Workshop on Cognitive Work Analysis

University Of Washington, Seattle WA

Investigators

Abstract

Cognitive Work Analysis (CWA) approaches computer-based work in socio-technical systems by focusing on the analysis of cognitive work within a holistic framework in order to develop system requirements. Its unique contribution to human-centered design is its ability to address the complexity and the dynamic nature of the workplace. As a result, CWA facilitates flexibility in problem solving in this ever-changing environment. CWA is one of the few conceptual frameworks that provide researchers with a way to study both task and context simultaneously, and affords a mechanism for transfering results from an in-depth analysis of human-information interaction directly to design requirements. This workshop, to be organized by the Center for Human-Information Interaction at the Information School of the University of Washington in November of 2004, with participants from both industry and academe, will focus on issues relating to research work using CWA and to training and education in this area. Ten participants from various disciplines, including psychology, information retrieval, knowledge representation, human-computer interaction, control and simulation, industrial design, mechanical engineering, and human factors engineering, will be invited. Broader Impacts: For the first time, researchers and practitioners from around the globe will be able to come together and discuss CWA and computer-based technology design, not as a subsystem of Cognitive Systems Engineering, but as a research focus well able to stand on its own and offering its own unique insights and benefits. The workshop will be advertised among other CWA experts, who will be welcome to register at no charge; the organizers thus expect a total of approximately 40 participants in all. Summaries of the results of working groups, as well as other materials, will be made available on the workshop's website. In addition, the workshop will begin to establish an international network of researchers and practitioners who employ CWA in their daily work.