Managing unruly technologies in the engine control room: from problem patching to an architectural thinking and standardization

Abstract

In recent years, the work in engine control rooms (ECRs) onboard ships is becoming increasingly demanding and complex due to growing presence of modern information technology (IT) applications introduced in a problem-patching fashion. Previous studies about ECRs discussed the design issues associated with physical and cognitive ergonomics and lack of regulatory support. This paper has reexamined a design case in an ECR on a merchant ship and discussed the potential of a service-oriented architectural approach to manage emerging unruly technologies and integrate distributed resources in the maritime human-technology system. An EU project was introduced to illustrate the value of this design approach. Confronted with the complexity issues residing in a sociotechnical system like the ECR, this conceptual paper suggests a shift of focus from patching individual problems locally to a holistic systems perspective on the maritime ecosystem development, which would likely require more collaborative efforts of various maritime stakeholders in practice. Certain extent of mandatory standardization for deploying and managing information systems is considered to be critical in these collaborative endeavors.

Towards a Pluralistic Epistemology: Understanding Human-Technology Interactions in Shipping from Psychological, Sociological and Ecological Perspectives

“…These projects largely ignored what kind of work and eco-system would evolve towards. There was a case study regarding the eco-system development in ships' ECRs [217]. In ECRs, although the functionality of overview is found to be important for monitoring tasks, the displays and controls are increasingly distributed [28].…”

“…With more technologies introduced to ECRs, local problems might get solved but the overarching ecology is becoming more complex. The situation is not only wracked with the technical hardship but also organisational factors, compounded by the regulatory vacuum which allows a "wild" growth of the intertwined eco-systems in the ECRs [27,217].…”

“…The paper suggests the importance of having a holistic thinking in the shipping industry's ecology (such as the overall architecture) [217]. This is not about how we tackle some usability problem or introduce some "intelligent" IT applications locally, but how we should perceive the issue globally (within an organisation, across organisations, or even in a larger context).…”

Cyber-SHIP: Developing Next Generation Maritime Cyber Research Capabilities

“…This follows the general trend observed in other topics of systems becoming more connected. IT/OT convergence, however, is a little different, as there are more operational system involved, increasing the number of cyber-physical vulnerabilities and threats possible (Man et al 2018). As this and the other digital trends in this section show, maritime cyber threats are growing and evolving with technology itself and how the technology is used.…”

Factors Affecting Cyber Risk in Maritime

“…While the figure considered them nearly identical in terms of function and physical location onboard, risk factors in engineering have a much more diverse outcome and has more crew interaction. This differentiation may be even more pronounced in the future, as ship engineering OT is becoming more sophisticated and interactive with IT [32]. Risks from these static features tend to result in accidents, as the vulnerability is constant, while dynamic factors can be changed to trigger an attack.…”