Title

System State Awareness: A Human Centered Design Approach To Awareness In A Complex World

Abstract

Situation Awareness is a popular concept used to assess human agents' understanding of a system and any error that may occur due to poor understanding. However, the popular conception of situation awareness retains assumptions better suited for linear, controlled systems. When assessing complex systems, rife with non-linear, emergent behaviors, current models of situation awareness frequently place much of the burden of system failure onto the human agent. We contend that the traditional concept of a fully controlled system is not the best fit for a complex system with networked loci of control, especially during abnormal system states. Instead, we recommend an approach that focuses on agents' adaptation to environmental cues. We discuss how the concept of situation awareness, when enmeshed in the assumption of linearity, insufficiently deals with extended cognition, reliability, adaptation, and system stability. We conclude that an approach focusing on System State Awareness (SSA), instead, facilitates the adaptation of system goals during off-normal system states. Thus, SSA provides the theoretical underpinning for design of distributed networked systems that improve human performance in complex environments.

Publication Date

1-1-2014

Publication Title

Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society

Volume

2014-January

Number of Pages

305-309

Document Type

Article; Proceedings Paper

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1177/1541931214581063

Socpus ID

84983134688 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/84983134688

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