Work Domain Analysis for Intentional Systems

Abstract

Work domain analysis (WDA) is an approach developed by Rasmussen (1985) for representing the structure of complex work environments. Many examples of the approach have surfaced in the literature, predominantly of physically coupled causal systems (e.g., process control). For causal systems, the environment is strongly constrained by the laws of nature. This approach can also be used for representing intentional systems (e.g., military command and control), although there is some controversy on this issue. For intentional systems, the environment is strongly constrained by actors' intentions, values, and priorities of practice. This paper discusses the differences between causal and intentional systems and provides direction on how to proceed with a WDA for intentional systems. A WDA is presented for emergency ambulance dispatch management and military command and control to illustrate the approach. Finally, a discussion of the implications and future research recommendations are presented.

Understanding emergency medical dispatch in terms of distributed cognition: a case study

“…Henderson & Mason, 1999;Zhu, McKnew, & Lee, 1992); others have focused on decision making processes within EMD (e.g. Hajdukiewicz, Burns, Vicente, & Eggleston, 1999;Wong, Sallis, & O'Hare, 1998). consider the design of a particular Computer Aided Dispatch system in terms of how it supports the work of different users within the control room setting, while Blandford and Wong (2004) extend a theoretical account of the development and use of situation awareness, using EMD data as the basis for analysis.…”

Situation awareness in emergency medical dispatch

“…Although there have been a number of studies in the domain of emergency ambulance control, covering issues in workload modelling (Henderson & Mason, 1999;Zhu, McKnew, & Lee, 1992), software design and reliability of real-time, life-critical systems (Finkelstein & Dowell, 1996), software usability of dispatch systems (McCarthy, Wright, Healey, Dearden, & Harrison, 1997), and decision making processes (Hajdukiewicz, Burns, Vicente, & Eggleston, 1999;Wong, Sallis, & O'Hare, 1998), none have previously focused on the role and maintenance of situation awareness in this context.…”

Turing machine as an ecological model for task analysis

“…This part-whole decomposition drives the definition of the relevant patterns of information. Tasks performed on an intentional domain, that is to say mainly driven by individual conceptual goals and not by the structure of devices, seem a priori less easy to be described by this method (Wong et al 1998, Hajdukiewicz et al 1999. As Bubb (2006) pointed out, Turing machine formalism fits the modelling of routine works dependent on skill triggering contexts.…”