Raya Fidel
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262017008
- eISBN:
- 9780262301473
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262017008.001.0001
- Subject:
- Information Science, Information Science
Human information interaction (HII) is an emerging area of study that investigates how people interact with information; its subfield human information behavior (HIB) is a flourishing, active ...
More
Human information interaction (HII) is an emerging area of study that investigates how people interact with information; its subfield human information behavior (HIB) is a flourishing, active discipline. Yet despite their obvious relevance to the design of information systems, these research areas have had almost no impact on systems design. One issue may be the contextual complexity of human interaction with information; another may be the difficulty in translating real-life and unstructured HII complexity into formal, linear structures necessary for systems design. This book proposes a research approach that bridges the study of human information interaction and the design of information systems: cognitive work analysis (CWA). Developed by Jens Rasmussen and his colleagues, CWA embraces complexity and provides a conceptual framework and analytical tools that can harness it to create design requirements. It offers an ecological approach to design, analyzing the forces in the environment that shape human interaction with information. The book reviews research in HIB, focusing on its contribution to systems design, and then presents the CWA framework. It shows that CWA, with its ecological approach, can be used to overcome design challenges and lead to the development of effective systems. Researchers and designers who use CWA can increase the diversity of their analytical tools, providing them with an alternative approach when they plan research and design projects. The CWA framework enables a collaboration between design and HII that can create information systems tailored to fit human lives.Less
Human information interaction (HII) is an emerging area of study that investigates how people interact with information; its subfield human information behavior (HIB) is a flourishing, active discipline. Yet despite their obvious relevance to the design of information systems, these research areas have had almost no impact on systems design. One issue may be the contextual complexity of human interaction with information; another may be the difficulty in translating real-life and unstructured HII complexity into formal, linear structures necessary for systems design. This book proposes a research approach that bridges the study of human information interaction and the design of information systems: cognitive work analysis (CWA). Developed by Jens Rasmussen and his colleagues, CWA embraces complexity and provides a conceptual framework and analytical tools that can harness it to create design requirements. It offers an ecological approach to design, analyzing the forces in the environment that shape human interaction with information. The book reviews research in HIB, focusing on its contribution to systems design, and then presents the CWA framework. It shows that CWA, with its ecological approach, can be used to overcome design challenges and lead to the development of effective systems. Researchers and designers who use CWA can increase the diversity of their analytical tools, providing them with an alternative approach when they plan research and design projects. The CWA framework enables a collaboration between design and HII that can create information systems tailored to fit human lives.
Raya Fidel
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262017008
- eISBN:
- 9780262301473
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262017008.003.0011
- Subject:
- Information Science, Information Science
Cognitive work analysis (CWA) is a context- and work-centered conceptual framework that guides an analysis of cognitive work leading to design requirements. Under CWA, any activity that requires ...
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Cognitive work analysis (CWA) is a context- and work-centered conceptual framework that guides an analysis of cognitive work leading to design requirements. Under CWA, any activity that requires decision making is considered “cognitive work.” Given its emphasis on explicit analysis of the constraints impressed upon actors by the work ecology, CWA provides an ecological approach to the study of human information interaction (HII). This chapter describes CWA’s dimensions of analysis and discusses its potential application to information systems design. There are five dimensions of analysis: analysis of the work environment, the work domain analysis, activity analysis, organizational analysis, and analysis of actors’ resources and values.Less
Cognitive work analysis (CWA) is a context- and work-centered conceptual framework that guides an analysis of cognitive work leading to design requirements. Under CWA, any activity that requires decision making is considered “cognitive work.” Given its emphasis on explicit analysis of the constraints impressed upon actors by the work ecology, CWA provides an ecological approach to the study of human information interaction (HII). This chapter describes CWA’s dimensions of analysis and discusses its potential application to information systems design. There are five dimensions of analysis: analysis of the work environment, the work domain analysis, activity analysis, organizational analysis, and analysis of actors’ resources and values.
Raya Fidel
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262017008
- eISBN:
- 9780262301473
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262017008.003.0013
- Subject:
- Information Science, Information Science
Cognitive work analysis (CWA) can play an important role in realizing convergence between research in human information interaction (HII) and information systems design. CWA has the potential to ...
More
Cognitive work analysis (CWA) can play an important role in realizing convergence between research in human information interaction (HII) and information systems design. CWA has the potential to establish relations between various elements that have been fragmented in human information behavior research and in other HII areas. It can also connect theory with practice, various areas of research expertise, seemingly diverse areas of research, and various theoretical traditions and conceptual constructs. Moreover, CWA can help researchers decide about which variables to study. As an ecological approach, CWA can also be useful to the design of context-specific systems through its focus on environmental constraints.Less
Cognitive work analysis (CWA) can play an important role in realizing convergence between research in human information interaction (HII) and information systems design. CWA has the potential to establish relations between various elements that have been fragmented in human information behavior research and in other HII areas. It can also connect theory with practice, various areas of research expertise, seemingly diverse areas of research, and various theoretical traditions and conceptual constructs. Moreover, CWA can help researchers decide about which variables to study. As an ecological approach, CWA can also be useful to the design of context-specific systems through its focus on environmental constraints.
Raya Fidel
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262017008
- eISBN:
- 9780262301473
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262017008.003.0012
- Subject:
- Information Science, Information Science
Cognitive work analysis (CWA) can address the complexity of human information interaction by parceling out the investigated phenomenon while preserving the relationships among the resulting parts. ...
More
Cognitive work analysis (CWA) can address the complexity of human information interaction by parceling out the investigated phenomenon while preserving the relationships among the resulting parts. The CWA dimensions suggest that attributes may be organizational, cultural or individual, or determined by the work and subject domains. To harness complexity, CWA provides analytical tools for each dimension, such as the analysis of actors’ resources and values, strategies analysis, and decision analysis. Decision analysis, task analysis, and work environment analysis are all carried out using an abstraction hierarchy tool that provides a means-ends analysis.Less
Cognitive work analysis (CWA) can address the complexity of human information interaction by parceling out the investigated phenomenon while preserving the relationships among the resulting parts. The CWA dimensions suggest that attributes may be organizational, cultural or individual, or determined by the work and subject domains. To harness complexity, CWA provides analytical tools for each dimension, such as the analysis of actors’ resources and values, strategies analysis, and decision analysis. Decision analysis, task analysis, and work environment analysis are all carried out using an abstraction hierarchy tool that provides a means-ends analysis.
Raya Fidel
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262017008
- eISBN:
- 9780262301473
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262017008.003.0004
- Subject:
- Information Science, Information Science
Information need is a foundational concept related to both information seeking and human information interaction. Robert S. Taylor, a scholar of human information behavior, made significant ...
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Information need is a foundational concept related to both information seeking and human information interaction. Robert S. Taylor, a scholar of human information behavior, made significant contributions to research on information need. This chapter discusses the definitional and operational challenges associated with the study of information need. It also examines the decision ladder, a model of the decision making process introduced by Jens Rasmussen (1986) and his colleagues as part of a conceptual framework which they developed for cognitive work analysis. The decision ladder describes decision making as a process involving three phases: situation analysis, evaluation, and planning.Less
Information need is a foundational concept related to both information seeking and human information interaction. Robert S. Taylor, a scholar of human information behavior, made significant contributions to research on information need. This chapter discusses the definitional and operational challenges associated with the study of information need. It also examines the decision ladder, a model of the decision making process introduced by Jens Rasmussen (1986) and his colleagues as part of a conceptual framework which they developed for cognitive work analysis. The decision ladder describes decision making as a process involving three phases: situation analysis, evaluation, and planning.
