Save the Date for an Interesting PhD Defence!

On February 27 2020 our excellent colleague Ida Löscher will present her PhD thesis work. Ida is one of our very inspiring colleagues in the HTO group with a bright mind and creative ideas on top of being unusually well organised. A true role model!

In her research Ida Löscher has looked into methods to improve IT systems development in organisations. Her thesis is truly impressive and consists of seven papers and work done in both long haul driving and health care. Join us in listening to a presentation of her work at her PhD defence!

Information about the PhD defence: 

Title: Aiming at Moving Targets: Applying Cognitive Work Analysis to Work Domains in Transition

When: On the 27th of February 2020 at 13.00

Where: 2446, ITC

Members of the PhD committee are:

 

Preliminary Abstract

The design of IT systems that are to be used in complex work environments is essential for the workers’ ability to carry out their work in a good way. To design a system that supports the workers’ work, one needs to understand the work demands and the context where the system will be used. However, this is difficult due to the changing nature of complex systems.

The thesis investigates how the Cognitive Work Analysis framework (Vicente, 1999) can be used to understand a domain under transformation, by (1) develop methods to handle challenges associated with applying CWA to real-world complex systems, and (2) investigate how models from the CWA framework can be used to handle the moving target for development problem. The studies are carried out within two application domains: long haul driving, and health care.
An activity prioritizing method was suggested for focus the analyzing efforts during the analysis of tasks and strategies, however, the adaption to practical constraints has to be done thoughtfully not to lose the value that the analysis can bring. Further, workshops were suggested to bridge a gap between the analysis and design, by finding design metaphors and possible future work strategies from the drivers’ domain knowledge. Third, a study was carried out using the abstraction hierarchy (AH) to learn about digitization within health care, an example of ongoing change in a work domain. The AH model was further adapted to model health IT-systems to give an overview and consistent vision for strategic decisions. To use the AH as an overview of sub-systems developed by different organizations or organizational units, would make it possible to identify collaboration needs or needed integration between systems. The AH can, therefore, support the development of the IT system that is to be part of a transforming work domain.

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