involves testing your ideas, hypothesis and designs

look for adaptations

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One other way to learn lessons for design is to look for the adaptations and modifications people are already using.

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the ship bridge

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and this brings us to our site visit to the Icebreaker Oden, which was docked in Helsingborg, Sweden, and my classmate’s visit to Atle, which was docked in Luleå.

site visits to: Oden Atle

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Here we can see the bridge of Oden, a large Swedish icebreaker that patrols the Bay of Bothnia, and conducts regular expeditions to the arctic.

“cognitive short cuts”

Adaptations the crew has made to reduce cognitive load or increase situational awareness (or just to make life easier).

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While touring the bridge I found a lot of examples of modifications or adaptations

• f equipment to either make a task easier, or to reduce the amount of active

thinking needed to complete a task. I’m calling these things cognitive short cuts here, but there may be another word for them elsewhere.

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• 1. put a sticker on it

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Here we can see the aft-facing winch control station on the bridge of Oden. It controls the main winch the ship uses to tow other boats through channels in the ice, as well as secondary controls for the main thrusters and rudders, and rear spot lights.

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Unfortunately, the helipad entirely blocks the view of the aft deck, so the operator can’t actually see what the winch is doing.

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So they use this rear-facing camera feed. The distance markings were added after the fact. A crew member walked out onto the ice behind the ship with a long tape measure and a stick, signalling every 10 meters so the bridge crew could apply the distance markers.

crew at the controls distance estimate RADAR/GPS

(inaccurate, far away)

• bservation from the deck

(via radio)

educated guess

(maybe leaning over to see

• ut the window)

short-cut

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This modification cuts across a long and often inaccurate process, delivering a distance estimate that the crew trusts directly to the place where they need it.

lessons for future designs make critical information easy to find, when and where you need it the whole > the sum of the parts (combine information) analog is sometimes cheaper, faster and more reliable being part of the process builds in trust

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• 2. always leave a note

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Here we can see di!erent kinds of notes left by crew members on the bridge of

• Oden. Most shown here are semi-permanent, but the crew regularly leaves

temporary notes on controls to indicate di!erent states or critical processes.

lessons for future designs design interactions that cannot be used incorrectly - ask: why does this need clarification? can interactions communicate their function? make your thought process visible don’t assume understanding lack of information vs. information overload

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• 3. put a sticker on it part 2

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This is an aft-bridge station on Oden, used to control ROVs and sonar equipment

• n scientific missions. Here we see another note along with colour labels on every

screen and input device.

lessons for future designs colour can coordinate (…consider colour blindness…) generic vs. specific functions what appears interchangeable? design for clarity - square holes for square pegs consistency

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• 4. label it

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The crew of Oden labelled almost everything in sight. The bridge uses so many interchangeable elements that extra information has to be added to keep everything clear. One interesting thing is shown in the top right image - we see a rudder control with port and starboard labelled with colours consistent to other inputs. The crew use this controller while seated at the conning station - in which case port and starboard are easy remember - but they also use it standing up on the other side

• f the console, leaning over to see out the window.

lessons for future designs can you communicate function through form? don’t assume critical or fundamental information is always understood lack of information vs. information overload will the interaction always be used the same way?

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upside down - using the rudder control from the other side…

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• 5. put a stick(er) on it

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When we were getting an overview of the conning station I noticed these hand- painted white marks and a black stick bolted to the railing.

stick (bolted to railing) hand-painted reference marks ECDIS/AIS/GPS (comes from space) RADAR (comes from science)

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Oden has an o!-centre conning station, so that the o#cers can have a better view

• f the ship they are assisting in close operations. This means they can’t use the

bow of the ship to confirm their bearing, so they’ve added this custom built system that gives the conning o#cer an analog way of confirming their direction. Each of the marks represents 5 degrees.

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lessons for future designs sometimes the simplest solution is best the environment is the information build for redundancy human beings can be more powerful than computers - use them (with backup)

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• 6. put a lid on it

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This one was my favourite. I noticed this hand-made acrylic cover on the centre communications console - complete with binoculars and co!ee cup.

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Underneath was a centralised alarm control station, which shows alerts from multiple systems across the ship, and could send out alarms to the crew’s personal terminals. This is all enabled by a touch screen. The trouble is that this is a flat surface, and flat surfaces attract co!ee cups, which would end up triggering an all-engineer alarm, alerting the entire engineering sta! - even those o!-shift and sleeping.

silence button

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So the crew came up with this handy cover to prevent the accidental alarms, and for good measure they cut out an access to the silence button. The alarms are so constant that the crew simply silences all alarms without being able to see what they are.

lessons for future designs does the function of your design defeat it’s purpose? critical errors should be hard to make - inputs & outputs if it looks like a table it will be used as a table annoyance defeats importance

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• 7. put a stick on it - part 2

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Sorry for this low-res image - we received some corrupted data from the ship, and this was what we could repair. It shows a stick tied onto a railing on the side of Oden, with black and white stripes 10cm wide. The crew uses it to estimate ice thickness as the ice sheets roll up the side of the hull when ice breaking.

lessons for future designs aesthetic knowledge is fast what is the minimal amount of intervention needed for adequate understanding? sometimes the simplest solution is best the environment is the information build for redundancy

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Understand your users, do your research, test, and look for adaptations. If the brain’s limitations are not easily visible, how do we understand them and design for them?

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And that brings us back to the central question I hope these examples have helped to answer - If the brain’s limitations are not easily visible, how do we understand them and design for them?

takk

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who are they? how do they work? what are they doing? what systems are they working within? what are they best at? what do they need help with?

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good UI design

bad UI design

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information visualisation signal noise

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appropriate tangible interactions

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vision hearing tactile senses vestibular senses

senses in maritime

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