tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76536483320236315312024-03-13T03:05:50.034-07:00High Velocity Human FactorsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15703567509415022352noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7653648332023631531.post-62031349910742824862015-03-30T08:25:00.002-07:002015-03-30T12:05:00.756-07:00Tragic Crash of the Germanwings Flight 9525: Human and Socio-Economic-Technical Factors<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; line-height: 19.3199996948242px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span style="line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">Initial <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/29/europe/france-germanwings-plane-crash-main/">investigations</a> have revealed that the co-pilot intentionally brought down Germanwings Flight 9525 by locking himself inside the cockpit; with the chief pilot locked out and unable to gain entry.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">French Red Cross Members Pay Tribute to the Victims of Germanwings Flight 9525 (Photo Credit: CNN)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">On first blush, the obvious cause would be attributed to the co-pilot, the man on the "tactical-edge" -- at the controls. However, it is equally, if not more important, to also consider the latent and hidden failures that could be attributed to the "Organiz</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">ation." How was such a pilot allowed at the controls in the first place? That is a Latent / Organizational failure. The plausible reasons for this:</span></div>
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<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">(1) Insufficient funds and time to conduct<a href="http://nyti.ms/1yfO0Jx"> training, psychological tests and screening</a>.<br />2) Low supply of high quality pilots who require a higher salary; so settle for marginal or substandard pilots or personnel (?)<br />3)<a href="http://m.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/03/more-on-the-germanwings-crash/388967/"> Throughput pressures due to financial stressors</a> causing a pilot "Burn-out" -- overly stressed, insufficient rest and recovery -- and psychological breakdown.<br />4) Contradictions in pilots' medical evaluation for <a href="http://m.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/03/more-on-the-germanwings-crash/388967/">Fitness for Flying</a>.<br />5) <a href="http://www.popularmechanics.com/flight/a10270/in-light-of-mh370-evidence-could-plane-cockpits-be-too-secure-16611747/">Design and protocol contradictions</a> in cockpit security.</span></div>
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<b>Airbus Instructional Video: Cockpit Door Security Procedure</b></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">The picture below shows James Reason famous, but dated model ("Swiss Cheese Model") for human error. Swiss cheese because, someday the holes in the Swiss cheese slices would line-up and the inevitable accident (that is "hidden" or "latent") will pass right through the holes and reveal itself. In a philosophical sense, accidents are not something <i>accidental </i>but are events lurking in the background (latent) and are just waiting to happen. Forgive me for the bleak portrayal of reality. In fact, Charles Perrow, for that very reason called all accidents as being NORMAL. He referred to them as "Normal Accidents." </span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">To summarize the above, accidents are not some abnormal events, but are embedded deeply in the very nature of high risk technologies. Probabilities could be low to very low, nevertheless, they are not Zero.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>James Reason "Swiss Cheese Model" for Accident Causation</b></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.0799999237061px; text-align: center;">Introducing locked cockpit doors, or any solution, either introduces new risks and/or can be willfully defeated. They are revealed when the (hazards) holes get aligned and the adverse event slips through the holes.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">And then we've the unforeseen or impossible to imagine Fat tail events: Low probability, high impact "Black Swan Events" (cf. Nassim Taleb). </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Wonder if the pilot locking himself in situation was ever foreseen before the accident in Risk Analysis -- when designing both the procedures and the cockpit security / door lock mechanisms. (No hindsight, please!)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span data-reactid=".m7.1:3:1:$comment10206323499555440_10206325124956074:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.0" style="line-height: 16.0799999237061px;"><span data-reactid=".m7.1:3:1:$comment10206323499555440_10206325124956074:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.0.$end:0:$0:0">Disasters with high hazard technology are here to stay -- where the size of dose (harm) or risk (probability of hazard to cause harm) can never be brought to zero. One shouldn't be surprised w</span></span><span data-reactid=".m7.1:3:1:$comment10206323499555440_10206325124956074:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3" style="line-height: 16.0799999237061px;"><span data-reactid=".m7.1:3:1:$comment10206323499555440_10206325124956074:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0"><span data-reactid=".m7.1:3:1:$comment10206323499555440_10206325124956074:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$0:0">ith accidents, as all accidents are "Normal Accidents" (cf. Charles Perrow). This by the very nature of interventions -- a general Increase in complexity, due to added layers of components, layers, functions, interactivity (e.g., 2-pilots) -- will not necessarily decrease the overall risk. A decrease in one plausible path for accident occurrence may end-up increasing in some other [foreseen or unforeseen] paths. </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span data-reactid=".m7.1:3:1:$comment10206323499555440_10206325124956074:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3" style="line-height: 16.0799999237061px;"><span data-reactid=".m7.1:3:1:$comment10206323499555440_10206325124956074:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0"><span data-reactid=".m7.1:3:1:$comment10206323499555440_10206325124956074:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$0:0"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span data-reactid=".m7.1:3:1:$comment10206323499555440_10206325124956074:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3" style="line-height: 16.0799999237061px;"><span data-reactid=".m7.1:3:1:$comment10206323499555440_10206325124956074:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0"><span data-reactid=".m7.1:3:1:$comment10206323499555440_10206325124956074:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$0:0">The following may offer cold or no comfort: In an era, of aviation deregulation, budget airlines and airfares on a shoestring maybe light on our wallets but should weigh heavily on our minds. Lest we end-up paying a heavy price in life and limb that can't be measured by dollars.</span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif;"><span data-reactid=".m7.1:3:1:$comment10206323499555440_10206325124956074:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3" style="line-height: 16.0799999237061px;"><span data-reactid=".m7.1:3:1:$comment10206323499555440_10206325124956074:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0"><span data-reactid=".m7.1:3:1:$comment10206323499555440_10206325124956074:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$0:0"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span data-reactid=".m7.1:3:1:$comment10206323499555440_10206325124956074:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3" style="line-height: 16.0799999237061px;"><span data-reactid=".m7.1:3:1:$comment10206323499555440_10206325124956074:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0"><span data-reactid=".m7.1:3:1:$comment10206323499555440_10206325124956074:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$0:0" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Acknowledgements: Thanks to Vergil Den, Marc Resnick and Bapcha Man for enriching my analysis and thinking on the topic by sharing their insights on my social media page.</i></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span data-reactid=".m7.1:3:1:$comment10206323499555440_10206325124956074:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3" style="background-color: #f6f7f8; line-height: 16.0799999237061px;"><span data-reactid=".m7.1:3:1:$comment10206323499555440_10206325124956074:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0"><span data-reactid=".m7.1:3:1:$comment10206323499555440_10206325124956074:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1.$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$0:0"><span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">Moin Rahman</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">Principal</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">HVHF Sciences LLC</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;" /><a href="http://hvhfsciences.com/">http://hvhfsciences.com/</a><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">E-mail: <a href="mailto:moin.rahman@hvhfsciences.com">moin.rahman@hvhfsciences.com</a></span></span></span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15703567509415022352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7653648332023631531.post-5676637979332132172014-12-03T13:51:00.001-08:002015-05-26T13:29:21.846-07:00Police Decision Making: Science, Policy and Practice for the Use of Deadly Force <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Once the proverbial "pull the trigger" decision is made either to let out a <i>Verbal Volley </i>or <i>Fire a Single Shot, </i>it is almost impossible to apply the brakes. The outcome resulting from this could be a frayed relationship with a colleague at work or a loss of life on the streets during police work. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The last one was seen recently with the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/08/13/us/ferguson-missouri-town-under-siege-after-police-shooting.html">police shooting in Ferguson, Missouri</a>, where Officer Darren Wilson fatally shot and killed 18-year old, Michael Brown -- in addition to the precious loss of life of a young man, there were repercussions from riots to citizens' loss of confidence in the police itself. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">DECISION MAKING IN LIFE THREATENING SITUATIONS</span></h4>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Research in evolutionary psychology and cognitive science show the underlying reasons as to why we humans act in a preemptive manner (use force), particularly when life and limb are at stake, even before all the facts are ascertained. They are:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Time pressure</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Physical survival under threat (or) loss of property </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">(1 & 2 causing) Danger-induced emotional arousal and biased decision making that favors self preservation. </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The simplest way to describe the above is by analyzing the structure of the human brain. Our brain carries the baggage of our evolutionary history, from the time we evolved from reptiles to small mammals and eventually the primates that we are today (homosapiens: Latin for "Wise Man" or "Thinking Man"!). This is revealed in the structure of our triune (3-layered) brain, where the reptilian brain is at the lowest, followed by the Intermediate brain at the next higher level, and the Rational Brain at the highest level. </span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ItXv0E4vCwk/VH9nNMFAAXI/AAAAAAAAEXA/dJpl6uSxR3c/s1600/Triune%2BBrain.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="264" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ItXv0E4vCwk/VH9nNMFAAXI/AAAAAAAAEXA/dJpl6uSxR3c/s1600/Triune%2BBrain.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Our base instincts pertaining to self preservation and aggression (including quenching hunger, sexual drive, bowel and bladder functions), are largely governed by the primitive or reptilian brain. Whereas mental processes that concern higher-order thinking and symbolic manipulation, say, composing music or reading a map, operate in the rational brain.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">So in other words, we the homosapiens, the supposed "Wise Man" are not really WISE when it is to do with decision making when survival or self preservation are at stake. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Furthermore, when it is a matter of survival, we would rather assume that the perceived threat is true (or a positive), in the spur of the moment, even if turns out to be false after examination or later reflection. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Why? </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It is better to be wrong than to be sorry (after the fact, say, injury or death). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Evolutionary psychologists call it the "Snake in the Grass Effect." For example, if we were walking in the woods and get a feeling that something is rubbing on our shin, our non-conscious, reptilian brain makes us jump back even before we get a chance to determine the source for that feeling. Later examination might reveal that we just happened to rub our shin on the bark of a tree giving us that "scaly feeling"! Thus, the "Snake in the Grass Effect." <br /><br />If in reality that "scaly feeling" turned out to be a tree bark that caused us to jump back in alarm, then, it was a <i><u>false positive</u></i>; however, regardless of the error, we have not lost a thing. Perhaps our heart rate and stress hormones levels momentarily elevated due to the hardwired flee or fight response. On the other hand, what it if that "scaly feeling" really happened to be snake? And it is quite possible that on that rare occasion, it might have well turn out to be a real rattle snake with scales! (<i><u>True Positive</u></i>). Jumping back in alarm, may actually have helped us survive!</span><br />
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<a href="http://delasierra-sheffer.net/images/snake.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://delasierra-sheffer.net/images/snake.gif" height="188" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Snake in the Grass Effect</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">SURVIVAL: DECISION MAKING ON THE POLICING BEAT</span></h4>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">How does all this play into policing and decision making?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Police officers are human, too, and succumb to the same decision making processes described above that are governed by the reptilian brain and false positives (snake in the grass effect). Furthermore, their decision making maybe affected due to implicit biases when a suspected person belongs to another racial or ethnic category. Alas, that is how the brain is wired given its evolutionary history.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">BUT, this is no excuse for police officers to open fire on innocent citizens. To prevent this, police departments have policies such as Use of Force Continuum (picture below), as to when the use force is appropriate and, thus, can be escalated. (A recent addition are body-worn cameras to deter the officer from unwarranted use of force.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">The classic definition for the philosophy of policing, which drives much of training and policing practice in the US is informed by the scholar Egon Bittner's (1985) classic paper*. He observed:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">"The police are best understood as a mechanism for distributing nonnegotiable coercive force in accordance with an intuitive grasp of situational threats to social order. This definition of the police role presents a difficult moral problem; setting the terms by which a society dedicated to peace can institutionalize the exercise of force...."</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But how does a police officer, in high stakes situations, get an intuitive grasp of situation threats? And how does one prevent false positives, particularly when transitioning from Level Four use of force to Level Five. And, in practical terms, under stressful situations, when danger-induced emotional arousal (reptilian brain), drives much of cognition, is it even possible to recall the Use of Force Continuum? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">These questions need to be asked and researched and solutions developed by taking a multi-pronged approach in the following areas:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Selection and recruitment procedures of police officers (by taking into consideration individual profiles (psychological and personality attributes); and appropriate screening to determine whether a candidate has innate or maladaptive cognitive and physical abilities for policing).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Police training curriculum and methods (techniques and simulations to impart knowledge, skills, abilities to tamp down hardwired responses such as the "Snake in the Grass Effect").</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Policies, procedures and protocols (on use of force; buddy-system; back-ups).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Technologies that monitor and/or augment officers' contextual-intelligence (person & place) and real-time situational awareness.</span></li>
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Before I conclude this article, I want us to consider a hypothetical question, which is both daring and crazy at once, a heresy even to utter in the context of policing in the United States:<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">Would having <span style="font-size: large;"><i><u><b>unarmed </b>police officers</u></i></span> conduct community policing reduce the TOTAL number of unwarranted killings -- loss of lives -- of both Citizens and Police Officers?</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">I am not sure what the answer would be. Because, it is unacceptable for any loss of innocent life, be that of an officer or a citizen. </span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">But by asking the above question, I raise a plausible solution (pointers, really) in terms of officer recruitment, training, police comms. & computing technology and policy. Because from a human factors standpoint an unarmed police officer should have built-up extraordinary abilities to diffuse a situation, without the use of force. In other words, our hypothetical un</span><span style="line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">armed police officer needs to have the following:</span></div>
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<li><span style="line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">high level of skills in communications (persuasion/dissuasion, body & verbal language); </span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">expertise in naturalistic decision making (ability to quickly discern the type of situation, then engage or disengage from person & incident -- particularly in an one-on-one situation where there is uncertainty about the level of threat and the suspect's desire to inflict bodily harm on the police officer);</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">augmenting pre-engagement decision making with technology (sensors, warnings, pre-engagement alerts) that enhance contextual intelligence and situational awareness and enables the right go/no-go decision;</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">Socio-psychological abilities (command presence, language, tone of voice, community engagement) & physical fitness and expertise in martial arts </span></li>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">All of the above, in my opinion, can contribute in the officer maintaining the locus of control and confidence. (Often times, it is a loss of confidence or fear, which leads to pulling the trigger.)</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">The take-away message is policing requires men and women with extraordinary capabilities and skillsets in multiple dimensions. They not only need physical strength, but also wit and wisdom on the fly. In other words, they need to be real HOMOSAPIENS, a.k.a., "the Wise Man" that we are capable of being when our rational brain is operational. What can and should be done by policy makers, researchers, recruiters, trainers, commanders, and actual policing practice, so that we have "wise men and women" police officers on the ground? And, more importantly, can it be realized in policing culture and practice quickly enough to prevent the next Ferguson? </span></div>
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About the author:</div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b style="line-height: 14.3999996185303px;"><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/moinrahman" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">Moin Rahman</a>, </b><span style="line-height: 14.3999996185303px;">is a Principal Scientist at </span><a href="http://hvhfsciences.com/" style="color: #888888; line-height: 14.3999996185303px; text-decoration: none;">HVHF Sciences, LLC</a><span style="line-height: 14.3999996185303px;">. He specializes in:</span></span></div>
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<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"Designing systems and solutions for human interactions when stakes are high, moments are fleeting and actions are critical."</span></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">For more information, please visit:</span></span></div>
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<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://hvhfsciences.com/" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">http://hvhfsciences.com/</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/moinrahman" name="SafeHtmlFilter_webProfileURL" style="border-width: 0px; color: #888888; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="View public profile">http://www.linkedin.com/in/moinrahman</a><br /><br />HVHF Article Archive: </b><a href="http://hvhfsciences.blogspot.com/" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">http://hvhfsciences.blogspot.com/</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">E-mail: moin.rahman@hvhfsciences.com</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15703567509415022352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7653648332023631531.post-70860164843773522922014-08-27T09:56:00.004-07:002014-08-27T13:32:45.361-07:00FirstNet: Reaping the Benefits of the "Broadband" by Aligning it with Social and Human Factors<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 0px; clear: left; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img src="http://m.c.lnkd.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/p/3/005/081/211/3d6aaba.jpg" /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The First Responder Network Authority, a.k.a., #FirstNet is certainly a "First" in more than one way. In addition to serving as a Public Safety Broadband Network (PSBN) for First Responders, it is also a "First" in terms of its potential for bridging the gulf between public safety socio-technical systems (organizations) and citizens at-large through a variety of Social Media and communication platforms (operating on 4G LTE networks with smart phones, tablets, wearable devices, and the like serving as end-user devices).</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The traditional model for communication between citizens and first responder organizations, which is currently constrained by legacy systems, needs to be taken to the next level into a new era, made possible by FirstNet. This is to realize communication and computing "utilities" and widgets that are citizen-centered, public safety-focused and community service oriented solutions. For example imagine the following possibilities: </span></div>
<ol style="border: 0px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 3em; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Consider the utilization of distributed computing, smart analytics and intelligent sensors (citizens included, citizens as sensors!) assets that are endowed with the capability to "pull" the right first responder assets to the site of the incident even before a formal voice call is made to 911 to a PSAP (public safety answering point)</span></li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Enable the first responders develop a veridical mental model of the different aspects of the situation (e.g., chemical spill; bodily harm; natural disaster) so that they rightly equip and approach the situation</span></li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Facilitate the development of situation awareness (Perception, Cognition and Projection of the Unfolding event, its non-equilibrium dynamics, potential for harm) so that the First Responder team and commander can employ "naturalistic decision making" to develop strategies on the fly as to how to respond and contain it; etc.</span></li>
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<div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Last but not least, Social Media-like platforms can also be employed by exploiting the "broadband" of the PSBN within and among public safety agencies with the goal of enabling human and organizational interoperability; overcoming fragmentation and compartmentalization of data, records, and (human expertise) institutional memory. So that they can be either tapped into -- or intelligently "pushed" to -- the public safety personnel at any given time. The beneficiaries may range from a first responder at the tactical edge or sharp end of the system to command in the backend of the system.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div>
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<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20px; margin: 1em 0px; orphans: auto; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">New developments such as Cloud Computing and Data transmission at broadband speeds alone will not suffice if they are not aligned with social and human factors of citizens and first responders. The imperative here is to identify "Data" that is relevant to the emergency situation (i.e., non-normal and abnormal situations) thus turning it into actionable "Information" and, then, processing and presenting that information in a form that can be comprehended -- i.e., turned into "Knowledge" -- by all cognitive agents (humans / first responders to AI/Computing systems) in the system. This may involve developing novel transcoding techniques to developing human-machine learning systems that complement each other, leverage their respective cognitive computing strengths (perceptual vs. conceptual gist), and, thus, acting as a force-multiplier at the tactical-edge and society at-large.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit;">To summarize, how the "Broadband's" extraordinary potential is harnessed to deliver utility to human and machine assets is contingent on understanding the interactions and coupling between them. An understanding of this requires performing cognitive ethnography in the field -- city streets to the fireground -- and applying both classical human factors and high velocity human factors (HVHF) to design intuitive user- and cognitive interfaces between first responders and their radios, computing and data devices. So that the power and speed of state of the art computing and communication technologies (wearables to cockpit interfaces to cloud computing to Internet of Things) are delivered to first responders' 'proverbial' finger tips and minds in cognitively digestible "chunks, volumes and velocities" -- in other words, in a highly intuitive format even when first responders don't have enough human (cognitive) bandwidth of their own to interact with technology due to high workload, stress triggered by a high stakes situation or imminent danger or situational impairment (smoke, water, debris in the environment) or due to personal injury.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In closing, First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) is one of the best ever challenges yet to the critical communication industry to up its game where its rate of innovation has been pretty flat compared to the goings-on in the world of consumer technology. FirstNet behooves the mission critical industry to develop new paradigms and breakthrough innovations in partnership with first responders to both predict as well as react when it comes to protecting the life & limb of citizens in particular and the precious intellectual, cultural and material wealth of free nations at-large.</span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The author, </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/moinrahman" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">Moin Rahman</a>, </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">is a Principal Scientist at </span><a href="http://hvhfsciences.com/" style="color: #888888; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-decoration: none;">HVHF Sciences, LLC</a><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. </span></span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">For more information, please visit:</span></span></span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://hvhfsciences.com/" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">http://hvhfsciences.com/</a></span></span></span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/moinrahman" name="SafeHtmlFilter_webProfileURL" style="border-width: 0px; color: #888888; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="View public profile">http://www.linkedin.com/in/moinrahman</a></span></span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">HVHF Article Archive: </span><a href="http://hvhfsciences.blogspot.com/" style="color: #888888; line-height: 14.399999618530273px; text-decoration: none;">http://hvhfsciences.blogspot.com/</a></span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">E-mail: hvhf33322@gmail.com</span></span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15703567509415022352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7653648332023631531.post-71885071090325942732014-06-09T08:00:00.000-07:002014-06-09T08:04:52.552-07:00Wellness Wearables: Just Don't Track Me, Engage Me!<h3 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.5em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 27px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 22.399999618530273px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Are Current Wearables "Tracking Technology" Capable of Changing Behavior for the Better?</strong></h3>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2BI-IOl8Pa4/U5XM0CpKmdI/AAAAAAAADN0/iGz6jA9Si74/s1600/Wearables.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2BI-IOl8Pa4/U5XM0CpKmdI/AAAAAAAADN0/iGz6jA9Si74/s1600/Wearables.jpg" height="320" width="272" /></a></div>
Read on...<br />
"<a href="http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140423205418-2646356-wellness-wearables-just-don-t-track-me-engage-me">Wellness Wearables: Just Don't Track Me, Engage Me!</a>" by @mrahman4 on @LinkedIn<br />
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Or Click On:<br />
<a href="http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140423205418-2646356-wellness-wearables-just-don-t-track-me-engage-me">http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140423205418-2646356-wellness-wearables-just-don-t-track-me-engage-me</a><br />
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The author, </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/moinrahman" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">Moin Rahman</a>, </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">is a Principal Scientist at </span><a href="http://hvhfsciences.com/" style="color: #888888; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-decoration: none;">HVHF Sciences, LLC</a><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">For more information, please visit:</span></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://hvhfsciences.com/" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">http://hvhfsciences.com/</a></span></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/moinrahman" name="SafeHtmlFilter_webProfileURL" style="border-width: 0px; color: #888888; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="View public profile">http://www.linkedin.com/in/moinrahman</a></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><br /></span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">HVHF Article Archive: </span><a href="http://hvhfsciences.blogspot.com/" style="color: #888888; line-height: 14.399999618530273px; text-decoration: none;">http://hvhfsciences.blogspot.com/</a><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">E-mail: hvhf33322@gmail.com</span></span></span></h3>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15703567509415022352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7653648332023631531.post-88320717060166245632014-06-04T09:04:00.002-07:002014-06-06T08:32:58.496-07:00Critical Communications for the Cognitive Age<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>"Critical Communications for the Cognitive Age"</b><br /><span style="font-weight: inherit;">by Moin Rahman in </span></span><em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://content.yudu.com/Library/A2uq8o/LTETodayIssue04/">LTE Today</a></em><em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">, </em>May 2014, (p. 28 -33)<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">In my article, I discuss how a (socio-technical) systems, or STS, approach is required when designing critical communications for LTE to realize its full potential as well as create an ecosystem for reliability, anti-fragility and human interoperability insofar critical communications and computing are concerned. Taking such a systems approach -- from the back-end, through the backbone of a LTE network and to the sharp end of the system -- can deliver unrivalled benefits to professionals and first responders performing at the tactical-edge and the human agents in the system at-large both during normal and, more importantly, abnormal situations.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 15px;">Article (pages 28 - 33 only) for download:</span><a href="https://db.tt/inBjG9ac" style="font-size: 15px;">Drop Box</a><span style="font-size: 15px;"> (or) </span><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bw-lNTaoBzv7TTdUbXA4RzF5NEk/edit?usp=sharing" style="font-size: 15px;">Google Docs</a></div>
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LTE Today (Full Issue): <a href="http://%20http//content.yudu.com/Library/A2uq8o/LTETodayIssue04/" style="border: 0px; color: #006699; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">http://content.yudu.com/Library/A2uq8o/LTETodayIssue04/</a><br />
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<a href="http://content.yudu.com/Library/A2uq8o/LTETodayIssue04/"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hHClG55-8mY/U5He9YPvQ9I/AAAAAAAADNg/yib3YklZYI8/s1600/LTE+Cover.jpg" height="468" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The author, </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/moinrahman" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">Moin Rahman</a>, </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">is a Principal Scientist at </span><a href="http://hvhfsciences.com/" style="color: #888888; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-decoration: none;">HVHF Sciences, LLC</a><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">For more information, please visit:</span></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://hvhfsciences.com/" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">http://hvhfsciences.com/</a></span></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/moinrahman" name="SafeHtmlFilter_webProfileURL" style="border-width: 0px; color: #888888; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="View public profile">http://www.linkedin.com/in/moinrahman</a></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><br /></span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">HVHF Article Archive: </span><a href="http://hvhfsciences.blogspot.com/" style="color: #888888; line-height: 14.399999618530273px; text-decoration: none;">http://hvhfsciences.blogspot.com/</a><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">E-mail: hvhf33322@gmail.com</span></span></span></h3>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15703567509415022352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7653648332023631531.post-64924551675889551892014-03-18T12:44:00.001-07:002015-05-06T14:01:51.547-07:00Touch Screen User-Interfaces: Touching to KNOW vs.Touching to say NO<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14.5600004196167px;">Touché</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14.5600004196167px;"> to TOUCH?!</span></span></h2>
We have evolved the sense of Touch to Know, to glean information about an object.<br />
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In this context, a physical object is its own user-interface. It doesn't require a Capacitive or Inductive Touch Screen to probe it and get a pixilated answer on the screen!<br />
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Why?<br />
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By touching an object we learn about its status. Obtain feedback whether it is hot/cold, rough/smooth, dangerous/safe, clean/dirty, ripe/unripe, etc.<br />
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Sometimes we touch objects with a purpose.<br />
<ul>
<li>to brush away dirt</li>
<li>to make indents</li>
<li>to scratch or scour it off some wanted or unwanted material</li>
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<h3>
Touch as a Mode of Interaction</h3>
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Physical manipulation -- pushing a button, flicking a toggle, pulling a T-handle, turning a knob/wheel, etc. -- was the norm for user-interaction in the industrial age. One literally had to overcome the force of the mechanism (which by the way also provided valuable haptic and kinesthetic feedback, but fatiguing from a muscular effort standpoint) while interacting with them. Thus they were referred to as <a href="http://csi.ufs.ac.za/resres/files/Oritsland.pdf">Machine Cowboy interfaces</a>.<br />
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Next came the Analog Professional where the physical effort was made easy due to hydraulics, solenoids and actuators (e.g., Power Steering). And user-interface technology and interaction grammar <a href="http://csi.ufs.ac.za/resres/files/Oritsland.pdf">evolved</a> over time. Now we are in the touch input epoch that has been extended to things such as Fly-by-Wire and Drive-by-Wire. Where an input, say, on a touch screen or joy stick is converted into a digital signal, which, in turn, changes the speed of the HVAC fan in a car or the flaps on the wing of a plane. </div>
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But when and where did Touch interaction first appear? You would be surprised to learn that the earliest touch interaction was more on the physical continuum and didn't involve a LCD screen; because it was the degree of pressure exerted on the interface was the input! <br />
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The world's first touch interface was the Electronic Sackbut. (Follow this <a href="http://www.npr.org/2011/12/23/144185699/timeline-a-history-of-touch-screen-technology">link</a> for an illustrated history of Touch Input Technologies).</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-m-XuU3rhOxs/UyhWqFsZqUI/AAAAAAAACxA/OJYdjm7nnws/s1600/Electronic+Sackbut.JPG" height="260" width="400" /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">1948: The Electronic Sackbut: The right hand controls the volume by applying more or less pressure on the keys; the left hand control four different sound texture options via the control board placed over the keyboard (Courtesy: <a href="http://www.npr.org/2011/12/23/144185699/timeline-a-history-of-touch-screen-technology">NPR</a>) </span><br />
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Now let us compare the Electronic Sackbut's user-interface with an ubiquitous piece of technology of our time, the iPhone.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mFgXBMS6JXc/UyhiTo1XZaI/AAAAAAAACxY/qzagnZGtfGU/s1600/iPone.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mFgXBMS6JXc/UyhiTo1XZaI/AAAAAAAACxY/qzagnZGtfGU/s1600/iPone.JPG" height="320" width="160" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">iPhone's Touch Interface</span></td></tr>
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The iPhone with its multi touch user-interface (e.g., pinch, rotate, swipe, etc.) is a marvel. But there is one big difference between the electronic sackbut and the iPhone. The gateway to touch interaction on the iPhone, the "icons" are filled with <i><u>semiotic</u></i> information: Symbols; Signs; Text.<br />
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Thus one needs to perceive and interpret the semiotic information, visually and cognitively, before deciding to do something with it. The iPhone certainly is not a problem when visual or cognitive attention are not fragmented, which is not the case when one is multitasking (e.g., driving and using the phone). And, there are many other tasks besides driving, which involve multitasking. For example, it could be a public safety professional such as a police officer who needs to be vigilant about his environment; that is, not be visually tunneled with his eyes riveted on the screen of his radio communication device, compromising his own safety in the process.<br />
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The challenges faced in user-interaction during multitasking not only apply to a touch screen, but also for an UI bedecked with an array of physical push-buttons that have similar characteristics.<br />
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Another important noteworthy point is that the touch and feel of the icons on the iPhone are one and the same. They don't distinguish themselves from each other on the tactile / haptic / pressure dimension. They all feel the same, even with a haptic vibe, and, thus, provide the same <b>affordances</b>.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 15.360000610351563px;">An </span><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 15.360000610351563px;">affordance</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 15.360000610351563px;"> is a property of an object, or an environment, which allows an individual to perform an action. For example, a knob affords twisting, and perhaps pushing, while a cord affords pulling. (via Wiki)</span></span></blockquote>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EPNW20NCtZc/UyhtIXCbOTI/AAAAAAAACyA/rtIhC61aOLg/s1600/Affordance+types.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EPNW20NCtZc/UyhtIXCbOTI/AAAAAAAACyA/rtIhC61aOLg/s1600/Affordance+types.JPG" height="153" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Varieties of Physical Affordances<br />Some affordances maybe contextually goal driven: e.g., using a hammer as a paper weight.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The concept of affordance has also been extended to encompass virtual objects. Although, some experts tend to disagree with this definition as it lacks physical feedback. E.g., touching a touch-sensitive icon "affords" an action: a feature or app is opened. Or in a mouse point and click paradigm, icons, radio buttons and TABS are affordances (Figure below).<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dSyxjm1pkq8/UyhoVM_c5mI/AAAAAAAACxo/XZszDVXUnFE/s1600/Affordances+Tabs.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dSyxjm1pkq8/UyhoVM_c5mI/AAAAAAAACxo/XZszDVXUnFE/s1600/Affordances+Tabs.JPG" height="400" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Virtual Affordances on a Graphical User-Interface (GUI)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<h4>
Touching to KNOW vs. Touching to say NO</h4>
<div>
I began this article by explaining the importance of touching to "know," a naturally evolved human ability that makes interacting with objects in the world intuitive (second nature). Now, contrast this with touching to say No (Figure below).</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ACZ0h35duCk/UyhpkNrEliI/AAAAAAAACx0/8cKMRjQWSCE/s1600/touch+screen+yes+no.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ACZ0h35duCk/UyhpkNrEliI/AAAAAAAACx0/8cKMRjQWSCE/s1600/touch+screen+yes+no.JPG" height="320" width="194" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">"Touching to say 'No'": this is a touch interaction that is contingent on correctly comprehending and processing the semiotic information. It requires a higher level of visual attention and cognitive effort.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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A pure semiotic interface, with like-affordances, is just not limited to touch screens. But it may also include an array of buttons (same "push" affordance). Although, physically pushing a button, in an array of similar buttons has a tactile / kinesthetic dimension to it, one still needs to cognitively process the icon or label on the button. So in some ways, they are similar to icons arranged in an array on a touch screen, all with the same <u><i>physical affordances</i></u>. This indeed can pose a problem in multitasking environments, such as driving, where one may have to visually look at the buttons, perceive the semiotic information and select the appropriate one, and, then, push it.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.motorolasolutions.com/web/Business/_Images/_Static%20Files/O9_Beauty_Shot_Angle_Call_Recieved.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.motorolasolutions.com/web/Business/_Images/_Static%20Files/O9_Beauty_Shot_Angle_Call_Recieved.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">The array of similar push buttons with same affordances (except for 3 knobs) on this multi band mobile radio used inside a police car provide a physical dimension to the interaction, which is good. But from a semiotic point of view, they are similar to a touch screen and may impose similar visual and cognitive workloads in a driving / multitasking context. (Image via <a href="http://www.motorolasolutions.com/US-EN/Business+Product+and+Services/Two-Way+Radios+-+Public+Safety/P25+Mobile+Radios/APX+7500_US-EN">Motorola Solutions</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h2>
</h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">
Automotive Industry Going-ons with Touch Input</span></h2>
<div>
A recent headline was an eye grabber for designers in the automotive and technology worlds:</div>
<div>
<a href="http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/176936-ford-admits-touchscreen-defeat-puts-the-buttons-and-knobs-back-into-ford-sync"><br /></a></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: #323232; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 30px; line-height: 30px; margin: 0px 0px 7px; position: relative; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/176936-ford-admits-touchscreen-defeat-puts-the-buttons-and-knobs-back-into-ford-sync">Ford admits touchscreen defeat, puts the buttons and knobs back into Ford Sync</a></blockquote>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/2015FordF150_06_HR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/2015FordF150_06_HR.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Center Stack of a Ford Vehicle. Regardless of the control being virtual or a physical button, there is a heavy reliance on semiotic information, including very similar affordances ("push") (Image and full article at: <a href="http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/176936-ford-admits-touchscreen-defeat-puts-the-buttons-and-knobs-back-into-ford-sync">Extreme Tech</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Ford's move towards replacing virtual touch buttons with physical buttons may yield some performance improvements but may not be a significant one. Due to reasons discussed above: similar affordances, semiotic dependence.<br />
<br />
Besides a heavy reliance on semiotic information, there has also been a push towards a reliance on inferential reasoning and separated control-to-display relationships on different planes and surfaces that result in additional cognitive load. The Cadillac CUE Infotainment System (video) is one such example. It illustrates the amount of learning and inferential reasoning required to interact with it.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/3vXh-SdHpY0?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Cadillac CUE Infotainment System</div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">But there is some good news. There have been some novel ideas about touch screen design for cars. See video below.</span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/XVbuk3jizGM?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Novel Ideas for Touch Screen Interface in Cars (Detailed article in <a href="http://www.wired.com/design/2014/02/watch-ingenious-touchscreen-ui-inside-every-car/">Wired</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<h3>
The Future: Mixed Modal Interactions</h3>
Our naturally evolved way of interacting with other humans, animals, objects and artefacts in the world involve touch, speech, gestures, bodily-vocal demonstrations (including facial expressions), among other things. Could a human-machine interface, particularly in a critical piece of technology (medical, critical comms., aviation, automotive, command & control rooms, etc.), be built to be compatible with what's natural to us?<br />
<br />
Speech interfaces have gained both credibility and popularity (thank you <a href="http://www.apple.com/ios/siri/">Siri</a>) and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/16/automobiles/to-change-tunes-a-nod-will-be-as-good-as-awink.html?emc=edit_tu_20140317&nl=technology&nlid=4677608&_r=1">gestural interfaces </a>are moving on from gaming apps to other utilitarian technologies such as cars. See figure below.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/03/14/automobiles/GESTURE1/GESTURE1-superJumbo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/03/14/automobiles/GESTURE1/GESTURE1-superJumbo.jpg" height="166" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption-text" style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: nyt-cheltenham-sh, georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 13.333333015441895px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;">Drawings from a 2013 Microsoft patent application suggests gestures that would serve, from left, as commands to lower and raise the audio volume and a request for more information.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: nyt-cheltenham-sh, georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 13.333333015441895px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;"></span><span class="credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder" style="background-color: white; color: #999999; display: inline-block; font-family: nyt-cheltenham-sh, georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 0.6875rem; line-height: 1.125rem; text-align: start;"><span class="visually-hidden" style="border: 0px; clip: rect(0px 0px 0px 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1px;">Credit</span>United States Patent and Trademark Office </span><span class="credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder" style="background-color: white; display: inline-block; font-family: nyt-cheltenham-sh, georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 0.6875rem; line-height: 1.125rem; text-align: start;">via <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/16/automobiles/to-change-tunes-a-nod-will-be-as-good-as-awink.html?emc=edit_tu_20140317&nl=technology&nlid=4677608&_r=1">New York Times</a></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
As we march into the future, be it a car, robot or a treadmill, a semiotically-laden, like-affordances heavy, buttons-galore or touch-only UI, filled with metaphors and inferential reasoning, may not be a good idea. Consider these two examples as my closing statement as to WHY?:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
How many of us can recount the experience of inadvertently changing the speed instead of the incline when running on the treadmill? In most treadmills, both these controls have like-affordances (push buttons in ascending order or up/down arrows) and or mirror-imaged on either side of the display. But how many of us when running at 7 mph can distinguish the semiotics (text / symbol) on these buttons?</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Or consider the case of Powering-off a Toyota Prius instead of putting it in Park? (both Power and Park controls are "push button" controls with like-affordances!)</blockquote>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BO82pWkwpFs/UyiY9EEqYzI/AAAAAAAACyU/QtMl_EFc4Og/s1600/Power+Park+Prius.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BO82pWkwpFs/UyiY9EEqYzI/AAAAAAAACyU/QtMl_EFc4Og/s1600/Power+Park+Prius.jpg" height="288" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Toyota Prius: Power and Park have the same affordances ("push"). When one is not paying sufficient attention, one is prone to commit the "Error of Commission." Pushing one for the other.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Going forward, we may need a mixed-modal UI that might present multiple ways of interacting with technology to accommodate what comes most naturally to the user based on his/her situation, context and current workload. This also is contingent on the levels of automation and intelligence that might be incorporated in a machine, device or appliance.<br />
<br />
In the meantime let's keep in mind, as good as touch screens get to be, their qualities should not be viewed as the "Midas Touch" for user-interaction design.<br />
<br />
In closing, every one of us must remember <a href="http://www.billbuxton.com/#bio">Bill Buxton</a>'s primary axiom for design in general and user-interfaces in particular:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<em style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 16.866666793823242px;"><span style="font-size: large;">"Everything is best for something and worst for something else."</span></em></blockquote>
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<h3>
</h3>
<h3>
<div style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">
<span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The author, </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/moinrahman" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">Moin Rahman</a>, </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">is a Principal Scientist at </span><a href="http://hvhfsciences.com/" style="color: #888888; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px; text-decoration: none;">HVHF Sciences, LLC</a><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">. </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">
<span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">For more information, please visit:</span></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">
<span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://hvhfsciences.com/" style="text-decoration: none;">http://hvhfsciences.com/</a></span></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/moinrahman" name="SafeHtmlFilter_webProfileURL" style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="View public profile">http://www.linkedin.com/in/moinrahman</a></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">HVHF Article Archive: </span><a href="http://hvhfsciences.blogspot.com/" style="color: #888888; line-height: 14.399999618530273px; text-decoration: none;">http://hvhfsciences.blogspot.com/</a><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">E-mail: hvhf33322@gmail.com</span></span><br />
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</h3>
<h3>
<span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></h3>
<h3>
Additional Reading</h3>
<div>
<h1 style="border: 0px; color: #bd170f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 23px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 3px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<a href="http://www.cartalk.com/blogs/jim-motavalli/5-annoying-things-about-todays-car-stereos">5 Annoying Things About Today's Car Stereos</a></h1>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15703567509415022352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7653648332023631531.post-42581861507541108922014-01-04T10:45:00.003-08:002014-01-21T14:11:52.477-08:00"SITUATION AWARENESS" - Say what? <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b><i>...whose situation awareness are we talking about?: human, sensor, radio, computer or infrastructure?</i></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b><i><br /></i></b></div>
"Situation Awareness" along with "intuitive design" have become buzz words in the Critical Communications industry. One finds these words a lot these days in marketing brochures, sales talk and presentations at technology tradeshows. Claims are made that one needs to buy Product X or Technology Y because it enhances the situation awareness of either a firefighter at the tactical edge or an utility control room operator in the backend of a system.<br />
<br />
<i>SITUATION AWARENESS - "Say what?"</i><br />
<br />
The question is, if someone is using these terms -- "situation awareness" or "intuitive" and "user-friendly" user-interfaces -- for marketing purposes, do they provide any human factors-based measures to back it up. Hard, empirical data that quantifies the supposedly enhanced <i>situation awareness </i>of a mission critical professional who might be on the fireground, or back in the control room of a nuclear power plant?<br />
<br />
<i>"nah!" </i><br />
<br />
Rarely does one hear the details about situation awareness, or SA:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>the <i>process</i> by which it is acquired.</li>
<li>the nature of SA as a <i>product</i> - </li>
<ul>
<li>i.e., perception of task relevant data; its comprehension towards enhancing the operator's SA of system state (cohorts, teams, commander's intent, condition of the machine agent(s) or system); that is, what they -- the co-worker, team, systems -- are doing? why they are doing what they are doing? (just not information, but an understanding or knowledge of what's going on; Figure 1)</li>
<li><i>projection</i> of future states (e.g., estimated time for backup help to arrive; wind direction in a hour from now, of relevance to a wildland firefighter; readiness of trauma care center to receive casualties from an accident site in the next 30 min.)</li>
</ul>
<li>the <i>measures</i> or quantification of SA</li>
<ul>
<li>what did the operator become aware of which he was not aware of previously?; did he acquire this SA with effort (probed the system), or effortlessly? -- where a Smart System alerted him to the impending danger? </li>
</ul>
</ul>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-R-O6cSRsQVI/Uscxh6VjdQI/AAAAAAAACFk/Ytf2RB6KLJs/s1600/Data+Information+Knowledge+Dots.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-R-O6cSRsQVI/Uscxh6VjdQI/AAAAAAAACFk/Ytf2RB6KLJs/s320/Data+Information+Knowledge+Dots.JPG" height="257" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 1: </b>Task-relevant Data / Information when <i><u>comprehended</u></i> turns into knowledge and, thus, enhances operator SA</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<br /></div>
<br />
<h3>
Varieties of SA</h3>
SA certainly is not acquired easily by humans, even if it is in the immediate space or environment due to phenomenon such as inattentional blindness, <a href="http://hvhfsciences.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-funneling-and-tunneling-of.html">attentional tunneling</a>, cognitive distraction, or information overload.<br />
<br />
Additionally, SA is not the sole dominion of individual humans. Members of a team can have SA about what's going on in the socio-technical system (<i>Shared SA</i>); An individual or team that is geographically distributed can have SA about different aspects of a system (<i>Distributed SA</i>). A machine or system can have SA about what other sub-systems or humans are doing (m2m; machine-to-machine communication), which radios have been registered on a critical comm. wireless network and their locations (<i>Systems SA). </i>Or when human and machine collaborate together to acquire SA, with a tacit acknowledgement that in certain aspects the machine is better than human and vice-versa, then, it would be <i>Joint SA.</i><br />
<br />
<h3>
Acquisition of SA</h3>
To acquire SA of a situation, the following are required:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Sensor </li>
<li>Transducer</li>
<li>Computer </li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
As machinistic as the above may sound, it is not necessarily so. The above could very well be a human. For example in the case of a human: An eye or ear is a <i>sensor</i>. The nervous system is a <i>transducer</i> (takes the raw signal -- light or sound -- and converts it into a coded neural signal); the <i>computer </i>is the brain, where the signal is decoded and interpreted. "For example, a police officer on hearing a <i>sound </i>may react with: "Ah! what I <i>heard</i> was a gun shot. My partner should be in trouble!"<br />
<br />
A self-driving car, or autonomous vehicle, is an example of a machine acquiring SA, where it may either choose to accelerate or brake at appropriate moments.<br />
<br />
The only difference between human and a machine -- both, by the way are intelligent cognitive agents in their own right -- is the former excels in pattern recognition and novel situations; whereas the latter algorithmic thinking approach never tires nor loses vigilance due to monotony or having a hangover! <br />
<h3>
Three mini case studies: SA obtained and missed</h3>
<h4>
<i>Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting</i></h4>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130716162759-01-worst-shootings-restricted-horizontal-gallery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-size: medium; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130716162759-01-worst-shootings-restricted-horizontal-gallery.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Figure 2: </b>Children being evacuated from the Sandy Hook Elementary School by Connecticut Police</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In the second deadliest mass shooting in American history, twenty students, ages 6 and 7, and six adults were killed at the Sandy Hook Elementary school on December 14, 2012.</span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/interactive/2012/12/us/sandy-hook-timeline/media/sandy-hook-labeled-map-lg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/interactive/2012/12/us/sandy-hook-timeline/media/sandy-hook-labeled-map-lg.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: arial; font-size: 11.333333015441895px; line-height: 12px; text-align: left;"><b>Figure 3:</b> A graphic depicting the site of the shooting. (CNN)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
As soon as the shooting began, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/05/nyregion/newtown-911-recordings-are-released.html?ref=nyregion">911 began receiving calls</a>. In this incident, teachers and the school custodian, were the eyes and ears ("sensors, transducers and computers") who were instrumental in describing and narrating the gruesome goings-on in Real Time & Real Space. This information thus transmitted via phone, by "humans" ["cognitive computing" at source and onsite], with emotive intonations and ambient sounds, were instrumental in building the SA of for law enforcement. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In this case, it is hard to imagine if a machine agent could have equalled or surpassed the cognitive computing performed by human agents onsite with regards to facilitating SA acquisition to law enforcement. However, Joint SA, where surveillance video from classrooms along with the human narration of events might have been superior. Note: A human is really good at reading another human's (active shooter) intent.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Verdict: <span style="background-color: yellow;">SA Obtained</span> to the extent possible</div>
<h3>
<i>Asiana Air Crash</i></h3>
<div>
A 16-year old girl who survived the crash of an Asiana Flight 214 in San Francisco was tragically killed by "<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/19/travel/asiana-airlines-crash/">multiple blunt injuries</a>" when she was run over by a rescue vehicle. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/07/07/world/07plane_7/07plane_7-articleLarge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/07/07/world/07plane_7/07plane_7-articleLarge.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 4:</b> Asiana Crash at SFO in July 2012</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 15.333333015441895px; line-height: 22.0049991607666px;">This tragic accident was due to the fire engines quickly spraying thousands of gallons of water and foam, which seems to have obscured the driver’s view of a human figure on the tarmac. He was unaware (missed the first step of SA acquisition: sensing and perceiving) of the object/person in his vehicle's path.</span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Verdict: <span style="background-color: yellow;">SA Disabled</span></div>
<h3>
<i>Metro North Train Accident</i></h3>
<div>
The recent <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/03/nyregion/metro-north-train-accident-bronx.html">Metro North Train accident</a> on the Hudson Line that resulted in fatalities was found to be travelling almost three times the permitted speed (82 mph instead of less than 30 mph) into a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/12/01/nyregion/1201-a-map-at-the-scene-of-metro-north-derailment.html?ref=nyregion">turn</a>. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cch4ZTNaF8g/UshCew-memI/AAAAAAAACF0/FQZWUPul7j0/s1600/Metro+North+Train+Accident.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cch4ZTNaF8g/UshCew-memI/AAAAAAAACF0/FQZWUPul7j0/s400/Metro+North+Train+Accident.jpg" height="255" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Figure 4: </span></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14.399999618530273px; line-height: 18.99799919128418px; text-align: left;">Metro-North train from Poughkeepsie to Grand Central Terminal, NYC Derailed in the Bronx, </span>via <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2013/12/03/nyregion/03derail-7.html">NYT</a> </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/pixel.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /><img border="0" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/pixel.gif" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/pixel.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/pixel.gif" /></a></div>
<div>
Both the driver who allegedly dozed-off and the <i>train </i>(emphasis added) itself were unaware that the train was overspeeding through the turn. The Driver Alerter, a warning device for keeping the driver awake in the event he was drowsy, was not inside the cab in which the driver was located; nor did the system (train) have a Positive Train Control feature, a track signalling method where the train would have automatically reduced its speed as it approached the curve. In this case, due to a combination of reasons, the <i>Joint SA </i>(driver + machine/system) was absent, which could be attributed as two major reasons for the accident, among other things.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Verdict: <span style="background-color: yellow;">SA Unavailable</span></div>
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
<h3>
Say What to What Next?</h3>
<div>
SA is acquired by various means in different critical infrastructure domains (public safety, transportation, utilities, etc.). When a complex socio-technical system is designed, with a number of components -- human agents to machine agents (sensors, radio, telemetry, computers, infrastructure, etc.) -- it is vitally important to set minimum requirements of SA for both human and machine.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Technology vendors should meet the requirements that are dictated by safety, human & system performance requirements under both normal & abnormal situations, and other mandates. The SA requirements ("needs analysis") have to be identified through either cognitive ethnography or contextual inquiry in the pre-design phase; then, SA specifications set (qualitative and quantitative specifications); and verified through lab and field usability testing, including, live action prototype testing under various equilibrium and non-equilibrium system states (normal to heavy workload to high stakes / high stress situations).</div>
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If SITUATION AWARENESS is just used as a "term of art" during design, or as a marketing "buzz word" by a technology vendor, and if we place our trust in it without verification, then it is a great cause of concern. Then our own lack of SA (!) as designers, evaluators and end-users on the important issue of SA needs to be blamed! </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In closing, when a critical infrastructure, socio-technical system is designed, or if a technology vendor makes a claim that their technology enhances Situation Awareness for the first responder or driver, then, it is incumbent on us to verify the following:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><i>Varieties</i> of SA required for system performance and/or delivered by technology</li>
<li><i>Process</i> for acquiring SA </li>
<li>SA as '<i>product</i>' in terms of meeting specifications and fulfilling requirements</li>
<li>Measurement of SA</li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.333333015441895px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The author, </span><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.333333015441895px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/moinrahman">Moin Rahman</a>, </b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.333333015441895px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">is a Principal Scientist at </span><a href="http://hvhfsciences.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.333333015441895px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px; text-decoration: none;">HVHF Sciences, LLC</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.333333015441895px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">. He specializes in:</span></div>
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<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Designing systems and solutions for human interactions when stakes are high, moments are fleeting and actions are critical."</span></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">For more information, please visit:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/moinrahman" name="SafeHtmlFilter_webProfileURL" style="border-width: 0px; color: #888888; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="View public profile">http://www.linkedin.com/in/moinrahman</a><br /><br />HVHF Article Archive: </b></span><a href="http://hvhfsciences.blogspot.com/" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">http://hvhfsciences.blogspot.com/</a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15703567509415022352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7653648332023631531.post-21312303134486059812013-11-11T13:54:00.001-08:002015-07-15T07:38:27.753-07:00Human Factors Design of Onboard Critical Communication & Navigation technologies in Emergency Responder VehiclesPerforming any task under time pressure, leave alone high stakes, is hard enough. It gets harder when one is a driver; say, driving on a crowded freeway to the airport when we are running late to catch a flight.<br />
<br />
Now let us switch roles and imagine that we are driving a first responder vehicle, a fire truck or an ambulance to the airport, in response to a major fire. Where initial reports suggest that many are seriously injured, which includes a few fatalities whose number might grow if the situation is not brought under control. Needless to say, the sooner we get to the airport, more the lives that can be saved.<br />
<br />
As an emergency responder our drive to the airport is filled with the percussive blare of the sirens wailing, lights flashing; including, a variety of in-vehicle radio communications (voice and data), which provide continuous updates to us, on issues ranging from coordination to what to expect on the scene. So that we are mentally, physically and organizationally prepared when we arrive on the scene.<br />
<br />
An emergency response driver may have to participate in these communications as s/he must build a <u><i><b>mental model</b></i> </u>of the unfolding emergency situation. He does this when driving at or above the speed limit, and deftly maneuvering the vehicle, through heavy traffic. Stated otherwise, the emergency vehicle driver's <i><b><u>situational awareness</u></b></i> of the road, traffic conditions and heading (navigation) should be above the norm to avoid collisions or getting lost -- which only delay the emergency response.<br />
<br />
Distraction takes on an entirely different meaning when you compare the citizen-driver with that of the emergency vehicle driver. However, you would be surprised to hear that for all the attention "distracted driving" has received with regards to the citizen / consumer car (texting, cell phones, etc.), the emergency vehicle has received little attention, if any, in research, design & engineering and the popular press.<br />
<br />
The current approach to designing the emergency vehicle, be it a fire truck or a police car, is simply to pack it with more and more technology (2-way radios; data terminals; lights & siren controls; etc., etc.). Furthermore, in most cases, general consumer vehicles conceptualized and designed with very different goals, have been adapted (retrofitted) with emergency responder vehicle technology. It is akin to taking a pleasure yacht -- then stripping and retrofitting it with suitable technology and offensive capabilities -- to turn it into a navy frigate. (see below).<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1ijHy7eUBQM/UoFB1WuxbmI/AAAAAAAABsU/dYQ7wCCtYcw/s1600/yatch+vs.+frigate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="280" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1ijHy7eUBQM/UoFB1WuxbmI/AAAAAAAABsU/dYQ7wCCtYcw/s400/yatch+vs.+frigate.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> Retrofitting a pleasure yacht to do the job of a naval frigate (USS Bainbridge, shown above) to patrol the pirate infested seas off the Horn of Africa is not the kind of solution that would be desired by the US Navy</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Much needs to be done in the design of emergency responder vehicles. Just adding (literally) bells & whistles won't do. They under serve the emergency responder due to poor ground-up human engineering and top-down human-system integration of technology within and without the vehicle -- compromising safety for all concerned.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Distracted Driving</h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Driver Distraction due to onboard technologies -- voice calls or text messaging on cellphones being the most ubiquitous culprit of our times -- has received widespread attention both in academic research and the popular media. It is a very serious topic because a distracted driver can inflict great harm to him or herself, and others on the road. Cell phones aside, there are many other interactions (and distractions) due to onboard technology, e.g., the entertainment system, navigation device, HVAC -- and other non-technology-related activities (eating to rubbernecking).<br />
<br />
This is in the consumer world. But let us now dive deeper into the world of emergency responders.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h3>
Professional Emergency Responder Drivers</h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
Emergency vehicles are driven by the need to deliver a quick
response at the site of the incident or accident and/or transport injured
people to the appropriate emergency medicine or trauma center.
Public safety personnel (law enforcement, firefighting or EMS) who are charged
with the delivery of on-scene, first line of response have to arrive in the
shortest possible duration without compromising either their safety or that of
citizens or property. To accomplish this,
first responders or emergency responders utilize various surface transportation modes (e.g., police car, motorbike, fire
truck, ambulance). More often
than not, the emergency responder may also assume the role of the driver
(a.k.a., EVO: Emergency Vehicle Operator); The EVO has to communicate, coordinate, collaborate,
navigate and signal<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"> </span>(C<sub><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">3n</span></sub>S), to enable him/her to arrive at the
right location; and develop the correct mental model and situation awareness a
priori to enable him/her deliver the appropriate response. Thus the visuo-spatial-cognitive demands
placed on the EVO, due to the primary task of high velocity, tactical driving and high priority, secondary tasks (C<sub><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">3n</span></sub>S) that must get done on the move, can be
overwhelming due to the following reasons:<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Disparate human-machine interfaces (HMIs) or
user-interfaces (UIs) and their spatial location of the various C</span><sub style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">3n</span></sub><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">S technologies
inside the cabin or cockpit (see Figure below).</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The emergency situation or danger-induced
emotional modulation and impoverishment of cognition (a.k.a., High Velocity
Human Factors; Rahman, 2007)</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Gl43DwR4mgA/UoFDStTmteI/AAAAAAAABsg/x52L7wirknI/s1600/Police+Car+cockpit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Gl43DwR4mgA/UoFDStTmteI/AAAAAAAABsg/x52L7wirknI/s400/Police+Car+cockpit.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Emergency responder technologies (2-way radio communication, mobile data terminal,
etc.) found in a police cruiser. Note the disparate human-machine interfaces
and technologies, including their spatial locations.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<h3>
Distracted
Driving: The Emergency Responder Case</h3>
<h2>
<o:p></o:p></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Several definitions for distracted driving have emerged over
the years and there is no one generally acceptable definition (Trezise et al.,
2006). In its most basic essence, one of
the best definitions for distracted driving is described as “attention given to
a non-driving-related activity, typically to the detriment of driving
performance” (Pettitt, Burnett, & Stevens, 2005). </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A vast cornucopia of research and literature on driver
distraction, including reviews (e.g., Reagan, Lee and Young, 2009; Young &
Regan, 2007), naturalistic studies (Dingus, et al., 2006), and distraction
mitigation (Engstrom & Victor, 2009; Donmez, et al., 2008), which address
the topic from multiple perspectives (theory, empirical research, modeling,
design, engineering, etc.) in the consumer and commercial vehicular is
available. However, there is a paucity of driver distraction research insofar EVOs
are concerned. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Nevertheless, the issue of injuries and fatalities resulting
due to emergency vehicle crashes has been recognized and has been reported (FEMA,
2004; USFA, 2011). Driver distraction and human factor elements of emergency
vehicle operations have been recognized (FEMA, 2004; IAFC, et al., 2010) as safety
issue<b>s</b> and guidelines (policies & procedures) have been published. No literature
that report findings on driver distraction caused by in-vehicle emergency
responder technologies – basic or applied research (simulator or naturalistic
driving) – to my knowledge is available in the public domain. However, a
recent initiative by the United States Fire Administration (USFA, 2011) was
announced to initiate a public safety emergency vehicle study. <b><o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h3>
Emergency
Responder vs. General Public Driver<o:p></o:p></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Emergency responders differ from the general public drivers in
a number of ways, given their overarching goal of arriving at the scene or
transporting the patient to the hospital in the shortest possible duration; or
in some cases, embarking on hot pursuits (law enforcement). These cognitive and
behavioral differences, as it applies to the in-vehicle experience and driving,
are listed below:</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Emergency event or [high speed] driving caused affective
arousal (neural, hormonal, physiological) and its positive and negative modulation
of perception, cognition and decision making (Rahman, 2011).</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Time pressure: high speed driving; distortion of
time perception; and speed induced under-estimation of speed and trip related
durations (Cœugnet, et al., 2013)</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Knowledge, skills and abilities specific to
emergency vehicle operations (e.g., police officers; Coyne, 2000)</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Differences in vehicular platforms (motor bikes
to heavy vehicles), between consumer/commercial vehicles and emergency
responder vehicles, including in-vehicle technologies.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Emergency responder drivers are usually not in a
position to exhibit operational-level, compensatory behaviors on the primary
task of driving, unlike regular drivers who, for example, may reduce their
speed when performing secondary tasks (e.g., talking on the cell phone) [Young
& Regan, 2007].</span></li>
</ul>
<h3>
Research, Design & Engineering (RD&E) of Emergency Responder Vehicles</h3>
<div>
Consider fire trucks. Pumpers, ladders, rescuers and tanker trucks are highly customized creations for the Fire Department from an operational standpoint. A truck maybe fitted with a 2000 gallon tank or with a pump capable of delivering 500 GPM. But scant attention is likely to have been paid to the in-vehicle technologies the crew and the driver have to interact with enroute to an incident. Same applies to a police car. The communicate, coordinate, collaborate, navigate and signal<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"> </span>(C<sub><span style="font-size: 14pt;">3n</span></sub>S) capabilities might have just been retrofitted. Driver distraction, human factors and social intra- and inter-crew(s) interfacing, during a mission within and between first responder agencies may not have been addressed at all.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The RD&E must move away from the current retrofitting paradigm of civilian vehicles. This neither serves the emergency responders, citizens nor industry as it compromises safety and results in poor efficiencies. From a business standpoint, the incentives are lacking for industry -- automobile manufacturers to emergency communication vendors -- to change this paradigm. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
As a first step, mobile radio and computing technologies that are currently being retrofitted into a range of vehicles should stop taking the one-size fits all approach. Their design should be considered from the standpoint of what they need to do -- and assist EVOs and first responders in transit -- from an emergency communication and information transaction standpoint without causing "c<i><u>ognitive distractions</u></i>" (taking the mind off the road and/or other higher priority tasks pertaining to driving and navigation.) Next, their user-interface design should go beyond run-of-the-mill ergonomics -- such as where to place knobs, size of push buttons or graphics of the screen -- but should also consider the cognitive, social and affective aspect of interaction brought about by <a href="http://hvhfsciences.com/hvhf-perspective.html">high velocity human factors / HVHF</a> (stress-induced emotional modulation of cognitive and perceptual capabilities of the body and the brain). </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Ultimately, creative business models, public-private partnerships, and human factors standards and guidelines are required to design emergency vehicles ground-up that deliver unrivalled safety and utility. This is contrast to the piecemeal and ad hoc retrofitting of consumer or commercial vehicles that is done today to transform them into emergency responder vehicles. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In the engineering world, the vehicle Controller Area Network (CAN) interface is designed with great attention to detail so all digital components in the automobile work flawlessly, lest they cause a critical malfunction resulting in a safety hazard. Now the time has come to pay equal, if not more, attention to the emergency responder vehicle Human-Machine Interface (HMI). This is to ensure that emergency responder vehicle's onboard technologies do not result in driver distraction -- compromising safety -- where the emergency responder vehicle ends-up costing lives instead of saving lives.</div>
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<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333015441895px; line-height: 10.285714149475098px;">
<div style="font-size: 13.333333015441895px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Moin Rahman </b>is a Principal Scientist at <a href="http://hvhfsciences.com/" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">HVHF Sciences, LLC</a>. He specializes in:</span></div>
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<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Designing systems and solutions for human interactions when stakes are high, moments are fleeting and actions are critical."</span></span></i></span></div>
<div style="font-size: 13.142857551574707px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">For more information, please visit:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/moinrahman" name="SafeHtmlFilter_webProfileURL" style="border-width: 0px; color: #888888; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="View public profile">http://www.linkedin.com/in/moinrahman</a><br /><br />HVHF Article Archive: </b></span><a href="http://hvhfsciences.blogspot.com/" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">http://hvhfsciences.blogspot.com/</a></div>
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</div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Key References </span></b></div>
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">
<a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001457513000961"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Cœugnet</span></a>,
S., Miller, H., Anceaux, F., & Naveteur, J. (2013). How do time pressure
drivers estimate speed and time? <i>Accident
Analysis & Prevention</i>, <i>Vol. 55</i>,
211-218.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Coyne, P. (2000). <i>Roadcraft:
The Police Drivers Manual.</i> London: HMSO.<b><o:p></o:p></b><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">
Dingus, T.A.,
Klauer, S.G., Neale, V.L., Petersen, A., Lee, S.E., Sudweeks, J., et al.
(2006). <i>The 100-car Naturalistic Driving
Study, Phase II: Results of the 100-Car field experiment</i> (Tech. Rep. No.
DOT HS 810 593). Washington, DC: National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">
Donmez, B.,
Boyle, L.N., & Lee, J.D. (2008). Mitigating driver distraction with
retrospective and concurrent feedback. <i>Accident
Analysis & Prevention, 40</i>, 776-786.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">
Eisenberg, C.
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Interfaces for Naturalistic Perceptions, Decisions and Actions occurring in
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15703567509415022352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7653648332023631531.post-62402283448581015932013-10-12T10:01:00.001-07:002015-06-03T11:23:42.681-07:00Creative Disruptions (or lack thereof) in Mission Critical Communications TechnologyIn this post, I will go out on a limb and make the audacious claim that the first and, thus far, the biggest "<i>bottom-up</i>" creative disruptor in mission critical communications industry (a.k.a., First Responder communications) has been the elimination of the "runner." That is, the messenger who relayed messages between the command post and the front lines. Legend has it that the most famous runner of all time was Pheidippides who ran from the battlefield of Marathon to Athens, in 490 BC, to relay the message that the Persians were defeated. <br />
<br />
Then came the mother of all "creative disruptions" insofar mission critical communications were concerned: Wireless communication.<br />
<br />
Thanks to the 2-way radio. The job of the Runner has become obsolete and "marathon" has turned into a competitive sport. But it took a tragedy concerning "Public Safety" -- a lack of, and poor, radio communication capabilities on the high seas, which resulted in the sinking of the Titanic -- for the first major federal legislation concerning wireless communications to be enacted into law. It was the Radio Act of 1912. And, public safety, has never been the same since (for the better). However, it was the impetus of WWII and the realization by the US Signal Corps on the importance of portable radio communications for the dismounted soldier, which resulted in the commercialization of the first generation of handheld portable radios.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XQJPOhVDPx0/Ulhe9N01UvI/AAAAAAAABaI/LIrWOL-SQRY/s1600/Radio+SCR+536.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XQJPOhVDPx0/Ulhe9N01UvI/AAAAAAAABaI/LIrWOL-SQRY/s1600/Radio+SCR+536.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><strong><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Handie-Talkie</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">(SCR-536) military
radio - circa 1945 – the first model of a hand held two-way radio ever produced.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">(manufacturer was Galvin Manufacturing which
became Motorola during WWII)</span></span></span><br />
<br />
Success in mission critical domains (first responders, transportation, energy generation, healthcare, etc.) is contingent on timely transmission, receipt and comprehension of mission-relevant information. This could range from runner-based relayed communication, semaphores (hand signals), smoke signals to wireless radio communication (voice, data or homing signal); the latter is invaluable because of its lightening speed. Radio communication not only saves lives, it also serves as a"force-multiplier" as it enhances the effectiveness and efficiency of work done and services delivered by first responders.<br />
<br />
Now lets explore mission critical communication in general and the extent to which "two-way radio" communication has evolved from its humble beginnings over the last 50 years. This is to find out what and where is the state of the art of radio communication; and have there been any creative disruptions since the advent of the wireless radio in the mission critical domain.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<br />
<h3>
<b>Bottom-Up Creative Disruptor vs. Top-Down Innovation</b> </h3>
I define a <i>bottom-up creative disruption </i>as one where the fundamental nature of how work ought to be performed -- to make it safer, cleaner, efficient and effective with multifold gains -- is realized with a game changing technology. Wireless radio communication was certainly one such game changing technology for mission critical professionals. In fact, it was such a revolutionary technology it found its way into the consumer market, and its cousin, the cellular phone, became a wild success.<br />
<br />
Now to <i>top-down innovations</i>. These are mostly small, but very much necessary, incremental changes that make a technology better. In the two-way radio case, those familiar with industry jargon, will point out such innovations: conventional to trunking; analog to digital; single to multiband; Simulcast; interoperability between different vendor equipment (APCO P25 Standard); etc. Many of these top-down innovations were necessitated to exploit the extremely valuable and crowded Radio Frequency (RF) spectrum -- and also to deliver some benefits to first responders in the field.<br />
<br />
In a similar vein, the consumer cellular phone has seen many such top-down innovations (FDMA, CDMA, TDMA, GPRS, 3GPP, 4G LTE), but has also vastly benefited from a number of bottom-up creative disruptors. These range from color screens, multi-touch user-interfaces, speech recognition, location-based services, GPS, Internet and an "app" rich ecosystem, and much more. A good number of these were driven by the need to meet the end-users wants and needs; and/or out think the consumers themselves to provide them with services they could not have imagined. For instance, it is said the legendary former Apple CEO, the late Steve Jobs, could imagine and intuit what the (consumer) end-users' digital interests and pursuits would be or should be, even though they (customers) wouldn't know it until the they experienced it! In the consumer space, an open market and intense competition, resulted in many bottom-up creative disruptions. Thanks to titans, past and present, such as Motorola, Nokia, Blackberry, Apple, Samsung, among others.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EvPDco6GFRc/UllyqiplB0I/AAAAAAAABag/AWo_3StqATw/s1600/Creative+Disruptions+Mission+Critical+and+Consumer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="281" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EvPDco6GFRc/UllyqiplB0I/AAAAAAAABag/AWo_3StqATw/s320/Creative+Disruptions+Mission+Critical+and+Consumer.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>The Revolution in Consumer Communication Technology vs. the slow Evolution in Mission Critical Comms.</b></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Note: The devices are shown for representational purposes; the pictures themselves only tell less than half the story, as the technology within and without (network and ecosystem) has much more to do with creative disruptions and innovations in their respective market verticals.</span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<h3>
Have Mission Critical Communications withered on the Vine?</h3>
For some, the above question is a heresy. How dare one ask such a question...? But have we seen the kind of user-based, bottom-up creative disruptions in the mission critical communications industry that are on par with the consumer communication market? The basic anatomy of the mission critical radio has pretty much remained the same over the years. The user-experience has not really become intuitive and user-friendly, particularly under <a href="http://hvhfsciences.com/hvhf-perspective.html">High Velocity Human Factors (HVHF) </a>conditions -- say, in a high stakes, dangerous and highly stressful situations. (In HVHF states the user's cognitive capacity is diminished due to task overload and other threats; there is insufficient cognitive bandwidth to interact with technology.)<br />
<br />
At the end of the day when there is a loss of life and/or assets, the fire fighter or the police officer is blamed because he didn't know how to get to the tactical talk net (group or channel). Or the buck is passed around and "lack of training" gets blamed. But what about the root cause: the design of the portable communication radio or the network that supports it? Some daring visionaries, from industry, regulatory bodies, and first responders agencies, have thought about it, and have tried hard to improve the utility of the radio, but for any number of reasons have been stymied.<br />
<br />
These critical radio problems (device and network infrastructure) were brought into the limelight in two recent incidents that ended in loss of life: the <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/news/323495-radios-failed-during-navy-yard-attack-first-responders-say?goback=%2Egde_2105670_member_275312432#%21">Navy yard shooting</a> and the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/29/us/report-cites-poor-communication-before-firefighters-deaths-in-june.html?_r=1&">Yarnell Hill wildland fire.</a><br />
<br />
It is important to note that adding a color display and making bigger, bulkier knobs or best-in-class Push-to-Talk buttons with a "sweet spot" to a mission critical radio does not solve the kind of problem that confront the first responder. Certainly, they make the specific I/O interface easier to look, twiddle or press. But what is the point of making a fundamentally unintuitive product that lacks critical utility when that ability to communicate is lost in critical moments? The reasons could range from lack of connectivity to the inability to figure out -- particularly, under highly stressful situations when the ability to think is altered due to danger -- on how to get to the right channel on the radio. Or stated in operational terms get to the the closest fellow first responder, with the appropriate skill set, say, a paramedic, from one's own team or another department. Remember "moments" time matters in first response. A severe arterial bleed could take a life in a matter of less than 5 minutes. Bluntly stated showroom usability of buttons and knobs does not necessarily equal to actual utility delivered on the fireground, or when taking fire in a SWAT operation. <br />
<br />
Thus one is forced to conclude that mission critical communication technology lags and not leads, both in absolute and relative terms (compared to consumer comms.), in terms of what ought to be done. For one, no noteworthy innovation that was born in the mission critical space has gone to the consumer markets in the recent past. Whereas innovations from the consumer space (e.g., Google Glass) are knocking at the doors of mission critical. There are many reasons for the paucity of innovation in the mission critical space. They range from poor economies of scale, lack of viable business models, insufficient or skewed competition, insufficient hardcore human factors engineering related R&D due to lack of a vision or funding, absence of a strong partnership among first responder agencies/end-users, vendors and regulatory bodies, among others. (Recently <i>Politico </i><a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2013/07/motorola-solutions-lobbies-states-to-against-federal-communications-effort-93814.html">alleged</a> about special interests trying to impede the proposed Public Safety Broadband Network.)<br />
<br />
<h3>
Creative Disruptions in Mission Critical Communications</h3>
The need of the hour in mission critical communications is not so much about getting the police officer an iPad or a Google Glass. They may have a role, assuming they are not distractors but truly deliver utility during normal and abnormal situations.<br />
<br />
What really should matter, as a first step, is a thorough understanding of how first responder work is best done before we think of "engineering" a solution. In many instances, first responder work is done inefficiently or dangerously either to compensate for the limits of technology or inspite of it. To understand the "socio-technical" aspects of a firefighter, paramedic or police officers work one needs cognitive ethnographers, social and human factors researchers study their work in real time, in the field -- and in context. (Questionnaires or focus groups should be used to support field work not as substitutions; by themselves questionnaires reveal very little.) This type of work is done by teaming-up with first responders (the actual end-users and not purchasing decision makers in first responder agencies) and including them in "participatory" design exercises.<br />
<br />
At a high level, one needs to understand the following factors, their interplay, and how goal driven tasks are best accomplished.<br />
<ol>
<li>First responder physical and cognitive demands</li>
<li>Nature of first response, situation or context</li>
<li>Individual and team task execution needs; inter / intra departmental coordination and collaboration</li>
</ol>
Data collection from the above described field work, followed by interpretation and ideation should drive the discovery of solutions. The solutions could range from training, technology, organizational factors to operating procedures. In other words, technology is one among other factors.<br />
<br />
Insofar technology is concerned it may or may not involve using or adapting commercially off the shelf technologies; or it may require something new to be invented resulting in a creative disruption. Such an approach, would increase efficiency of first response and protect first responders. For example, a firefighter should be made aware before he enters the building whether he would be losing his ability to communicate (transmit and/or receive). Simply put, an inability to receive a command to evacuate may have life threatening consequences. There are several more such issues (known and unknown) that hobble first responder communications and put them into danger. Unfortunately, these problems can neither be solved with a bigger, better ergonomic knob nor the world's best push-to-talk button; or for that matter augmented reality afforded by a head mounted display such as Google Glass.<br />
<br />
So what needs to be done? Part of the answer lies in product design (bottom-up, creative disruptions and top-down innovation). But is there an impetus or an incentive for creative disruption in the mission critical industry market vertical?: yes and no. I will reserve this discussion for another article.<br />
<br />
In the meantime, I solicit feedback, and would like to hear your thoughts on the state of the art of mission critical communication.<br />
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 10.285714149475098px;">
<div style="font-size: 13.333333015441895px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Moin Rahman </b>is a Principal Scientist at <a href="http://hvhfsciences.com/" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">HVHF Sciences, LLC</a>. He specializes in:</span></div>
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<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Designing systems and solutions for human interactions when stakes are high, moments are fleeting and actions are critical."</span></span></i></span></div>
<div style="font-size: 13.142857551574707px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">For more information, please visit:</span></span></div>
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<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://hvhfsciences.com/">http://hvhfsciences.com/</a></span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15703567509415022352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7653648332023631531.post-91181694123629643982013-09-11T17:14:00.001-07:002013-09-11T17:17:58.117-07:00A HVHF Sciences, LLC, Presentation: High Velocity Human Factors "HVHF" Engineering of Mission Critical Technologies<iframe src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/26105548" width="427" height="356" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" style="border:1px solid #CCC;border-width:1px 1px 0;margin-bottom:5px" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen> </iframe> <div style="margin-bottom:5px"> <strong> <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/mrahman4/hvhf-sciences-usercentered-design-mission-critical-technologies-sept-11-2013" title="HVHF Sciences: User-Centered Design & High Velocity Human Factors Engineering of Mission Critical Technologies" target="_blank">HVHF Sciences: User-Centered Design & High Velocity Human Factors Engineering of Mission Critical Technologies</a> </strong> from <strong><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/mrahman4" target="_blank">Moin Rahman</a></strong> </div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15703567509415022352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7653648332023631531.post-17885738369697431602013-08-28T08:23:00.003-07:002013-09-09T06:30:29.729-07:00The Future of First Response & Emergency Management: New Technology Considerations<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">
The mission critical communication industry is moving towards enhancing the effectiveness of first responders by making multiple streams of information in various modalities, or multimedia, converge; a.k.a,, unified communications. This includes bringing together voice (Land Mobile Radio; Cellular; PSTN (telephony); VoIP; Video / Data).</div>
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This is underway as we are moving away from legacy circuit-switched technologies to interoperable and secure IP-based network-centric services that deliver video, file transfer, and unified messaging. And it is being operationalized on a transport layer: a mobile networking infrastructure (e.g., 4G LTE; <a href="http://hvhfsciences.blogspot.com/2013/08/firstnet-public-safety-wireless.html">FirstNet</a>; IP-based interoperable platform) to deliver this [converged] rich information at the tactical edge to the first responder in the field. This connectivity works both ways (inbound / outbound). The first responder(s) and commanders at the incident site should not only be able to communicate, capture information, query databases and stream multimedia information but also share what they have onsite with cohorts and/or reach back into the chain of command.</div>
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This degree of connectivity, communicability and flexibility made possible by the evolution of technology is both a boon and if not designed well from a human factors standpoint a <a href="http://hvhfsciences.blogspot.com/2013/08/firstnet-public-safety-wireless.html">bane</a>. </div>
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In this article, I briefly discuss the "boons." That is, how technology when designed well, by taking into consideration human factors (cognitive/physical capabilities & limitations) and organizational structure and cultures in which they perform, can amplify first responder capability. In other words, become a force multiplier.</div>
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Consider firefighting (structure and wildland fires), where both voice and data integration is being explored by equipment manufacturers and first responder organizations. This includes, but is not limited to, transporting data -- e.g., database interrogation, remote sensing, and telemetry, or computing data in situ, as part of a cognitive computing or intelligent network. This may include a variety of data sets that range from alarm type, incidence location, geo-location, building layouts, hazmat info, etc., for structure fires; and meteorology, topology, fuel source,, etc., for <a href="http://hvhfsciences.blogspot.com/2013/07/preventing-tragedies-in-wild-land-fire.html" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">wildland firefighting</a>. Last, but not least, some of the industry players are also moving towards tracking individual fire fighter's physiological measures, location / presence, etc., to monitor health, safety and performance, on the fire ground.</div>
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Next, let us look at law enforcement, which I will use to explain the elements of what is known as a "socio-technical system" or STS. If a police officer has to succeed at the tactical edge, s/he needs to be networked and connected with the rest of the players and technologies that make it happen. This amalgamation of personnel and technology(s) in an organization, with its own culture, structure, goals, and how it utilizes technology to get work done, is a "socio-technical system." </div>
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<b>Law Enforcement Socio-Technical System (People + Technology)</b><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Brief HVHF<a href="https://plus.google.com/117603247857758826314/posts/LnNPLEeVvcc"> note</a> on how technology may either hinder or amplify first responder performance at the tactical edge. Available <a href="https://plus.google.com/117603247857758826314/posts/LnNPLEeVvcc">here</a>.</span></div>
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Thus the design of a network or a handheld device can't be seen in isolation. If they have to be effective, their design should take into consideration both human interaction with it and how well it is integrated to accomplish organizational goals. For example, wireless communication dead-spots, frequent outages, slow network speeds, sub-optimal preempting/prioritizing & squelching protocols or difficulty in maintaining the system or troubleshooting equipment can result in inefficiencies, low throughput and loss (human lives to property) in a first responder context. Furthermore, it needs to take into account cultural and structural factors such as chain of command dynamics, centralization vs. decentralization, conformity vs. customizablity, operational doctrine, cultural power distance, short term thinking vs. long term orientation, policies, politics, intra/inter-organizational issues, budgets (equipment to training), etc.</div>
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So what is the ideal architecture for the human-machine interface for first responder technology? How does one filter raw <b>Data</b>, to identify mission critical & essential<b> Information</b> that are relevant to the incident. Next, put that information into context -- so that it is transmuted into actionable <b>Knowledge</b> for all stakeholders at the incident-site (e.g., enriching situation awareness and mental models of the progress & containment of the fire, search & rescue, safety, etc., for fire fighters & commanders). See Figure below. </div>
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<b>RAW DATA</b> (when filtered for relevancy) <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>→ </b></span></span>(and put into context, inline with current goals) turns into mission critical & eseential <b>INFORMATION </b><b style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-large; white-space: pre-wrap;">→ </b>(when this information is presented in a format, mode or medium where it could be accurately understood) then it turns into useful and actionable <b>KNOWLEDGE</b> </div>
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To accomplish the above goal, a data rich ecosystem should, of course, first be data-driven, but then should be information-based and knowledge-led to be successful. This could be accomplished by abstracting the human-technology interface into three layers:</div>
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<li><b style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;">physical / graphical user-interface</span> </b><span style="background-color: white;">(provides the </span><i><u><b style="background-color: yellow;">perceptual gist </b></u></i><span style="background-color: white;">from a semiotic and affordances standpoint); </span></li>
<li><b style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;">cognitive interface</span></b> <span style="background-color: white;">(couples the physical / graphical user-interface's affordances, semiotic & information architecture with the work-related goals and mental models of the technology that the user brings to the task -- which produces a </span><b><i><u style="background-color: yellow;">conceptual gist </u></i></b><span style="background-color: white;">in his/her mind); </span></li>
<li><b style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;">epistemological interface</span></b> <span style="background-color: white;">(aiding via predictive/prescriptive analytics and enabling the comprehension of relevant, goal supporting information -- nudging the human agent to take a certain course of action (CoA) among a set of choices, resulting in a </span><i><u><b style="background-color: yellow;">CoA gist</b></u></i><span style="background-color: white;">). </span></li>
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The means to this end could range from exploiting commercial off-the-shelf technologies that might range from hardware or software / apps; or it might involve developing new products (if none exist off-the-shelf) to close the gap. </div>
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But how does one determine what is the appropriate technological solution? Applying technology for technology's sake, or because it is there, is a dangerous proposition in a first responders' world. It could occlude his senses (e.g., poorly designed heads-up display), diminish situation awareness, not constructively aid decision making on the fly, which might eventually lead to the misuse or disuse of expensive technology; or worse yet, may result in wrong decisions and lead to catastrophic outcomes. </div>
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Thus, first and foremost, we need to understand what is that we are trying solve. It begins by asking the right questions. The place to begin is cognitive ethnography (field research) to actually observe first responders performing their work in the field. It could be real events in real time and/or simulated ones like drills. (Asking questions to first responders in a closed room, out of context, via a focus group may provide partial answers. They are unlikely to be accurate; people say things that they thought they did in a time stressed situation, but in reality they may never have done it. Memory is fragile. It is distorted due to stress, lapses and decay due to passage of time). </div>
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The data collected from cognitive ethnography should be followed by a rigorous human factors design analysis to ideate, innovate and conceptualize usable and utilitarian solutions. </div>
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The last step is to identify technology that can be either adapted off-the-shelf or developed from scratch. They are the portable / wearable / mobile / fixed devices, network infrastructure, and platforms (data centers, transport, service architectures) -- their form factors and user-interfaces -- that will accomplish the above stated goal of developing usable and utilitarian solution for first responders.</div>
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Thus when a technology is designed with a user-centered focus and driven by human and socio-technical factors, it can turn it into a great boon -- a "force multiplier" by delivering the following benefits:</div>
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<li style="margin-left: 15px;">Context sensitive information that yields knowledge (situation awareness, sensemaking, accurate analytics-driven decision-aiding).</li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><a href="http://hvhfsciences.blogspot.com/2012/11/designing-hyper-intuitive-user.html">Hyper-intuitive user-experience</a>, even under stress (when first responders' cognitive resources are depleted), that makes technology second nature and delivering utility to the first responder at the tactical edge or for personnel in the back-end of the system.</li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;">Effective C2 (command & control): Locus of control for commander and emergency managers; and resilient delivery of first response and emergency services.</li>
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So before we conclude how cool that Google Glass will be on a first responder or Siri voice interface for light and siren controls inside a police car; or as a technologist get on the drawing board to design something from scratch; or as a purchaser in a first responder department making a purchase decision about a particular vendor's technology; let us pause and ask ourselves what is that we are trying to solve?: both from the back-end and at the tactical edge.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">About the author:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Moin Rahman </b>is a Principal Scientist at <a href="http://hvhfsciences.com/" style="text-decoration: none;">HVHF Sciences, LLC</a>. He specializes in:</span></div>
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<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Designing systems and solutions for human interactions when stakes are high, moments are fleeting and actions are critical."</span></span></i></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15703567509415022352noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7653648332023631531.post-72266651210383819562013-08-06T14:33:00.001-07:002013-08-08T10:57:02.995-07:00FirstNet Public Safety Wireless Broadband Network: User-Centered Design and Human Factors Driven Engineering of NextGen Public Safety Network<h3>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Data, Data, Everywhere...</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly testified to Congress last year that </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“a 16-year-old with a smart phone has a more advanced communications capability than a police officer or deputy carrying a radio.” </span><br />
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10-4 ... Roger that! </span><br />
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And, if I may add, the 16-year old revels in the data deluge delivered by this "advanced communications capability": Facebook, Twitter feeds, IM, SMS, YouTube, Spotify, and you name it! The young man or lady is socially connected, entertained and is up to speed with the goings-on in his/her social network. But how well does this apply to a mission critical, first responder such as a police officer, fire fighter or paramedic? </span><br />
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There is no doubt about the need for an advanced communications capability for first responders. However, the first responder doesn't wish to be drowning in a data deluge that is devoid of immediately useful and actionable information or intelligence. His refrain would be "data, data everywhere, but where is my byte that matters most???"</span><br />
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Simply put, our mission critical professional has no time to google, mapquest, tweet or watch a video. In other words, a first responder on call doesn't have the time to:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">google to figure out the nature of the domestic violence incidents at a particular house</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">mapquest a street in response to a fallen colleague's mayday call broadcast to get there within the "platinum 10" [minutes] and provide basic life support.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">tweet during a hot pursuit to warn citizens that a fugitive is driving at high speed on the wrong side of a highway</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">watch a video-tutorial to compare the situation on hand and receive guidance on delivering advanced life support / antidote to a grievously poisoned citizen.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Drowning in Data, But Where is the Information?</span></h4>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Obviously, the public safety communication infrastructure and the subscriber units (the handheld 2-way portable radios and vehicle-based mobile radios, data devices, computing technologies, etc.) used today do not have the bells and whistles of an iPhone. Or to go back to Police Commissioner Kelly's analogy, they are unlike the 16-year old's smart phone with processors and chipsets generating bewitching animations -- and more importantly pumping unlimited data from a fat pipe (a 4G LTE wireless broadband network). </span><br />
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But in the process, what we also forget is the fact that the 16-year old is enjoying his streaming music and emitting his tweets when his commercial-grade wireless network is standing like the Rock of Gibraltar. For example, it has not been physically attacked, virtually hacked or brought down by peak demand due to a natural disaster or terrorist attack. Furthermore, the 16-year is doing all this in a threat-free situation, where his heart rate is not surging or the adrenalin and cortisol (stress hormones) are not coursing in his veins, prepping him for a fight or flight response. The good young man is neither in the situation of a <a href="http://hvhfsciences.blogspot.com/2013/07/preventing-tragedies-in-wild-land-fire.html">hotshot</a> surrounded by a raging forest fire nor is he a paramedic trying to figure out the best way to stop an arterial bleeding of an accident victim with a punctured lung and fractured vertebrae. </span><br />
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Enough said!</span><br />
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A first responder is unlike you and me, the consumer. More often than not he is functioning in a system that is in non-equilibrium, where<a href="http://hvhfsciences.com/hvhf-perspective.html"> High Velocity Human Factors or "<span style="background-color: white;"><b>HVHF</b></span>"</a> comes into play.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">On to Mission Critical / Public Safety Communication</span></h4>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The evolution of public safety communication networks (APCO P25 in North America, Figure 1; TETRA in Europe) have been slow from the days of the analog conventional radios that were so large they could only fit in the trunk of a car. But over the years they acquired the traits of the Rock of Gibraltar: hardened and solid in terms of survivability; reliability; security; velocity of voice comms. For example, they have redundancies built into the base station and site controllers so that a single point failure doesn't take all communications down. And they are catching-up with their cousins in the defense space (JTRS: Joint Tactical Radio System): where the network is not only resilient but intelligent (self-healing and self-connecting networks; cognitive radios with programmable wave forms, which might change attributes on the fly depending on the communication link: rifleman to manpack radio in an Abrams Tank, or from from a Humvee to recon aircraft hundreds of miles away.)</span><br />
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<a href="http://electronicdesign.com/site-files/electronicdesign.com/files/archive/electronicdesign.com/content/content/74193/74193_fig3.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="243" src="http://electronicdesign.com/site-files/electronicdesign.com/files/archive/electronicdesign.com/content/content/74193/74193_fig3.gif" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Figure 1:</b> The APCO P25 communication network was a major step towards standardizing disparate communication systems via a CAI (Common Air Interface), which was also backward compatible (worked with legacy analog, conventional systems), with the goal of promoting interoperability</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">(Source: <a href="http://electronicdesign.com/site-files/electronicdesign.com/files/archive/electronicdesign.com/content/content/74193/74193_fig3.gif">Electronic Design</a>)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Public Safety comms. have their weaknesses as well, the biggest one being lack of interoperability as they are fragmented, unconnected and constrained due to technology, jurisdiction and inter-organizational cultural impediments. Say, the Fire Department in County X may not be able to communicate with the one in County Y. Put in consumer-communication speak, if you are a Verizon subscriber from New York visiting Miami, you can't call the local restaurant because they subscribe to AT&T Wireless and land line telephony.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">FirstNet: Sociotechnical-based, User-Centered, Human-Engineered NextGen Public Safety Networks</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">A brave new initiative called <a href="http://www.ntia.doc.gov/category/firstnet">FirstNet</a> -- a rugged, public safety-grade broadband wireless network -- seeks to retain the strengths of existing public safety communication networks but overcome its weaknesses (from lack of interoperability to the narrowness of its data pipes) is in the works. </span><br />
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The design and deployment of FirstNet, including the subscriber units (portable radios to mobile computing technologies), have to considered with great care so that it delivers both utility and usability. This is no casual communication; life and limb are often on the line.</span><br />
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Thus the goal here is not to drown the first responder with data because one has gotten hold of a fat pipe (broadband wireless network). In fact, for some mission critical use cases, (a data deluge) more data maybe worse than no data! Simply because, the constant data pings and voice chatter may distract the first responder from his primary task of saving someone. Remember <a href="http://hvhfsciences.com/hvhf-perspective.html">HVHF!</a> Under stress he has limited cognitive resources and they are precious. He needs to put all his attention and cognitive effort in either focusing on the threat or putting out a raging fire. He has no mental bandwidth left to idly monitor the goings-on in his network or surf the data that his streaming through his device.</span><br />
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To get mission critical <i>communication</i> design right, let's first, well, get to first principles.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">What is <i>Communication</i>?</span></h4>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In its simplest form, communication results in the transmission of information, from a transmitter, with the goal of making the Receiver aware of something that he would otherwise be ignorant of (Figure 2). Ideally speaking, the integrity of this communication should not be compromised either while being encoded (transmitter-end) / decoded (receiver-end), or due to "noise" (garbled) by a weak signal or cross-talk. Here are three examples of mission critical communication: </span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">First responder at the accident scene communicating to dispatch; "Life threatening injury; need paramedics and transport to Level 1 Trauma Center."</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Police officer after pulling over a vehicle [accessing data]: Interrogating a remote database for driver's license and registration information.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Accident Investigator: [video] Recording and transmitting video (evidentiary information for forensic analysis and/or to be used in court).</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Figure 2:</b> Mathematical Theory of Communication (cf. Claude Shannon)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Communication -- be it one-way, two-way, multi-way (conference call style, a.k.a., "TalkGroup" in public safety comms.) -- is all about context: e.g., seeking immediate rescue; <a href="http://hvhfsciences.blogspot.com/2012/10/inadvertent-police-shootings-of-unarmed.html">enhancing situation awareness to prevent friendly fire</a>; or enable <a href="http://hvhfsciences.blogspot.com/2013/07/preventing-tragedies-in-wild-land-fire.html">sensemaking in a complex wildland firefighting </a>scenario.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Thus communication, particularly one that is technologically enabled, to be successful needs to consider the social & organizational context; users' information and communication needs; and human cognitive & physical capabilities and limitations. These are discussed next.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Socio-technical System (STS) Based</span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Consider a major natural disaster such as Hurricane Sandy. Several entities from FEMA, federal to local government agencies coordinate emergency management, search and rescue. When designing a comm. network, one has to take into consideration the intra- and inter-organizational factors among the various government agencies, in deciding, planning, collaborating and managing their work. This may encompass written procedures, trained responses, tactics, techniques and procedures, politically and legally mandated protocols -- and last but not least cultural factors (good and bad). </span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal;">As an example, FEMA's incident command system (ICS) is a scalable and manageable command and control system with the goal of integrating local, county, state, and federal assets to provide the most effective first response from a category IV Hurricane to a terrorist attack.</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Figure 3:</b> Incident Command System</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">As seen above, a fat pipe (broadband) may be a necessary but not a sufficient solution for effective communication. It needs to be <i>agile </i>so that it either self-configures (or is easily configured by a technician) on the run in real time (by recognizing the infrastructure [base station, site controllers, repeaters, etc.] and, last but not least, the plethora of subscriber units, which could range from portable radios, mobile computers, including consumer tablets and smart phones (BYODs); It must be <i>intelligent</i> and know what and which type of voice or data traffic to prioritize; It must be <i>adaptive</i> to the situation on hand so that it morphs (e.g., cognitive radio) to exploit the available RF spectrum to deliver <i>connectivity</i> on the ground to into the cloud. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">PLUS, the network should be hardened and have all the required attributes for public safety grade communications: survivability, reliabiity, security, interoperability, etc.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">User-Centered Design</span></span></h4>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Consider a sampling of mission critical professionals: A hotshot battling a wildfire in a gulch, an EMT providing basic life support to a gunshot victim, or an officer with a search warrant have different goals, situational context in which decisions have to be made and informational needs. </span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The <a href="http://hvhfsciences.blogspot.com/2013/07/preventing-tragedies-in-wild-land-fire.html">hotshot serving as a lookout</a> may require live meteorological and topological information and needs to be networked with the central command and his cohort, hotshots on the fireground; </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">An EMT may have to look-up electronic health records of the victim for any pre-existing health conditions and contraindications and be in touch with the receiving ER physician; </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">An officer with the search warrant who has descended to the basement might find himself cornered with no network signal and, thus, has to use Direct Talkaround to his partner in the floor above to summon help. </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Thus the information ecosystem and the communication networks shoud be user-centered in terms of delivering useful, usable and actionable intelligence in realtime to the mission critical professional. They could either be delivered on demand or with predictive analytics that carefully sifts through data to deliver useful and situationally relevant information.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Human Factors + Ergonomics + Cognitive Engineering</span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This final piece concerns the mission critical professionals themselves: the human operators, their physicial / cognitive capabilities and limitations; and how they have to be integrated into the public safety communication socio-technical system. There are several layers to this integration, and one of them is the human-machine interface (HMI), also known as UI (user-interface). This covers both the physical (knobs, buttons, keys) and graphical user-interfaces (information architecture and human-computer interaction design) on the devices with which they interact: handheld / </span>vehicle<span style="font-size: small;">-mounted radios, tablet-computers, command & control computers, etc.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Whether it be a normal operational situation or an emergency, and, thus, an abnormal situation, the user-interface for any and all technology should be <a href="http://hvhfsciences.blogspot.com/2012/11/designing-hyper-intuitive-user.html">intuitive</a> and usable. Furthermore, depending on who the mission critical user is -- e.g., front line first responder, commander or network administrator -- it should as an useful cognitive interface as well: augment their senses and deepen their comprehension of what is going right or wrong in the mission-space. This is critical, because they are the first and last line of defense with regards to protecting precious assets, from human lives to property.</span></span></div>
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The Fat Pipe Filtered: <i>Data</i> to <i>Information</i> to <i><u>Knowledge</u></i></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">A communication network (Core to Nodes to Subscriber Units) when designed by applying an STS-based, user-centric, and human engineered approach gets its closer to the ideal solution -- where technology is used to amplify human capability. Simply put both the technology and human agents in the STS should work as peers and partners -- a <a href="http://bit.ly/jointcog">joint cognitive system</a> -- to produce best results. In other words, when an algorithm fails to provide the answer when confronted with a novel situation a first responder may solve it with his sudden flash of insight. On the flip side, the technology maybe the best handyman when a sensor, search and analytical engine does what it does best: connecting an automatically scanned license plate to a stolen car, or using facial recognition technology to recognize the face of a man who is wanted for hacking ATM machines in a different state.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">It is good to be gung-ho about new, better and faster technology. But technology should not be celebrated for technology's sake. So let me summarize what I have discussed so far in this article in the context of FirstNet, the public safety broadband network being designed in the United States: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The purpose of FirstNet is to deliver actionable information at a high velocity -- which is comprehensible via an intuitive user-interface -- and not terabytes of useless data. It must equip and enhance the capability of our public safety professionals. It is a fallacy to entertain the mistaken notion that a Public Safety Broadband Wireless Network will do the first responding and the first responders will be transformed into IT workers who are busy manning the equipment.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: grey;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">About the author:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: grey;">Moin Rahman is a </span><span style="color: grey;">Principal Scientist at </span><span style="color: grey;"><a href="http://hvhfsciences.com/">HVHF Sciences, LLC</a>. He specializes in:</span></span></div>
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<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"Designing systems and solutions for human interactions when stakes are high, moments are fleeting and actions are critical."</span></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://hvhfsciences.com/" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">http://hvhfsciences.com/</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/moinrahman" name="SafeHtmlFilter_webProfileURL" style="border-width: 0px; color: #006699; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="View public profile">http://www.linkedin.com/in/moinrahman</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">E-mail: hvhf33322@gmail.com</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15703567509415022352noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7653648332023631531.post-80415512759249940682013-07-07T05:37:00.000-07:002015-08-18T13:24:45.437-07:00 Funnel Cognition: How Macrocognition can inform Successful Adaptations in Competitive Tennis<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 19.5px;">
Megginson (1963) citing Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution in the context of business management observed “…it is not the most intellectual of the species that survives; it is not the strongest that survives; but the species that survives is the one that is best able to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds itself.” This applies equally well when the ecology is no longer the natural habitat of a species but a tennis court on which the competitive tennis player (singles) finds himself at the appointed hour for a duel with his opponent. The tennis player on this occasion encounters a few invariants (personal racket, balls, court dimensions, rules, etc.) but also is confronted with a large number of variables. They range from exogenous variables (e.g., wind speed, crowd support, opponent’s physical & mental states, including his tactics and strategic intent, etc.) to endogenous variables (e.g., one’s own physical and mental states, fluency in execution on that particular day of practiced perceptual-motor skills, among others). Needless to say, the player has to rapidly make sense of these variables and develop strategies to overcome them through adaptations, without any external assistance, as no coaching is permitted in professional tennis. The ultimate goal obviously is to use these adaptations to his advantage to increase his likelihood of winning the match.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fGjaaPOuIco/VdOOuzGkpZI/AAAAAAAAE-E/BPOH7OTqa3E/s1600/Murray%2Bvs.%2Bdjoko.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="245" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fGjaaPOuIco/VdOOuzGkpZI/AAAAAAAAE-E/BPOH7OTqa3E/s400/Murray%2Bvs.%2Bdjoko.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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The 2013 Wimbledon Finalists Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic who are known to be Deep Thinkers and the most Adaptive Pro's to the Circumstances on the ATP Tour</div>
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I will discuss how a player can make such dynamic adaptations, not at the tactical level (e.g., whether to hit a drop shot vis-à-vis a top-spin ground stroke in a particular situation), but at a strategic level – i.e., by utilizing the information contained in the aforesaid variables to make advantageous adjustments. It will be shown that this could be accomplished by building a set of macrocognitive skills, specific to tennis, which are referred to as “funnel cognition” (as opposed to “tunnel cognition.”) This is tantamount to integrating information from a wide range of input variables (akin to the inflow-mouth of a funnel) to develop a hypothesis on current system state, which is a form of pre-kinetic, situation assessment (even before a ball is hit); this would be used to develop a specific strategy that is apropos to the situation on hand (the outflow from the funnel’s stem). Next, during the post-kinetic periods – brief breaks between points, games or sets – the player may reassess the situation again at a macro cognitive level by making suitable assimilations and accommodations (Klein, Moon & Hoffman, 2006) to redefine or refine the strategy. At least two well known approaches from Human Factors sciences – Sensemaking (Weick, 1995) and situated cognition (Suchman, 2007) – used in the context of human-systems design are applicable to sports such as tennis, where the embodied athlete has to solve high level problems without the assistance of an external agent (coach or technology). These formalized approaches and applicability to tennis have received little attention. Most of the analyses, that can be considered cognitive, has been done do develop and hone tactical skills for the kinetic phase in tennis (Teltscher, 2006; Elderton, 2010). It should also be noted that these macrocognitive skills discussed in this talk differ from the microcognitive, perceptual-cognitive skills – centered around direct perception of a projectile (Iacoboni, 2001), its effective anticipation (e.g., Singer, Cauraugh, Chen, Steinberg, Frehlich, 1996) and decision making (Elderton, 2010) – which usually fall under the rubric of “game intelligence” (Stratton, Reilly, Richardson, Williams, 2004) in sports research and literature. The latter have been widely studied by sports psychologists (for a review see Casanova, Oliveira, Williams, Garganta, 2009). Finally, how macrocognitive skills can be formally inculcated to competitive tennis players through methods such as Instance-based Learning Technique (Gonzalez, Lerch, Lebiere, 2003) will be discussed in a future article.</div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.5px;">The science of human performance under high stakes and stressful situations discussed in this article shares many characteristics in domains such as first response, warfighting, piloting, emergency medicine, process control in abnormal situations, among others. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.5px;">Although, sports does not have life and death implications it can serve as a live laboratory to study cognition and decision making under high stakes and time stress. Knowledge gleaned from this may even contribute to the field of "comparative cognitive engineering." Ultimately, the this will not only inform sports training and technology, but can also facilitate "antifragile" (cf. Nassim Taleb) approaches to design human-technology interaction in mission critical systems (first response to healthcare). So that the human agents such as first responders, pilots, emergency physicians -- and systems, particularly smart technologies that "learn" in real time -- adapt to stress and even gain from it. Much like an athlete getting stronger from the stressors (real and simulated) imposed on him / her during training and match play. </span></span><br />
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<h3>
REFRENCES</h3>
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Casanova, F., Oliveira, José, Williams, M., Garganta, J. (2009). Expertise and perceptual-cognitive performance in soccer: a review.<i> Revista Portugesa de Ciências do Desporto, 9(1)</i>, 115-122.</div>
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Elderton, W. (2010). <i>21st Century tennis coaching: Learner-centered principles for the game-based approach: manual</i> by Wayne Elderton, available from ACE coach <a href="http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.acecoach.com%2Fmain%2Fmanuals%2F&h=4AQHgZt2g&s=1" rel="nofollow" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://www.acecoach.com/main/manuals/</a></div>
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Gonzalez, C., Lerch, J.F., Lebiere, C. (2003). Instance-based learning in dynamic decision making. <i>Cognitive Science, 27(4)</i>, 591-635.</div>
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Iacoboni, M. (2001). Playing tennis with the cerebellum. <i>Nature Neuroscience, 4(6)</i>, 555-556.</div>
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Klein, G., Moon, B., & Hoffman, R.R. (2006). Making sense of Sensemaking 2: A macrocognitive model. <i>IEEE Intelligent Systems, 21(5)</i>, 88-92.</div>
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Megginson, L. (1963). Lessons from Europe for American Business, <i>Southwestern Social Science Quarterly, 44(1)</i>, 3-13.</div>
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Singer, R.N., Cauragh, J.H., Chen, D., Steinberg, G.M., Frelich, S.G. (1996). Visual search, anticipation, and reactive comparisons between highly-skilled and beginning tennis players.<i> Journal of Applied Sports Psychology, 8(1)</i>, 9-26.</div>
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Stratton, G., Reilly, T., Richardson, D., Williams, A.M. (2004). <i>Youth soccer: From science to performance</i>. London: Routledge.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Suchman, L. (2007). Human-machine reconfigurations: Plans and situated actions (2nd Ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press.</span></div>
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Teltscher, E. (2006). <i>Keep your strokes, change your game</i>. Tennis Magazine.</div>
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Weick, K. (1995). <i>Sensemaking in Organizations</i>. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.</div>
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<span style="color: grey;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">About the author:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: grey;">Moin Rahman is a </span><span style="color: grey;">Principal Scientist at </span><span style="color: grey;">HVHF Sciences, LLC. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: grey;">He specializes in:</span></span></div>
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<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"Designing systems and solutions for human interactions when stakes are high, moments are fleeting and actions are critical."</span></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://hvhfsciences.com/" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">http://hvhfsciences.com/</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/moinrahman" name="SafeHtmlFilter_webProfileURL" style="border-width: 0px; color: #006699; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="View public profile">http://www.linkedin.com/in/moinrahman</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">E-mail: moin.rahman@hvhfsciences.com</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15703567509415022352noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7653648332023631531.post-18001243037585466432013-07-01T10:03:00.000-07:002015-06-02T09:24:25.125-07:00Preventing Tragedies in Wildland Fire Fighting<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">We mourn the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/01/us/firefighters-killed-in-yarnell-arizona-wildfire.html?_r=0">loss of 19 of the very best and brave wildland fire fighters</a>, the Granite Mountain Hotshots*, at Yarnell Hill (Prescott), Arizona. As painful as this loss was, it behooves us, the scientific research community, to advance our understanding of fire science and fire fighter human factors to prevent such future tragedies. </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">*<a href="http://www.fs.fed.us/fire/people/hotshots/IHC_hist.html">Hotshots</a> are an elite group of wildland firefighters, with a demanding regimen of <a href="http://www.fs.fed.us/fire/people/hotshots/ihc_stds.pdf">physical and fire science training</a>. They carry around 40 - 50 lbs. of gear, food, water, fire shelters, etc., and are dropped-off as a small group, where they fight the fire on their own. For example, they create a fire line, by starving the fire of its fuel (getting rid of brush, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 26px;">dry chaparral, brittle oak brush </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">etc.) to keep the fire from spreading. They have a lookout who observes the wind patterns, weather, progression of fire, etc., on the fireground in real time, to help the firefighters develop their strategy and tactics -- and keep them safe. (A </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;">video of the Granite Mountain <i>Hotshots</i> that was filmed in April 2012 is available below this article.)</span></span></blockquote>
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<a href="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/07/01/us/07022013_Fire_337-slide-A375/07022013_Fire_337-slide-A375-articleLarge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/07/01/us/07022013_Fire_337-slide-A375/07022013_Fire_337-slide-A375-articleLarge.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a></div>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11.333333015441895px; line-height: 14.989583015441895px;">Started by a lightning strike on Friday, the fire spread to 8,000 acres. <a href="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/07/01/us/07022013_Fire_337-slide-A375/07022013_Fire_337-slide-A375-articleLarge.jpg">(Via NY Times)</a></span></h4>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Given the nature of the events at Yarnell Hill -- a <i><b>burnover</b></i> where the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/30/arizona-wildfire-yarnell_n_3526934.html">wind radically shifted</a> suddenly and the flames changed direction without warning engulfing the Granite Mountain Hotshots --</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> posing the following research questions and finding answers may close the gap in our current knowledge on wildland firefighting. Thus enhancing risk assessment, situation awareness and decision making of firefighters and their commanders, supplemented with advances in communication, sensing and computing technologies that truly deliver utility, usability and safety to the crew on the fireground.</span></div>
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<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Computational modeling of fire fighting by treating it as a physical & socio-technical complex systems. This complex system will consist of various </span><span style="line-height: 14.390625px;">heterogeneous</span><span style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">agents (physical and human) </span><span style="font-size: x-small; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">--</span><span style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> fuel source (for the fire), heat intensity, oxygen levels, wind patterns and fire fighters' characteristics (knowledge, skills, abilities, training, physical fitness, cognitive readiness, experience -- i.e., capabilities & limitations). Furthermore, the human / organizational (socio-technical) element will encompass operational strategies and tactics (protocols), equipment and machines. Thus these various agents produce their own signals and interact with other agents at the boundaries (a.k.a., signal-boundaries of a "dynamic generated systems" in complexity and chaos theory). This modeling may enable the commander and his/her crew to predict in near real time the behavior of the fire and effort/resources needed to starve it off fuel and oxygen to bring it under control; advise received, as needed from a central command center, who develop a macro level situation awareness with computational model providing <a href="http://bit.ly/jointcog">proactive decision support</a>;</span></span></li>
</ul>
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<a href="http://www.azcentral.com/ic/imgs/0701graphic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.azcentral.com/ic/imgs/0701graphic.jpg" height="337" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The above picture from <a href="http://www.azcentral.com/news/arizona/free/20130701yarnell-fire-tragedy-experts-factors.html">AZCentral.com</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Advance research in fire fighter (human) sensemaking, situation awareness and naturalistic decision making of complex scenarios in volatile, high stakes and complex settings to understand the fidelity and validity of situation assessment. Understand how firefighters / commander makes a decision on how to engage or disengage from a fire and how do they perceive risks (loss / gain) and probabilities to inform their decision making in real time.</span></li>
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<a href="http://media.outsideonline.com/images/rick-cowell-crew-blaze_si.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://media.outsideonline.com/images/rick-cowell-crew-blaze_si.jpg" height="228" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><b>Note the communication gear, the 2-way radio in front -- and inside the radio pocket -- of the harness on the Fire Jacket. </b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">(<i>Communication and Computing technology is discussed in the next bullet point</i>)</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;">"Rick Cowell, t</span><span style="color: #4d4d4f; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 21px;">he 55-year-old superintendent of the Tahoe Hotshots, </span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;">addressing his crew during the Stafford blaze." *Photographer:* Kyle Dickman </span></span></span><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 20px; text-align: center;">via </span><a href="http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/nature/Life-on-the-Line-Firefighting-Kyle-Dickman.html" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 20px; text-align: center;"><i>Outside</i></a><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 20px; text-align: center;"> Magazine</span></div>
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<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Signal and imaging technologies (aerial and geospatial sensing and analysis), including command and control (radio communications and computing), that best integrate human and systems to enhance safety. The design of radio communications between the "lookout" and the "hotshots" on the fire ground -- as well as group communications between centralized command & control, lookout and hotshots (shared situation awareness) -- are vital to enhance situation awareness. In other words, comprehend the current conditions, particularly risks and hazards arising due to the fuel source and wind/weather patterns; and, more importantly, project the future trajectory and progression of the fire. Furthermore, the utility and use of large screen, data / computing devices on the fireground for use by the lookout or the hotshot squad leader, where data is fed from ground / aerial sensors (e.g., <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dropsonde">dropsondes</a>) and video/images from central servers, should be investigated. Even though, this technology may provide valuable thermal and weather intelligence, it also poses the danger of cognitive / attentional tunneling and information overload causing the firefighters to loose situation awareness of dangers in the immediate physical vicinity.</span></li>
</ul>
Thus it is vital to formulate the right research questions, find answers in terms of training and technologies, to prevent future tragedies resulting from volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous factors, time stress -- that are inherent to wild land fire fighting.<br />
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<h4>
Video: Granite Mountain Hotshots</h4>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="300" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/40561725" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="400"></iframe> </h3>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">This video of the Granite Mountain Hotshots was filmed in April 2012.
Chillingly, it shows the crew practicing the deployment of their fire shelters (aluminum foil and silica sacks that reflect radiant heat).
Prior to this tragic and wicked conflagration the Prescott Fire Department -Granite Mountain Interagency Hotshot Crew had never before been forced to deploy shelters in a fire.
The LAST RESORT... Fire shelters have saved the lives of nearly 300 firefighters since 1977.
Story credit: Stand with Arizona
standwitharizona.com </span></span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">Thanks to -- and via -- <a href="https://www.facebook.com/FireBrotherhood?hc_location=stream">Brotherhood of Fire</a> </span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>News Articles</b></span></h3>
<b>NPR: </b>"<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.125;"><a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/07/01/197556858/arizona-wildfire-kills-19-firefighters-deadliest-in-decades?utm_source=npr&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=20130701">19 Firefighters Killed In Ariz. Wildfire Called Deadliest In Decade</a>"</span><br />
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<b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.125;">PBS Newshour Video Report: </span><span style="border: 0px; color: #313131; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Palatino, sans-serif; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/weather/july-dec13/fire1_07-01.html"><span style="font-size: 11.333333015441895px;"> </span></a></span></b><br />
<span style="border: 0px; color: #313131; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Part 1: <a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/weather/july-dec13/fire1_07-01.html">Ariz. Inferno Kills Elite Firefighters</a></span></span><br />
<div class="mini2_col2 mini2_partcopy" style="border: 0px; color: #313131; float: right; left: 273px; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 273px;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Part 2: <a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/weather/july-dec13/fire2_07-01.html" style="line-height: 1.3em;">Firefighters Who Perished in Arizona Faced High Heat, 'One of the Hardest' Tasks</a></span><br />
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<span style="color: grey; font-size: 10pt;"><b>AZ Central: </b></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.azcentral.com/news/arizona/free/20130701yarnell-fire-tragedy-experts-factors.html">Wildfire experts: More than 1 factor spawned Yarnell tragedy</a></span><br />
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<span style="color: grey; font-size: xx-small;"><b>Further Reading:</b></span><br />
<span style="color: grey; font-size: 10pt;"><i>Outside Magazine</i>, on being a Hotshot: </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 29px; text-transform: uppercase;"><a href="http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/nature/Life-on-the-Line-Firefighting-Kyle-Dickman.html">IN THE LINE OF WILDFIRE</a> </span><br />
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<span style="color: grey; font-size: xx-small;">About the author:</span></div>
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<span style="color: grey; font-size: 10pt;">Moin Rahman is a </span><span style="color: grey; font-size: 10pt;">Principal Scientist at </span><span style="color: grey; font-size: 10pt;">HVHF Sciences, LLC. He specializes in:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: 'arial narrow', sans-serif;">"Designing systems and solutions for human interactions when stakes are high, moments are fleeting and actions are critical."</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://hvhfsciences.com/" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">http://hvhfsciences.com/</a></span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial; font-size: small; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">
<a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/moinrahman" name="SafeHtmlFilter_webProfileURL" style="border-width: 0px; color: #006699; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="View public profile">http://www.linkedin.com/in/moinrahman</a> </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial; font-size: small; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">
E-mail: moin.rahman@hvhfsciences.com<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15703567509415022352noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7653648332023631531.post-46586302617429428002013-06-24T18:20:00.000-07:002013-06-27T07:38:43.273-07:00Designing In-Car, Driver-Vehicle Voice Activated Technologies<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">A recent study (1a,b) has rekindled an old debate regarding the true utility and safety of driver interaction with on-board, hands-free -- but voice-based interactive -- technology in a car (e.g., technologies such as a hands-free cellphone or other voice activated apps pertaining to in-vehicle Internet browsing/texting/e-mail, infotainement, GPS, etc.). Remember <a href="http://hvhfsciences.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-funneling-and-tunneling-of.html">multitasking</a> is not necessarily natural for a human (driver) due to competing demands, two or more concurrent tasks place on one's perceptual, cognitive and motor resources. Not all concurrent tasks are similar to walking and chewing gum. In some cases, a single task, all by itself -- for example, driving in heavy traffic and simultaneously trying to locate a street intersection in a new town -- is not easy. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 14.389204025268555px;">(The concurrent demands affects many multitasking 'tasks,' but not all. There are exceptions, where it may not have significant affects; cf. Wickens' multiple resource theory.)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">When it comes to driving, the old saw "eyes-on-the-road, hands-on-the-wheel" will suffice to promote safe driving has been questioned over the last decade by both driving simulator and naturalistic driving (real time, on real roads) studies. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">The most recent study from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety (1), argues (supported with empirical results) that "Mind-on-the-Road" (having NO other external or in-vehicle 'cognitive distraction'; e.g., rubber necking caused by an emotionally arousing stimuli on the road such as a gruesome accident or talking on a hands-free cellphone, respectively) is equally important for safe driving. However, human factors studies have produced conflicting results as to the extent and amount of risk caused by such cognitive distraction (e.g., see 2).</span><br />
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<a href="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/06/13/business/13distract/13distract-articleLarge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/06/13/business/13distract/13distract-articleLarge.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
"<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11.333333015441895px; line-height: 13.989583015441895px;">A study released by AAA compared the impact on drivers of different activities, including listening to a book on tape or the radio, and talking on a phone." </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Via New York Times (1)</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Nevertheless, the true design question that needs to be asked his, how does one design voice based interaction technologies in a car to mitigate cognitive distractions? It has been known for some time, that on-board human-human communication (e.g., driver talking with co-passenger on the front seat) doesn't cause as much cognitive distraction. Because the passenger is cognizant of the traffic conditions (shared situation awareness; a.k.a., <i><u>"mutual knowledge"*</u></i> in the field of linguistic-pragmatics) -- and, thus, the driver's workload -- and may choose to pause or stop talking all together in heavy traffic conditions; likewise, the driver too may modulate his behavior by becoming silent because he knows that the passenger knows his mind is busy -- and, thus, may tolerate the period of driver going incommunicado.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><i>*Mutual Knowledge: I </i>(the driver) know that <i>you</i> (my co-passenger) knows that <i>my</i> mind is totally occupied due to the navigation demands placed by heavy traffic on the road; and <i>you</i> know that<i> I </i>know that <i>you</i> have stopped talking to <i>me</i> so as to not bother <i>me;</i> and<i> I </i>know that <i>you</i> know<i> I</i> won't anyway listen to <i>you</i> because <i>my</i> mind (and attention) are completely consumed due to the heavy cognitive load imposed by driving through heavy traffic. </span></blockquote>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">Thus, in an era of AI and Machine Learning would it not be possible to design on-board technology that perceives, acts and behaves like a fellow passenger who is cognizant of the driver's workload? In other words, a machine that practices a form of analytics and AI, where it predicts and intuits human / driver capabilities and limitations, based on his workload on the primary task (driving) moment by moment in real time -- and adapts its behavior (via the voice or graphical/physical human interface) accordingly.Thus making itself (pseudo) hyper-intuitive to the driver, resulting in an illusion as though it is reading his mind! We may even refer to this intelligent machine behavior as being facilitated via an <i>Inverted </i><a href="http://hvhfsciences.blogspot.com/2012/11/designing-hyper-intuitive-user.html">Hyper-Intuitive User Interface</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">A voice-activated technology (machine) endowed with "<i>mutual knowledge"</i> and shared situation awareness -- adapting itself and, thus, enhancing its usability via its <i>Inverted</i> <a href="http://hvhfsciences.blogspot.com/2012/11/designing-hyper-intuitive-user.html">Hyper-Intuitive User-Interface</a> -- can go a long way in promoting safe driving outcomes. Finally, the utilization and design of voice-activated technology should be carefully considered for police, emergency response and military vehicles, given the <a href="http://hvhfsciences.com/hvhf-perspective.html"><b>H</b>igh<b>V</b>elocity<b>H</b>uman<b>F</b>actors "HVHF"</a> issues (high stakes, volatile, danger, stress-induced cognitive depletion) they encounter during their mission.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">REFERENCES </b><br />
<h4>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">(from the press):</span></span></h4>
<a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/06/12/190949902/hands-free-gadgets-in-car-dont-mean-driving-is-risk-free?goback=%2Egmr_1720617%2Egde_1720617_member_249321491"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">1(a) NPR: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.125;">Hands-Free Gadgets Don't Mean Risk-Free Driving</span></span></a><br />
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<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/13/business/voice-activated-in-car-systems-are-called-risky.html?_r=0"><span style="font-size: x-small;">1(b) New York Time: <span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; line-height: 1.083em;">Voice-Activated Technology Is Called Safety Risk for Drivers</span></span></a><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"><a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2420315,00.asp">(2) VTTI has produced several studies showing that talking on a cell phone while driving does not increase risk."</a> </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: grey; font-size: 10pt;">Moin Rahman</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: grey; font-size: 10pt;">Founder/Principal Scientist</span></div>
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<span style="color: grey; font-size: 10pt;">HVHF Sciences, LLC</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: 'arial narrow', sans-serif;">"Designing systems and solutions for human interactions when stakes are high, moments are fleeting and actions are critical."</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://hvhfsciences.com/" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">http://hvhfsciences.com/</a></span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15703567509415022352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7653648332023631531.post-31762991828513207572013-04-17T09:50:00.003-07:002013-04-17T13:01:43.132-07:00Incisive Cognitive Analysis: Solving the Crime at Mile 26 of the Boston MarathonIt will be a long arduous recovery for victims, the kith and kin of those lost and injured in the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/16/us/explosions-reported-at-site-of-boston-marathon.html?pagewanted=all">heinous attack</a> on civilians at Mile 26 of the Boston Marathon. Although, the people directly affected by this dastardly act will be scarred forever, human resilience is such they will recover in the fullness of time. Needless to say, the perpetrators will be found and justice will be served. It is just a matter of time.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JCKdAfQ_RjA/UW6iUxr4jhI/AAAAAAAAATs/tT1pL7V6xE0/s1600/Boston+Marathon+Bombing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JCKdAfQ_RjA/UW6iUxr4jhI/AAAAAAAAATs/tT1pL7V6xE0/s320/Boston+Marathon+Bombing.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px; line-height: 14.987500190734863px;">Police officers reacted to a second explosion near the finish line (via <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/16/us/explosions-reported-at-site-of-boston-marathon.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0">New York Times</a>)</span></div>
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<h3>
Incisive Cognitive Analysis</h3>
The rest of this post is to look at how this crime is being -- and will be -- solved by professionals in the FBI, law enforcement, and intelligence analysts. And how this effort will be aided by cognitive machine agents supplemented by the following: <br />
SIGINT (Signal Intelligence; telecommunication chatter)<br />
GEOINT (Geospatial Intelligence; satellite, photography, video, etc.)<br />
MASINT (Measurement & Signal Intelligence; spectral analysis of bomb materials)<br />
CYBINT (Cyber Intelligence; web chatter), and, of course,<br />
HUMINT (Human Intelligence)<br />
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The (human and machine) "cognitive agents," in the intel domain, are chartered with the goal of transforming raw data into information into knowledge. The challenge here is not the paucity of data, but in fact too much data. Some data would be relevant providing diagnostic cues (e.g., bomb materials), and most of other types of data ranging from imagery (video footage) to social data (cyber, tips, leads, innuendos and conspiracies) maybe irrelevant. The lesser mortal would be overwhelmed, but it is unlikely to faze the professional criminologist and intel analyst who would expertly sift through the data until he homes-in on his quarry.<br />
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But how does s/he do it?<br />
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<h3>
Inference Engines: Human & Machine</h3>
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Intelligence analysis involves analytical activity with a deep reserve of critical thinking. It involves defining goals, formulating hypotheses, gathering information, sense-making, harnessing human imagination, reading the adversary's mind, leveraging expertise -- and yet being dispassionate and unbiased throughout the process.<br />
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The intelligence analyst, just like a physician or an automotive mechanic, is a diagnostician. But there are subtle differences. The latter (physician or a mechanic) diagnose problems that fall under the rubric of "deterministic causation"; because the cause and effect chain are enmeshed in physical systems such as, "hydraulic circuits," for example; which either carry blood or oil and could be contaminated by pathogens or detritus, respectively. Whereas the intelligence analyst wrestles most often with problems in the "indeterministic causation" genre because it is a smart, thinking and reasoning human agent like himself is the root cause. The problem space does not have a set piece architecture or consistently obeys laws of societal rules or reveals explicit causal chains. Furthermore, the indeterminate nature is undergirded by the perpetrator's need to utilize guile, deceit, bluff and bluster as a means to his end of inflicting harm. Thus the problem is harder for the intelligence analyst as he has to "read" the (intelligent) mind of the perpetrator.<br />
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The problem of intelligence analysis is made both easier and difficult at once by machine agents and technological decision aids. It is compounded in our era of Big Data, given the volume, velocity and variability with which data flows causing an acute mismatch between the cognitive capacities of machine and human agents.<br />
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A machine agent is far-superior in trying to sift through these massive data sets consisting of phone calls, video feeds (facial analysis), web chatter, social media and the like. It might even be programmed to suggest plausible hypotheses, with an inference engine or Bayesian network model, by connecting the dots between people, events and objects.<br />
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A machine agent's cognitive abilities may be constrained. For instance, it may not be savvy about the importance of certain days (e.g., Patriot Day, Tax Day, Anniversaries, etc.), seasonal patterns, local moods, linguistic colloquialisms, etc. It maybe oblivious to novel patterns that fall outside the ambit of its algorithms. A human agent is aware of such things but falls short in terms of the machine's appetite for almost limitless, brute computing. Thus a well designed joint cognitive system, which brings these agents together in a symbiotic and synergistic partnership enhances analytical ability (machine) and intuitive acuity (human).<br />
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<h3>
Implicit vs. Explicit Information</h3>
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Naive observers, meaning us the public, are attracted to information that is explicit to the incident. The pain, the blood, the color of the smoke, the pandemonium -- and the information that gets played over and over again on TV. We anchor to that information, and, furthermore, they are made worse by our prejudices, fears, (in)group think, etc. An intel analyst must be indifferent to those elements (innate traits and externalities) to succeed. He may have to infer information that is NOT explicit, perhaps information that is unavailable, seek it with the aid of the machine agent, by exercising inductive logic; for example, query the machine to sift through massive linguistic data sets, which connects certain signal words such as "Boston" or "Marathon." Or employ deductive logic by making inexplicit information, explicit, by forensic analysis, of say, the bomb material. <br />
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A human agent, with his expertise, intuition and social knowledge may provide the kind of insights the machine may lack. But the machine agent will more than make-up by sifting, analyzing and deducing to discover nuggets of knowledge from Terabytes of data that is beyond human abilities.<br />
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Solving a problem, whether it be in a criminal or clinical context requires a cold calculus (aka, cold cognition, rational thinking and analysis). But at the same time it should leverage "hot cognition" (emotionally charge cognition) vicariously to think like the adversary and glean his or her motivation and modus operandi to attack a target. And reverse engineer the chain, from effect-to-cause-to- (locating the) perpetrator.<br />
<br />
The tools from criminology, forensic science and cognitive engineering are in place to apprehend the perpetrators who placed their bombs at Mile 26 of the Boston Marathon. We have a cadre of seasoned professionals at work on the problem.<br />
<br />
Regardless of who the perpetrators are, be they domestic or foreign agents, local or transnational terrorists, a lone wolf or an intolerant hate group they will be brought to justice. It is just a matter of time.<br />
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<div style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: grey; font-size: 10pt;">Moin Rahman</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: grey; font-size: 10pt;">Founder/Principal Scientist</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: grey; font-size: 10pt;">HVHF Sciences, LLC</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: 'arial narrow', sans-serif;">"Designing systems and solutions for human interactions when stakes are high, moments are fleeting and actions are critical."</span></i></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://hvhfsciences.com/" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">http://hvhfsciences.com/</a></span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15703567509415022352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7653648332023631531.post-25046676184788980322013-01-16T12:33:00.001-08:002013-01-17T06:27:02.057-08:00Designing NexGen Products: Bending the Users' Learning Curve<h3>
Where did my Parking Brake Pedal Go?</h3>
Say, you seat yourself in your rental car, settle down, fire the engine, and lift your leg to press & release the parking brake. Oops! Your left foot instead pedals "air"! Where did the parking brake pedal go? This shouldn't come as a surprise to many of us, who may drive a car with a parking brake that is foot-operated (Figure 1) on a regular basis and suddenly come across a car where it is hand-operated (Figure 2).<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.hyundai.com/jo/en/static/009163_LatestReleased_1_009163_Web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="140" src="http://www.hyundai.com/jo/en/static/009163_LatestReleased_1_009163_Web.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 1: </b>Foot-Operated Parking Brake</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.driversedguru.com/wp-content/gallery/beth-images/parking-brake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://www.driversedguru.com/wp-content/gallery/beth-images/parking-brake.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Figure 2: </b>Hand-Operated Parking Brake</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The muscle & mental memory of the sequence and procedure to drive a car is so strongly encoded, this stereotypical action-patterns -- "foot searching for the pedal" -- just gets executed without a thought.<br />
<br />
The above example highlights the inconsistency in the control (foot pedal vs. hand lever) and user-response(foot vs. hand) that is provided in different car models to perform the <i><u>same</u></i> function (apply/release parking brake). If one has never driven or come across a car with a hand brake, that person may spend the next hour in the parking lot figuring out how to release the parking brake. On a more serious note, if the parking brake which doubles-up as an emergency brake can't be operated in an emergency due to the above described inconsistency, it could make the difference between life and death.<br />
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<h3>
Creative Disruptions: NexGen Technologies</h3>
The above type of inconsistency in design is not limited to various car manufacturers, but also arise when a product manufacturer chooses to upgrade a technology or platform from one generation to another (a.k.a., "NexGen"). The product design team has the best of intentions to provide the most value for their customers but they risk alienating them when the end-users loath the idea of having to re-learn the user-interface all over again. In a professional setting, such as healthcare, command & control, aviation, etc., this also incurs a large cost in training. Some cases are illustrated in Table 1.<br />
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<b>TABLE 1</b>: Previous vs. "NexGen" Technology (for that particular epoch)<br />
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SURFACE TRANSPORTATION<br />
Horse-drawn Buggies to Automobiles<br />
<br />
NAVAL<br />
Sail to Steam to Diesel to Nuclear<br />
<br />
AIRCRAFT<br />
Needle-Dial-Gauge (Conventional Instruments) to Glass Cockpits (digital)<br />
Manual flight control to fly by wire<br />
<br />
COMPUTERS<br />
Command-line Interface (DOS) to Graphical User Interface (Point/Click/Manipulate; Touch Screens/select/manipulate) and their various versions. (e.g., most recently Windows 8 for PC's)<br />
<br />
SURGERY<br />
Invasive surgery to minimally-invasive surgery (e.g., <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laparoscopic_surgery">Laparascopic surgery</a>)<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Also to be noted is the impact on the users in terms of the learning effort and overall benefits that might be derived from "NexGen" technologies. </span><br />
<br />
The creative disruptions brought about by technology have produced confusions, errors, and catastrophic accidents from nuclear power plant control rooms to ships. In the recent past, it has been conjectured that the sinking of the Titanic was caused by the difference in the way the <a href="http://news.discovery.com/history/steering-error-sunk-the-titanic-says-author.htm">steering operated in sailing versus steam ships (Tiller order vs. Rudder order)</a>:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Tiller [sailing ships] and Rudder orders [steam ships] were the complete opposite of one another: the command to turn "hard a-starboard," for example, meant to turn the wheel right under one system and left under the other. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
As First Officer William Murdoch spotted the iceberg, his "hard a-starboard" order was wrongly interpreted by the Quartermaster Robert Hitchins, who was trained under the more archaic Tiller orders. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
He turned the ship right instead of left, exactly toward the iceberg.</blockquote>
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Most recently hackles were raised when Microsoft introduced Windows 8, with its "<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/25/technology/personaltech/microsofts-windows-revamped-and-split-in-2.html?_r=0">split-personality</a>," which attempted to incorporate the best of both worlds (layering traditional desktop for mouse point & click with "tiles" optimized for touch screens.). It has been reported that the steep learning curve it imposed took a <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57551670-75/design-guru-nielsen-windows-8-ui-smothers-usability/">toll </a> (Video 1) on typical computer users and has adversely affected its <a href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/29/research-firm-says-windows-8-had-a-rocky-start/">sales.</a><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Video 1: </b>Windows 8 Fails the Dad Test</div>
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<h3>
TRANSFER OF SKILLS</h3>
<br />
<ol>
<li>Will knowledge of English help someone learn Chinese?</li>
<li>Can a skilled table tennis player make a good court tennis player?</li>
<li>Can a talented mathematician become a good programmer?</li>
<li>How quickly can a Windows 7 user master the newly released Window 8?</li>
</ol>
<br />
The above questions raise the issue of <i>transfer of skills</i>. That is, to what extent do existing knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA; Table 2 below) as it applies to a language, sport, abstract vocation or product use-experience transfer to something similar or entirely different?<br />
<br />
<b>TABLE 2: </b>Knowledge, Skills & Abilities (KSA)<br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</span></b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.42889150022529066"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Knowledge<span style="font-weight: normal;"> is what a person knows that is relevant to the job (e.g., knowledge of how menus and information are organized in a computer application ). </span></span></b> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.42889150022529066"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Skill <span style="font-weight: normal;">is what a person is able to do on the job. This includes both mental tasks (e.g., skill in doing algebra) and physical tasks (e.g., skill in driving an automobile). </span></span></b> </blockquote>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ability<span style="font-weight: normal;"> is the capacity to learn a skill (e.g., cognitive ability is the capacity to learn mental skills). Abilities include mental abilities, physical abilities, and psychomotor abilities. </span></span></b></blockquote>
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The extent to which KSAs are transferred from one system to the other is measured by the <a href="http://www.trainingsystems.org/TTCP/html/evaluation_simulation/simulation_training_eval.html#training effectiveness">Transfer Effectiveness Ratio</a> (TER). The best case would be to have a positive transfer or TER, where existing KSAs help and speed-up learning the new sport, product upgrade or new software version; the worst case is to have negative transfer, where existing KSAs actually hinder and slowdown the learning of a new system; the neutral case is where we have zero transfer, where it neither helps nor hinders.<br />
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<h3>
Designing NexGen: "Creative Disruptions" with Minimal Impact to the End-User</h3>
So how does one facilitate and promote positive transfer when designing the NexGen product, system or software? Here are some means to that end. (This is not an exhaustive list, but are just high level pointers. You can contact <a href="mailto:hvhf33322@gmail.com">HVHF Sciences</a> to obtain solutions for your specific design problem.)<br />
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<b>User-Interface</b><br />
Be it a physical user-interface (knobs, buttons, dials) or a GUI or a mix of both, it is important to understand how the current version has been learnt, comprehended, and interacted with by users.<br />
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The following aspects in the NexGen product require special attention so that they have sufficient visibility, transparency and congruence with the old system.<br />
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<u>Critical & Primary Interactions</u><br />
This class of interactions, when they must undergo a change due to a giant leap in technology (e.g., glass cockpits in aircraft), should retain their unique traits that make them stand apart from the rest. Furthermore, it may be well advised, that the user-interaction design change with these features carefully identify, with research and testing, the ideal location on the change spectrum (incremental to radical).<br />
<i>E.g. of critical & primary interactions:</i> emergency inputs/feedback, start/shut-off, escape, recovery, connect to Talk, steer, etc.<br />
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<u>Anchoring & Landmarks</u><br />
Users become highly dependent on well-known landmarks on an user-interface and anchor on it to perform oft repeated tasks. These landmarks should be treated with care and their design -- or even elimination (when necessitated) -- should be carefully considered for the new system. If substitutes are provided, it maybe worthwhile to ensure that their stimulus properties (affordance, visual design, location on physical/virtual real estate, etc.) have some correspondence with the old system. A poor execution of this was seen with Windows 8 due to the missing "<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/22/technology/windows-staple-of-most-pcs-gets-a-major-makeover.html">Start</a>" button, which hindered user-interaction.<br />
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<u>Information Density & Cognitive Load</u><br />
The new system should not appear dense, crowded and intimidating. The first few interaction experiences with the new system can be guided with a tour of critical & primary interactions. Complexity is bad at all times. But more so, when the user just wants to get started on those 20% of the features that he uses 80% of the time. There is no need to "wow" the user with 100 different new features ("featuritis") at once or out of the box. This may actually backfire and turn-off the users' interest in the product. Finally, visually aesthetic and culturally tempered design will make the experience less intimidating and even fun!<br />
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<u>Instructive Errors</u><br />
Errors that may occur should be instructive. That is, use errors to provide helpful hints and learning opportunities for the user -- instead of a cryptic bad bonk or error code on the screen. There should be no room for destructive errors, where the user is left in the dark after having hit a dead-end, taken a garden path, or crashed the system.<br />
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<b>User Cognition</b><br />
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<u>Mental Models</u><br />
Users develop a deep rich, understanding of a system or product over the years. It typically concerns what the system contains, its sub-components, how they interact, information architecture, quirks, among others. A formal knowledge elicitation maybe needed to map this understanding and best utilize it when designing the new system so that the "plasticity" that maybe present in the mental model can be exploited and migrated to the new system.<br />
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<u>Information Processing</u><br />
Humans process incoming information using codes consisting of verbal-phonetic loop (speech, text), visual-spatial loop (pictures, locations) in various perceptual modalities (visual, sound, haptic); and they respond via certain modes (speech, manual control). The last one becomes the input to the user-interface or machine. Disrupting this relationship (location, affordance/visual appearance of the control), as seen with the parking brake example (hand instead of the foot; lever instead of the pedal) can stall learning and adversely effect user perceptions of the product.<br />
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A human factors expert is required to analyze the code-modalities-mode framework and provide a robust design solution to transfer skills positively, or not be negative in the worst case.<br />
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<u>Identical Elements</u><br />
The perceptual elements (icons, tones, affordances, etc.) don't have to be needlessly changed unless required. One can use old furniture in a new house. Why not? Specially, if the old furniture is something that is preferred, evokes familiarity and sentimentality, and is in good working condition. <br />
Furthermore, it is better to emphasize "Recognition" over "Recall." In other words, these identical or perceptual elements should not be hidden, requiring <i>recall</i> from memory, and imposing higher cognitive load; they should be promptly made visible to emphasize <i>recognition</i> and utilization.<br />
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<u>General Principles</u><br />
The inherent properties of a system -- for example, pointing and clicking on an app icon opens it or pressing the brake pedal stops a car -- fall under this category.The utilization of General Principles maybe challenged severely, when the NexGen change is akin to the difference between oranges and apples. Say, moving from command line interface (DOS) to graphical user-interface (Windows). Yet, it is must be done for obvious reasons.<br />
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Here the strategy should be to provide an easy entry using the general properties from the old system (as applicable) and immediately start demonstrating the ease with which tasks can be completed. Speaking of GUIs, what is of interest here is, it promotes "recognition" of UI widgets (icons, symbols, menu items) over "recall" from memory of complex commands used for DOS.<br />
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<b>User Test, Test, Test</b><br />
Finally, user test the new design as it goes through several iterations. It should be done by an unbiased, third party. Based on the metrics obtained from testing, calculate the Transfer Effectiveness Ratio (TER). Every effort should be made to maximize TER. The business and marketing team should be well aware about these metrics and lay the necessary foundations for the smooth introduction of the product through communiques and commercials.<br />
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I also recommend that you read my previous post on <a href="http://hvhfsciences.blogspot.com/2012/11/designing-hyper-intuitive-user.html">hyper-intuitive user-interaction design</a>, which is closely related to this topic.<br />
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You can contact <a href="mailto:hvhf33322@gmail.com">HVHF Sciences</a> to obtain user-centered design strategies to bend the learning curve for your next version product and software upgrades or when designing user-interfaces for NexGen platforms. And user-testing to measure the type of transfer (positive, negative, zero) that would occur when the product is released in the field. This applies to a range of commercial and consumer products, appliances, vehicles, medical and other instruments, software, etc.<br />
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<span style="color: grey; font-size: 10pt;">Moin Rahman</span></div>
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<span style="color: grey; font-size: 10pt;">Founder/Principal Scientist</span></div>
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<span style="color: grey; font-size: 10pt;">HVHF Sciences, LLC</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: 'arial narrow', sans-serif;">"Designing systems and solutions for human interactions when stakes are high, moments are fleeting and actions are critical."</span></i></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15703567509415022352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7653648332023631531.post-33947309648203151042012-11-03T05:58:00.002-07:002013-01-25T11:16:28.135-08:00Designing Hyper-Intuitive User Interactions for Mission & Safety-Critical Domains <h2>
INTRODUCTION</h2>
Moin Rahman, Principal Scientist, HVHF Sciences, presents the Direct Perception-Action Coupling (DPAC) approach to design hyper-intuitive user-interactions between professional end-users and mission critical products, particularly in high stakes and time compressed situations. The DPAC approach is particularly applicable to inform the design of technology (computers, communication, devices, cockpits, life sustaining devices, etc.) in safety critical domains such as warfighting, firefighting, emergency medicine, aviation, automobiles, among others.<br />
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<h2>
PRESENTATION</h2>
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Note: On a related topic, you will also find this post on <a href="http://hvhfsciences.blogspot.com/2013/01/NexGenDesignUX.html">Designing NexGen Products: Bending the Users' Learning Curve</a> of interest.<br />
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<h2>
REFERENCES</h2>
Rahman, M., Balakrishnan, G., & Bergin, T. (2011). Designing Human-Machine Interfaces for Naturalistic Perceptions, Decisions and Actions occurring in Emergency Situations.<i> Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science. Vol. 13(3)</i>, 358-379.<br />
Available online at: <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1463922X.2010.506561">http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1463922X.2010.506561</a><br />
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Rahman, M. (2012). Direct Perception-Action Coupling: A Neo-Gibsonian Model for Critical Human-Machine Interactions under Stress. In <i>Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 56th Annual Meeting</i>. Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.<br />
Available online at: <a href="http://pro.sagepub.com/content/56/1/1401.abstract?etoc">http://pro.sagepub.com/content/56/1/1401.abstract?etoc</a><br />
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<h2>
"Smart" Embodied Interactions - Examples</h2>
<b>Caterpillar M-Series Moto Grader (latest model) - </b><br />
Note: More than 15 levers present in the previous model were replaced with two joy sticks that encapsulate the DPAC approach discussed in the presentation.<br />
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<b>NEST Learning Thermostat</b><br />
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<b>Black & Decker Gyro Screw Driver</b></div>
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<div style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">
<div style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: grey; font-size: 10pt;">Moin Rahman</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: grey; font-size: 10pt;">Founder/Principal Scientist</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: grey; font-size: 10pt;">HVHF Sciences, LLC</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: 'arial narrow', sans-serif;">"Designing systems and solutions for human interactions when stakes are high, moments are fleeting and actions are critical."</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://hvhfsciences.com/" target="_blank">http://hvhfsciences.com/</a></span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15703567509415022352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7653648332023631531.post-38663911120035047462012-10-08T09:53:00.003-07:002012-10-08T16:16:39.215-07:00Inadvertent Police Shootings of Unarmed Citizens: Normal Error, At-risk Behavior, or Reckless Behavior?<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Officers belonging to the New York Police Department (NYPD) over the last two decades have been involved in inadvertent shootings of unarmed citizens (e.g., <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amadou_Diallo_shooting">Amadou Diallo</a>, <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/sean_bell/index.html">Sean Bell</a>), which have resulted in a tragic loss of innocent lives. The most recent incident occurred on Oct. 4, which resulted in the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/05/nyregion/police-stop-and-fatally-shoot-unarmed-driver-on-a-parkway-in-queens.html">fatal shooting of Noel Polanco,</a> 22, who was shot by a 14-year veteran detective, Hassan Hamdy, 39, assigned to the elite Emergency Service Unit. Needless to say, these incidents not only besmirch the reputation of a police department whose function in a Republic is to protect and serve its citizens but also cause irreparable harm to police-community relations. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/10/05/nyregion/JPSHOOT/JPSHOOT-articleInline.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="267" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/10/05/nyregion/JPSHOOT/JPSHOOT-articleInline.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11.199999809265137px; line-height: 13.986666679382324px; text-align: left;">Mr. Polanco's Honda was pulled over on the Grand Central Parkway because, the police said, it had cut off their vehicles.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The questions raised by these tragic incidents are many. But one crucial question that is of great interest to the human factors/cognitive scientist is what may have caused the police officer NOT to realize that the citizen was unarmed, meant no harm -- yet pursued a course of action (use of deadly force) that was incompatible with the situation that was encountered (unarmed civilian). Put in human factors jargon (taxonomy [Marx, 2008]), did the police officer commit a:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Normal Error:</b> Inadvertent action (slip, lapse, mistake)?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>At Risk Behavior:</b> A choice: risk not recognized or believed justified?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Reckless Behavior: </b>Conscious disregard of unreasonable risk?</span><br />
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The job of a police officer is certainly not easy. He must accomplish speedy and successful "sensemaking" (making sense of one's experience and giving it meaning) and situated-social cognition (reading and interpreting the intent of a civilian who may appear to be posing a threat) in a high stakes situation, where incorrect sensemaking may end-up costing his own life. </span><br />
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So the question is, how should the citizens of a republic recruit a police officer with the right type of psychological profile who will not indulge in <b>Reckless Behavior</b>, legally arm him; then ensure that he his trained so that he doesn't become a victim to his own poor choices of <b>At Risk Behavior</b> or commit <b>Normal Error</b>? This is also dictated by the relationship between a police officer and citizen through what is referred to as the "<i>Power Distance</i>": </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Power Distance is one among five dimensions of a culture identified by the sociologist Geert Hofstede who defined it as: </span><br />
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<i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"the extent to which the less powerful members of organizations and institutions (like the family) accept and expect that power is distributed unequally."</i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The power distance may vary between the police and citizenry. It may be very large in a police state, moderate in a country like the United States (this may vary from city to city), and relatively low in European democracies such as Great Britain The abuse and misuse of power distance are serious problems where they can cause loss of life in risky socio-technical systems such as police departments, military, aviation or hospitals as they set expectations on how personnel (or the bureaucracy_ should perform within (in-group) and interact without (out-group). Problems caused by power distance are typically symptoms of a decrepit organizational culture that is marked by poor management, training and operational protocols.</span><br />
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Having introduced the above concepts, let us now consider Mr. Polanco's shooting through them. Early reports on this shooting indicate that "Mr. Polanco <span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 22px;">was driving erratically, switching lanes while speeding, and twice cutting off two police trucks carrying nine officers of the Emergency Service Unit..." The narrative given by a passenger in Mr. Polanco's car indicates that the officers </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 22px;">committed an act of road rage, allegedly losing their temper when their </span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 22px;">authority (power distance) was challenged on the road (Mr. Polanco cutting off the two police trucks, twice). This may have been exacerbated when the police officers approached Mr. Polanco's Honda, which was forced to a stop, and </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 22px;">ordered those inside the car to show their hands -- and Mr. Polanco didn't comply.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 22px;"> According to the Times, in</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 22px;"> an interview, a passenger, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 22px;">Diane Deferrari, in the Honda said that Mr. Polanco "...</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 22px;">had no time to comply and that, in that instant Detective Hamdy fired the shot."</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 22px;">It is too early to conclude as to what may caused Detective Hamdy to fire that fatal shot. Was it <i>Reckless Behavior</i>? Or a case of <i>Normal Error</i> or <i>At-Risk Behavior</i> brought about by poor sensemaking? Some may be inclined to lean towards </span><i style="font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 22px;">Reckless Behavior, </i><span style="font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 22px;">even though this was the very first shot that Detective Hamdy fired in his 14-year career as a police officers. But they may point to the </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/06/nyregion/grief-and-anger-after-noel-polanco-is-fatally-shot-by-police.html?ref=nyregion" style="font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 22px;">two lawsuits </a><span style="font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 22px;">that were brought against him for allegedly not following proper procedures when apprehending suspects. On the other hand, the portrait of Detective Hamdy is somewhat complex, because earlier this year, he was also accorded the </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/06/nyregion/grief-and-anger-after-noel-polanco-is-fatally-shot-by-police.html?ref=nyregion" style="font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 22px;">status of a hero </a><span style="font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 22px;">as he helped rescue five people in a burning apartment building.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 22px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 22px;">One may also wonder whether Detective Hamdy's prior professional background in the military, which has a very different conception of the use of fatal force and power distance as opposed to policing, may have influenced his decision making in the situation discussed above. (Detective Hamdy </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 22px;">served four years in the Marine Corps, rising to the level of sergeant in an artillery division, and earned medals for good behavior.)</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 22px;"> Furthermore, did Detective Hamdy's current assignment in the Tactical Apprehension Unit (TAU) of the NYPD, a very stressful and risky operational setting -- that may employ somewhat of a larger <i>Power Distance </i>than typical policing on the street -- play a role in this shooting? What might be referred to as a negative transfer of skills, experience and training, which [TAU] is geared towards taking on criminals and gangs to a situation that was of a different nature (unsafe vehicular operation on the road of a driver) get the better of him?</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 22px;">Next, one may also attribute to the inappropriate decision making of Detective Hamdy to issues raised by </span><a href="http://hvhfsciences.com/hvhf-perspective.html" style="font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 22px;">High Velocity Human Factors (HVHF)</a><span style="font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 22px;">. Did the autonomic arousal -- what is termed as "predatory cardiovascular reactions" (much like the arousal a predator experiences when chasing a prey) -- that was triggered-off by the adrenalin released in the car chase have a role? Perhaps, this autonomic arousal didn't make him pause (sensemaking) before opening fire? For instance, giving consideration to the possibility that Mr. Polanco may not have heard the officers' orders to raise his hands. Or was there a real threat that was perceived by Detective Hamdy when Mr. Polanco didn't raise his hands from the steering wheel? (An earlier report indicates that a Power Drill was found on the passenger seat of the vehicle.) Did danger-induced emotional arousal distort the facts [perceptual mechanisms such as the </span><a href="http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/emotion.pdf" style="font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 22px;">"snake in the grass effect"</a><span style="font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 22px;">], much like the officers who shot </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amadou_Diallo_shooting" style="font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 22px;">Amadou Diallo</a><span style="font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 22px;">, who mistook his black wallet for a gun? We may not know until the inquiry is complete.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 22px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 22px;">In the meantime, there is one thing, that is, training, which certainly needs to be revisited in the best interests of all concerned. Professionals in a variety of professions are trained under the rubric referred to as <b>KSA</b>s (Knowledge-Skills-Attitudes) to do the job. They can be briefly described as follows in the context of doing a job, whether it be flying a plane or being a police officer:</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 22px;"><b>Knowledge</b>: Need to know</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 22px;"><b>Skills</b>: Need to do</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 22px;"><b>Attitudes</b>: Need to feel</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 22px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 22px;">Training of professionals is typically very good on the first two (K & S) items. But it is always a challenge with the last one, "Attitudes." In policing, particularly in a time compressed, high stakes situations an officer may not have enough time for analysis of the situation, rational thought and decision making. He literally has to go with somatic situation awareness (see </span><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/moinrahman" style="font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 22px;">publications</a><span style="font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 22px;">), or what is referred to as "gut feeling" in the vernacular. How does one "train" gut feeling to make those right decisions when danger is imminent and the moments are fleeting? This issue has been studied under the auspices of HVHF by bringing to bear both evolutionary psychology and neuroscience. The process of interpreting this body of science and translating it into pedagogical curriculum to inculcate the ability in an officer through feeling (Attitude: need to feel) and interpreting the intent (situated-social cognition) of a civilian has just begun. This work needs to be accelerated so that officers, including soldiers (particularly in COunter INsurgency operations; COIN), do not become victims of their own circumstances; wherein they end-up in the fatal shooting of innocent civilians like Mr. Polanco, or killing one of their own, committing fratricide.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 22px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 16.363636016845703px;"><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/moinrahman" style="color: #33aaff;">Moin Rahman</a><br />Founder/Principal Scientist<br /><a href="http://hvhfsciences.com/" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">HVHF Sciences, LLC</a></span></span><br />
<a href="http://on.fb.me/hvhfsciences" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 16.363636016845703px; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">HVHF on Facebook</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/company/hvhf-sciences-llc" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 16.363636016845703px; text-decoration: none;">http://www.linkedin.com/company/hvhf-sciences-llc</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 16.363636016845703px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13.600000381469727px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/moinrahman" name="SafeHtmlFilter_webProfileURL" style="background-color: white; border-width: 0px; color: #006699; font-size: 13px; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="View public profile">http://www.linkedin.com/in/moinrahman</a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15703567509415022352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7653648332023631531.post-81112854224482658292012-08-18T17:28:00.001-07:002012-08-19T10:59:08.196-07:00The Funneling and Tunneling of Attention: Human Interactions in Safety Critical Systems<h2>
Fragments of Attention: The Perils of Multitasking </h2>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="grand" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.</span>- Albert Einstein</span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
Student and teenage drivers are often told, "keep your eyes on the road." Seasoned drivers are told "don't text or talk on the cellphone while driving." These admonitions are spot-on. In addition to this, one rarely hears someone telling drivers "pay <i>attention</i> to the road." After all what is the point of LOOKING but not SEEING? Meaning, that one should not only look at the road, but also cognitively register the stimuli (other cars, pedestrians, etc.) on the road, including their intentions, trajectories, unexpected appearances of new stimuli, etc. Thus, a good driver has to monitor, by paying attention, to the present state of affairs on the road and the potential future. He must do all this, while simultaneously attending, albeit with automaticity (for the expert driver), to other driving tasks such as steering, keeping the gas pedal depressed; and, at times, to other undesirable secondary tasks like arguing with one's colleague on some abstruse or mundane topic. Say, about the Boson Higgs [God] particle or where to go for lunch.<br />
<br />
The challenge posed by a modern automobile's cockpit, with its multitude of devices (GPS, Entertainment System, climate control, etc., Figure 1a) when combined with heavy traffic, and poor decision making of the driver (focusing on say, track selection on his music player rather than lane selection on the road), can result in adverse outcomes. Simply because there are limits to how many tasks one can do by <i>dividing attention </i>while driving. Findings from a <a href="http://www.blogger.com/Fragments%20of%20Attention:%20The%20Quality%20of%20Multitasking%20%20%20%20Any%20man%20who%20can%20drive%20safely%20while%20kissing%20a%20pretty%20girl%20is%20simply%20not%20giving%20the%20kiss%20the%20attention%20it%20deserves.%20-%20Albert%20Einstein%20Student%20and%20teenage%20drivers%20are%20often%20told,%20%22keep%20your%20eyes%20on%20the%20road.%22%20Seasoned%20drivers%20are%20told%20don't%20%22text%20or%20talk%20on%20the%20cellphone%20and%20drive.%22%20These%20are%20good%20suggestions%20indeed,%20But%20one%20rarely%20hears%20someone%20telling%20drivers%20%22pay%20attention%20to%20the%20road.%22%20After%20all%20what%20is%20the%20point%20of%20LOOKING%20but%20not%20SEEING?%20Meaning,%20not%20only%20look,%20but%20also%20cognitively%20register%20the%20stimulus%20(other%20cars,%20pedestrians,%20etc.)%20on%20the%20road,%20their%20intentions,%20trajectories,%20unexpected%20events,%20etc.%20--%20i.e.,%20monitor%20present%20state%20of%20affairs%20and%20the%20potential%20future.%20All%20this%20while%20doing%20other%20sub%20tasks%20such%20as%20steering,%20keeping%20the%20gas%20pedal%20depressed,%20or%20some%20undesirable%20secondary%20tasks%20like%20arguing%20with%20your%20colleague%20on%20some%20abstruse%20or%20mundane%20topic.%20Say,%20about%20the%20Boson%20Higgs%20particle%20or%20where%20to%20go%20for%20lunch.%20%20%20The%20challenge%20posed%20by%20a%20modern%20automobile's%20cockpit,%20with%20its%20multitude%20of%20devices%20(GPS,%20Entertainment%20System,%20climate%20control,%20etc.,%20Figure%201a)%20when%20combined%20with%20heavy%20traffic,%20and%20poor%20decision%20making%20of%20the%20driver%20(focusing%20on%20say,%20track%20selection%20on%20his%20music%20player%20rather%20than%20lane%20selection%20on%20the%20road),%20can%20result%20in%20adverse%20outcomes.%20Simply%20because%20there%20are%20limits%20to%20how%20many%20tasks%20one%20can%20do%20by%20dividing%20attention%20while%20driving.%20A%20recent%20study%20discusses%20the%20perils%20of%20multitasking,%20texting%20while%20driving,%20are%20repore%20%20%20Figure%201a:%20The%20complexity%20of%20a%20%20modern%20Automobile%20Cockpit%20has%20multiplied%20with%20the%20increase%20in%20a%20number%20of%20subsystems%20(GPS,%20climate%20control,%20etc.)%20that%20maybe%20unrelated%20to%20the%20primary%20task%20of%20driving%20%20Flying%20a%20plane,%20and%20performing%20the%20primary%20task%20of%20aviating%20and%20navigating%20with%20six%20essential,%20primary%20flight%20instruments%20(Figure%201b)%20--%20forget%20chatting%20or%20monitoring%20radio%20traffic%20or%20even%20engine%20RPM%20--%20can%20fragment%20attention%20and%20test%20its%20limits.%20%20%20Figure%201b:%20The%20primary%20flight%20instrumentation%20(the%20minimum)%20required%20to%20aviate%20and%20navigate%20a%20plane%201:%20Airspeed%20Indicator%20(ASI);%202:%20Attitude%20Indicator%20(AI);%203:%20Altimeter;%204:%20Turn%20Coordinator%20(TC);%205:%20Directional%20Gyro%20(DG);%206:%20Vertical%20Speed%20Indicator%20(VSI).%20For%20more%20details%20read%20this%20article.%20%20So%20one%20needs%20to%20pay%20attention%20to%20Einstein's%20words%20(quote%20above),%20if%20one%20wishes%20not%20to%20crash%20the%20car,%20or%20its%20corollary,%20deliver%20and%20experience%20the%20pleasure%20of%20a%20quality%20kiss!%20%20%20%20The%20%22Spotlight%22%20of%20Attention:%20when%20it%20holds%20and%20when%20it%20folds%20%20To%20simplify%20the%20understanding%20of%20attention,%20it%20can%20be%20thought%20of%20a%20spotlight.%20Where%20the%20spotlight%20of%20attention%20is%20shined%20determines%20what%20we%20hear%20or%20see.%20Paying%20attention%20to%20what%20is%20being%20said%20by%20a%20man%20to%20the%20right%20of%20us%20at%20a%20cocktail%20party%20--%20shining%20the%20%22attentional%22%20spot%20light%20on%20him%20--%20may%20result%20in%20us%20ignoring%20what%20is%20being%20said%20by%20the%20lady%20on%20the%20left.%20This%20spotlight%20theory%20is%20true,%20until%20suddenly%20someone%20across%20the%20room%20utters%20our%20name%20in%20passing%20conversation.%20Our%20attention%20is%20now%20suddenly%20drawn%20to%20our%20name,%20because%20of%20the%20familiarity%20and%20emotional%20valence%20it%20has%20on%20us.%20The%20is%20known%20as%20the%20Cocktail%20Party%20Effect.%20%20In%20dangerous%20and%20threat%20situations,%20our%20brain%20has%20been%20evolutionary%20wired%20to%20%22preattentively%22%20process%20negative%20information.%20Studies%20have%20shown%20that%20an%20angry%20face%20is%20spotted%20faster%20in%20a%20collection%20of%20happy%20faces,%20whereas%20the%20opposite%20spotting%20a%20happy%20face%20in%20a%20collection%20of%20angry%20faces%20is%20much%20slower%20(Figure%202).%20%20%20Figure%202:%20Preattentive%20Processing%20of%20the%20Angry%20Face%20-%20%22Angry%20Face%20Effect%22%20%20This%20subconscious%20spotlighting%20of%20attention%20is%20also%20revealed%20in%20what%20is%20referred%20to%20as%20the%20%22Snake%20in%20the%20Grass%20Effect%22%20by%20Prof.%20Joseph%20LeDoux.%20Say,%20you're%20walking%20in%20the%20woods%20and%20suddenly%20you%20feel%20something%20sliding%20past%20your%20shin.%20Your%20immediate%20response,%20even%20before%20you%20consciously%20could%20pay%20attention%20to%20the%20plausible%20cause,%20was%20most%20likely%20to%20recoil%20in%20shock.%20%20Then%20look%20at%20the%20cause.%20Was%20it%20some%20thing%20dangerous%20(snake)%20or%20was%20it%20just%20a%20fallen%20branch?%20Our%20unconscious%20spotlight%20of%20attention,%20via%20our%20fear%20response%20(emotional%20brain)%20may%20have%20saved%20our%20life,%20if%20it%20happened%20to%20be%20a%20snake.%20%20These%20types%20of%20biases%20may%20sometimes%20prove%20to%20be%20fatal%20in%20high%20risk%20professions%20such%20as%20law%20enforcement%20and%20combat.%20One%20tends%20to%20have%20an%20implicit%20fear%20response,%20which%20may%20result%20in%20tragic%20consequences%20such%20as%20the%20shooting%20of%20Amadou%20Diallo,%20an%20innocent%20civilian,%20or%20fratricide%20(A-10%20Thunderbolt%20Air-to-Ground%20Friendly%20Fire%20incident%20in%20the%20Iraq%20war).%20%20%20Attention%20can%20be%20exteroceptive,%20i.e.,%20linked%20to%20the%20sensory%20system%20(vision,%20hearing,%20touch,%20etc.)%20or%20nonexteroceptive%20(purely%20in%20the%20mind).%20%20In%20exteroceptive%20case,%20one%20can%20figure%20out%20something%20flying%20at%20a%20distance%20(bird%20or%20plane)%20by%20paying%20attention%20to%20it;%20in%20the%20nonexteroceptive%20case,%20one%20can%20multiply%20(22%20X%2038)%20by%20holding%20the%20numbers%20in%20our%20mind%20and%20applying%20certain%20rules%20to%20get%20the%20answer.%20%20What%20is%20even%20more%20interesting%20is%20that%20the%20exteroceptive%20case%20may%20cut%20across%20sensory%20modalities.%20For%20instance,%20%22looking%22%20with%20one's%20eyes%20at%20the%20source%20of%20a%20sound%20may%20help%20us%20%22hear%22%20better%20and%20understand%20what%20is%20being%20said.%20For%20instance,%20we%20may%20have%20unconsciously%20stared%20at%20the%20speakers%20of%20a%20PA%20system,%20or%20the%20direction%20from%20which%20the%20sound%20is%20propagating,%20to%20hear%20better%20what%20is%20being%20said%20in%20a%20noisy%20airport.%20And%20sometimes%20looking%20at%20the%20speaker's%20lips%20can%20influence%20what%20we%20hear!%20Check%20out%20this%20illusion%20called%20the%20McGurk%20effect%20below%20%20%20Close%20your%20eyes,%20play%20this%20movie,%20and%20listen.%20Open%20your%20eyes,%20replay%20and%20listen%20again.%20Is%20he%20saying%20%22ba%20ba%22%20or%20%22da%20da%22?%20It's%20called%20the%20McGurk%20effect.%20The%20man%20in%20this%20video,%20and%20its%20creator,%20is%20Arnt%20Maas%C3%B8,%20associate%20professor%20at%20the%20University%20of%20Oslo.%20%20%20Communication%20and%20its%20comprehension%20(not%20mishearing!)%20are%20key%20among%20the%20members%20of%20a%20crew,%20squad%20or%20team%20whether%20it%20be%20inside%20an%20aircraft's%20cockpit,%20surgical%20theater,%20coal%20mine,%20or%20marine%20unit%20for%20successful%20mission%20accomplishment.%20Poor%20communication%20skills%20and%20protocols%20or%20noisy%20radio%20links%20can%20result%20in%20dire%20outcomes%20or%20false%20alarms,%20as%20was%20the%20case%20recently%20at%20a%20Shell%20refinery.%20%20Tunneling-Funneling%20of%20Attention%20%20On%2029%20Dec%201972,%20Eastern%20Airlines%20L-1011%20Flight%20had%20reached%20its%20destination,%20Miami,%20and%20was%20preparing%20to%20land.%20At%20that%20time,%20the%20crew%20encountered%20a%20problem%20with%20the%20landing%20gear%20and%20got%20preoccupied%20with%20troubleshooting%20it.%20Their%20attention%20was%20tunneled%20on%20the%20problem%20on%20hand%20and%20nobody%20noticed%20the%20gradual%20loss%20in%20altitude,%20or%20paid%20attention%20to%20the%20altimeter,%20and%20L-1011%20crashed%20killing%20101%20of%20the%20176%20people%20on%20board.%20%20%20Focusing%20of%20attention%20in%20a%20tunnel,%20without%20periodically%20scanning%20for%20what%20else%20might%20be%20going%20on%20in%20the%20environment,%20can%20be%20costly.%20Put%20another%20way,%20the%20tunneling%20and%20funneling%20of%20attention%20--%20or%20switching%20of%20attention%20from%20focused%20to%20divided%20%20should%20be%20optimized%20to%20minimize%20error%20(Figure%203).%20%20%20Figure%203:%20Attention%20Tunneling-Funneling%20%20The%20pilot,%20soldier,%20police%20officer,%20fire%20fighter%20or%20surgeon%20--%20or%20a%20tennis%20player%20--%20should%20have%20a%20strategy%20to%20switch%20his%20attention%20from%20the%20funnel%20to%20the%20tunnel%20and%20vice%20versa.%20Obviously,%20this%20comes%20with%20experience.%20And%20system%20designers,%20can%20design%20the%20user%20interface%20of%20a%20cockpit%20or%20an%20infusion%20pump,%20to%20draw%20the%20attention%20of%20the%20human%20agent%20with%20proper%20enunciation%20(e.g.,%20alarm),%20of%20course,%20not%20overwhelming%20them%20with%20too%20many%20alarms.%20(Poor%20design%20of%20multiple%20alarms%20in%20complex%20systems%20such%20as%20power%20plants,%20cockpits,%20or%20even%20cars,%20is%20referred%20to%20as%20the%20%22Too%20much,%20too%20soon?%20or%20too%20little,%20too%20late?%22%20problem.).%20%20Sports%20too,%20and%20tennis%20in%20particular,%20demands%20strategic%20switching%20of%20attention%20between%20the%20tunnel%20and%20the%20funnel.%20The%20great%20maestro%20Roger%20Federer's%20visual%20attention%20(and%20be%20extension%20cognitive)%20is%20legendary%20and%20has%20been%20analyzed%20in-depth.%20For%20example,%20at%20the%20point%20of%20contact%20with%20the%20ball%20(the%20stimulus,%20remember%20exteroceptive%20attention%20discussed%20earlier?;%20Figure%204),%20and%20the%20nonexteroceptive%20aspects%20of%20attention%20as%20to%20where%20to%20place%20the%20ball,%20what%20is%20the%20opponent's%20intent,%20reading%20the%20trajectory,%20speed,%20and%20spin%20of%20the%20ball,%20etc.%20%20%20%20%20Figure%204:%20Roger%20Federer's%20focused%20visual%20attention%20(exteroceptive)%20as%20he%20makes%20contact%20with%20the%20ball%20%20This%20posting%20just%20touched%20the%20tip%20of%20the%20iceberg%20with%20regards%20to%20attention.%20Research%20on%20attention%20has%20come%20a%20long%20way%20with%20increasing%20complexity%20of%20technology%20(air%20traffic%20control,%20cockpits,%20UAVs,%20nuclear%20power%20plants,%20etc.).%20Dr.%20Christopher%20Wickens,%20the%20doyen%20of%20cognitive/engineering%20psychology%20has%20enhanced%20our%20understanding%20of%20attention%20with%20his%20Models%20of%20Attention%20(multiple%20resource%20theory,%20SEEV),%20which%20are%20applied%20to%20design%20human-machine%20interfaces%20for%20complex%20technologies%20to%20exploit%20the%20innate%20strengths%20of%20human%20attention.%20I%20will%20discuss%20them%20in%20a%20future%20post.%20%20But%20until%20then%20let%20us%20be%20cautious%20about%20our%20capacity%20to%20pay%20attention%20to%20a%20number%20of%20things%20at%20once,%20and%20wary%20about%20getting%20sucked%20into%20the%20funnel%20--%20and%20then%20tunnel%20--%20of%20attention%20never%20to%20switch%20back.%20The%20training%20of%20human%20agents%20(drivers,%20pilots,%20surgeons,%20police%20officers,%20fire%20fighters,%20process%20control%20operators,%20among%20others)%20and%20the%20design%20of%20technology%20to%20make%20it%20compatible%20with%20the%20predilection%20and%20capabilities%20of%20human%20attention%20is%20of%20great%20import%20that%20deserves%20great%20ATTENTION.%20%20Moin%20Rahman%20Founding%20Principal%20Scientist%20HVHF%20Sciences,%20LLC%20HVHF%20on%20Facebook%20http://www.linkedin.com/company/hvhf-sciences-llc%20%20%20Varieties%20of%20Attention%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20Albert%20Einstein%20%20%20%20Control%20of%20attention%20a%20critical%20cognitive%20factor%20%20Scan%20-%3E%20Filter%20-%3E%20Prioritize%20-%3E%20Identify%20--%3E%20%20Focus%20-%3E%20Switch%20%20Preattentive%20processes%20Orienting%20perceptual%20systems%20%20Overattention%20to%20detail%20%20Inattentional%20blindness/Change%20Blindness:%20http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/14/science/video-blink-what-changed.html?src=ISMR_AP_LI_LST_FB%20%20Dichotic%20Listening%20Task%20%20%20Attentional%20Capture%20%20%22Directing%20attention%20to%20listening%20effectively%20'turns%20down%20the%20volume'%20on%20input%20to%20the%20visual%20parts%20of%20the%20brain,%22%20psychologist%20Steven%20Yantis%20said%20when%20that%20study%20was%20released%20in%202005.%20%22When%20attention%20is%20deployed%20to%20one%20modality%20--%20say,%20in%20this%20case,%20talking%20on%20a%20cell%20phone%20--%20it%20necessarily%20extracts%20a%20cost%20on%20another%20modality,%20in%20this%20case,%20the%20visual%20task%20of%20driving.%22%20http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/multitasking-driving-texting-tasks-spell-danger/story?id=16973777#.UClAWk1lTa7 Data channels --> Dynamic fault management data rich, high tempo and multi-task situations. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/05/opinion/sunday/the-positive-power-of-negative-thinking.html?_r=1 where one can err by excessive false shifts or excessive missed shifts. Thus Multitasking False Alarms (evolutionary) Several streams of data in parallel. > Suspend for critical actions attention focusing, attention switching and dynamic prioritization. Supervisory control of dynamic systems and Woods 1985) all point out that operational personnel can have difficulties identifying, prioritizing and responding to abnormal conditions despite the presence of various types of alarm systems (both traditional annunciators and computerized variants) and diagnostic aids. Choke high arousal, competing goals, uncertain result, catastrophic outcome data rich, high tempo and multi-task situations. Attention --> Negative Self Reactions and Positive Self Reactions NSR --> Negative Self Reaction pulls attention away from the task; anxiety --> Off task thinking ANXIETY is found to have negative effect on performance. http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/for-closers-its-focus-not-stuff-that-makes-the-difference/2012/07/30/gJQAavF7KX_story.html If an athlete’s frame of mind is focused on what he may lose, his performance is likely to suffer, said Sian Beilock, a psychology professor at the University of Chicago and author of the book “Choke. Graphic Which team is spending the most on its top three pitchers this season? Which pitcher makes the most money and how long is he signed for? Use this tool to compare 2012 pitcher salaries. “Your mind-set really matters,” she said. “You can focus on what you might gain. Or you can focus, for example, on one thing you might want to achieve, one particular type of throw, or something you are going to do. The idea is that focusing on that, at least, robs you of the brain power that would focus on failure.” Positive thinking Big Think http://bigthink.com/ideafeed/the-positive-power-of-negative-thinking">recent study</a> that report the perils of multitasking, texting while driving, provide further details about the limited bandwidth of dividing attention.<br />
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<a href="http://strumors.automobilemag.com/files/2012/04/2013-Cadillac-SRX-cockpit-1024x640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://strumors.automobilemag.com/files/2012/04/2013-Cadillac-SRX-cockpit-1024x640.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Figure 1a: </b>The complexity of a modern Automobile Cockpit has multiplied with the increase in a number of subsystems (GPS, climate control, etc.) that are unrelated to the primary task of driving</div>
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Flying a plane requires the pilot to both aviate and navigate at once. A pilot has to divide attention (scan) across six essential, primary flight instruments (Figure 1b) to keep the plane flying and heading in the right direction. This does not include chatting with the co-pilot or monitoring radio traffic or even engine parameters. The inherent task of flying an airplane fragments attention and test its limits.<br />
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<a href="http://wiki.x-plane.com/w/images/b/b6/Standard_six_instruments_from_Cessna_172.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="218" src="http://wiki.x-plane.com/w/images/b/b6/Standard_six_instruments_from_Cessna_172.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<b>Figure 1b:</b> The primary flight instrumentation (the minimum) required to aviate and navigate a plane<br />
1: Airspeed Indicator (ASI); 2: Attitude Indicator (AI); 3: Altimeter; 4: Turn Coordinator (TC); 5: Directional Gyro (DG); 6: Vertical Speed Indicator (VSI). For more details read this <a href="http://wiki.x-plane.com/Chapter_6:_Navigation,_Autopilots,_and_Flying_on_Instruments">article</a>.<br />
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So one needs to pay attention to Einstein's words (quote above), if one wishes not to crash the car, or its corollary, deliver and experience the pleasure of a quality kiss! <br />
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<h2>
The "Spotlight" of Attention: when it holds and when it folds</h2>
To simplify the understanding of attention, it can be thought of a spotlight. Where the spotlight of attention is shined determines what we hear or see. Paying attention to what is being said by a man to the right of us at a cocktail party -- shining the "attentional" spot light on him -- may result in us ignoring what is being said by the lady on the left. This spotlight theory is true, until suddenly someone across the room utters our name in passing conversation. Our attention is now suddenly drawn to our name, because of the familiarity and emotional valence it has on us. This is known as the Cocktail Party Effect.<br />
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In dangerous and threat situations, our brain has been evolutionary wired to "preattentively" process negative information. Studies have shown that an angry face is spotted faster in a collection of happy faces, whereas the opposite, spotting a happy face in a collection of angry faces is much slower (Figure 2).<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GhtHdh2fWwk/UDAD3yI4u3I/AAAAAAAAAIw/-xCqG2sPKWk/s1600/Angry+face+effect.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GhtHdh2fWwk/UDAD3yI4u3I/AAAAAAAAAIw/-xCqG2sPKWk/s1600/Angry+face+effect.png" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Figure 2:</b> Preattentive Processing of the Angry Face - "Angry Face Effect"</div>
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This subconscious spotlighting of attention is also revealed in what is referred to as the <a href="http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/emotion.pdf">"Snake in the Grass Effect"</a> by Prof. Joseph LeDoux. Say, you're walking in the woods and suddenly you feel something gliding past your shin. Your immediate response, even before you consciously could pay attention to the plausible cause, was most likely to recoil in shock. Then look at the cause. Was it some thing dangerous (snake) or was it just a fallen branch? Our unconscious spotlight of attention, via our fear response (emotional brain) may have saved our life, if it happened to be a snake.<br />
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These types of biases (survival instinct) may sometimes prove to be fatal in high risk professions such as law enforcement and combat. One tends to have an implicit fear response, which may result in tragic consequences such as the shooting of <a href="http://everydaythomist.wordpress.com/2010/01/25/what-malcolm-gladwells-blink-teaches-about-virtue/">Amadou Diallo</a>, an innocent civilian, or fratricide (<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6337137.stm">A-10 Thunderbolt, Air-to-Ground Friendly Fire incident</a> in the Iraq war).<br />
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Attention can be exteroceptive, i.e., linked to the sensory system (vision, hearing, touch, etc.) or nonexteroceptive (purely in the mind). In exteroceptive case, one can figure out something flying at a distance (bird or plane) by paying attention to it; in the nonexteroceptive case, one can multiply (22 X 38) by holding the numbers in our mind and applying certain rules to get the answer.<br />
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What is even more interesting is that the exteroceptive case may cut across sensory modalities. For instance, "looking" with one's eyes at the source of a sound may help us "hear" better and understand what is being said. For instance, we may have unconsciously <i>stared</i> at the speakers of a PA system, or the direction from which the sound is propagating, to <i>hear </i>better what is being said in a noisy airport. And sometimes looking at the speaker's lips can influence what we hear! Check out this illusion called the <a href="http://www.faculty.ucr.edu/~rosenblu/VSMcGurk.html">McGurk effect </a>below<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Close your eyes, play this movie, and listen. Open your eyes, replay and listen again. Is he saying "ba ba" or "da da"? It's called the McGurk effect. The man in this video, and its creator, is Arnt Maasø, associate professor at the University of Oslo. (More on the </span><a href="http://www.faculty.ucr.edu/~rosenblu/VSMcGurk.html">McGurk effect </a>)<br />
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Communication and its comprehension (or the opposite, misunderstanding or mishearing) are key determinants when a a crew, squad or team have to succeed. This can apply to say, an aircraft's cockpit, surgical theater, coal mine, or marine unit in the heat of urban combat. Poor communication skills and protocols or noisy radio links can result in dire outcomes or false alarms; as was the case with the latter when a false alarm was issued at a <a href="http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2012/08/08/martinez-shell-refinery-false-alarm-leads-to-sirens-shelter-in-place-warning/">Shell refinery</a>.<br />
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Funneling-Tunneling of Attention</h2>
On 29 Dec 1972, Eastern Airlines L-1011 Flight had reached its destination, Miami, and was preparing to land. At that time, the crew encountered a problem with the landing gear and got preoccupied with troubleshooting it. The crew's attention was<i> tunneled</i> on the problem and nobody noticed the gradual loss in altitude -- nobody paid attention to the altimeter -- and <a href="http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19721229-0">L-1011 crashed</a> killing 101 of the 176 people on board.<br />
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Focusing of attention in a tunnel, without periodically scanning for what else might be going on in the environment, can be costly. Put another way, the tunneling and funneling of attention -- or switching of attention from focused to divided should be optimized to minimize error (Figure 3).<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4SrOe7HIpz0/UDAf8TO4_OI/AAAAAAAAAJA/cKYhVJucy2o/s1600/Funnel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4SrOe7HIpz0/UDAf8TO4_OI/AAAAAAAAAJA/cKYhVJucy2o/s320/Funnel.jpg" width="215" /></a></div>
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<b>Figure 3: </b>Attention Funneling-Tunneling</div>
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The pilot, soldier, police officer, fire fighter or surgeon -- or a tennis player -- should have a strategy to switch his attention from the funnel to the tunnel and vice versa. Obviously, this comes with experience. And system designers, can design the user interface of a cockpit or an infusion pump, to draw the attention of the human agent with proper enunciation (e.g., alarm) when attention has to be directed to it. (Poor design of multiple alarms in complex systems such as power plants, cockpits, or even cars, is another big problem that can contribute to accidents. This is referred to as the <i>"Too much, too soon? or too little, too late?"</i> problem.).<br />
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Sports too, and tennis in particular, demands strategic switching of attention between the tunnel and the funnel. The great maestro Roger Federer's visual attention (and by extension cognitive) is legendary and has been <a href="http://www.revolutionarytennis.com/federervisiontechnique.html">analyzed</a> in-depth. For example, at the point of contact with the ball (exteroceptive attention; Figure 4), and the nonexteroceptive aspects of attention as to where to place the ball, what is the opponent's intent, reading the trajectory, speed, and spin of the ball, etc., are essential to win matches.<br />
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<a href="http://www.revolutionarytennis.com/Resources/federe7.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="201" src="http://www.revolutionarytennis.com/Resources/federe7.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Figure 4: </b>Roger Federer's <a href="http://www.revolutionarytennis.com/federervisiontechnique.html">focused visual attention</a> (exteroceptive) as he makes contact with the ball</div>
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This posting just touched the tip of the iceberg with regards to attention. Research on attention has come a long way with increasing complexity of technology (air traffic control, cockpits, drones (UAVs), nuclear power plants, etc.). <a href="http://humanfactors.illinois.edu/people/People.aspx?5">Dr. Christopher Wickens</a>, Professor Emeritus @ University of Illinois, the doyen of cognitive/engineering psychology has enhanced our understanding of attention with his Models of Attention (multiple resource theory, SEEV), which are applied to design human-machine interfaces for complex technologies to exploit the innate strengths of human attention. I will discuss them in a future post.<br />
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But until then let us be cautious about our capacity to pay attention to a number of things at once, and wary about getting sucked into the funnel -- and then tunnel -- of attention never to switch back. The training of human agents (drivers, pilots, surgeons, police officers, fire fighters, process control operators, among others) and the design of technology to make it compatible with the predilection and capabilities of human attention are of <u>great import</u> that deserves <u>GREAT ATTENTION</u>.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 16.363636016845703px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/moinrahman">Moin Rahman</a><br />Founder/Principal Scientist<br /><a href="http://hvhfsciences.com/" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">HVHF Sciences, LLC</a></span></span><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15703567509415022352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7653648332023631531.post-76068528624166392822012-07-29T07:57:00.001-07:002012-08-19T10:59:44.174-07:00Adverse Outcomes in Emergency Medicine: Poor Judgment, Flawed Decision or a Fragile Socio-technical System?<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Trials and Tribulations in Emergency Medicine: The Unintended Death of Rory Staunton</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"<i>Knowledge and error flow from the same mental resources, only success can tell the one from the other.</i>" - Ernst Mach (1905)</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Can a small nick, cut or scrape kill anyone? The answer in the affirmative seems to have been the unfortunate outcome for a strapping 12-year old lad, Rory Staunton, who cut himself while diving for the basketball in gym class. The simple cut led to an irreversible series of events -- when the wound was infected by bacteria (</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; text-align: left;">Group A streptococcus) </span><span style="background-color: white;">leading to septic shock -- that resulted in the untimely death in a New York City Hospital. (You can read the full story <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/12/nyregion/in-rory-stauntons-fight-for-his-life-signs-that-went-unheeded.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all">here</a> as reported by New York Times)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Patient safety -- and the prevention of <a href="http://patients.about.com/od/glossary/g/iatrogenic.htm">iatrogenic error</a> (medical error) -- is of very big concern to medical practitioners, insurers and hospital systems -- and, last but not least, the patients and their family. Despite a wealth of research over the last several years on this topic, by scholars ranging from doctors to human factors scientists, there is still an occurrence of mishaps like the one reported above. Fortunately, the more egregious kind, wrong limb amputation or wrong-site surgery, by and large have been mitigated in recent years due to change in procedures.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Returning to Rory, he displayed signs such as fever, an upset stomach and blotches on the skin. The first doctor, his pediatrician, to treat him seems to have concluded that they were unrelated to the wound; perhaps caused by a stomach flu? (Although on hindsight it is now possible to infer that those signs may have been the first signs of septic shock.) When his signs didn't subside, the pediatrician sent him to the emergency department at the<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; text-align: left;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; text-align: left;">NYU Langone Medical Center (LMC). </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; text-align: left;">This transfer of care, from one physician and clinic to another, is the beginning of complexity as knowledge about the case and information, from Rory (the patient himself), family, pediatrician had to be passed on to the hospital. These entities together form a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociotechnical_system">socio-technical system</a> as it consists of many players, technologies, and moving parts.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">One of the first things that is done, to an incoming patient at LMC's Emergency Department (ED) is to screen him/her for sepsis. This is done using a checklist -- which was also done to Rory upon admission. At that time, he didn't have the required 3 or more indications for sepsis, which is used to raise the red flag. The initial hypothesis of a stomach flu, first formulated by the pediatrician, was pursued by LMC's emergency physician as well. The emergency department physician thus decided to alleviate Rory's condition, under the assumption they were caused by the stomach flu. She administered IV fluids, which seem to have improved Rory's condition. This improvement seems to have provided a sufficient, but NOT necessary, condition for the ED physician to discharge Rory from the hospital. Because</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> later readings collected and tests (<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/07/11/nyregion/medical-documents-in-depsis-death.html?ref=nyregion">Fig. 1</a>) done by LMC -- a few hours after admission -- did reveal that Rory was entering into septic shock. Neither the ED physician nor the hospital seem to have mentally registered this newly acquired information, which could have either prevented the premature discharge; or could have been used as a trigger to contact Rory's family even after the patient was discharged to begin treatment for sepsis.</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/images/newsgraphics/2012/0711-sepsis/sepsisweb_sd.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/images/newsgraphics/2012/0711-sepsis/sepsisweb_sd.png" width="200" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"><b>Fig. 1</b> Severe Sepsis Triage Screening Tool (via <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/07/11/nyregion/medical-documents-in-depsis-death.html?ref=nyregion">NYT -- See this bigger image for details</a>)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; text-align: left;">Rory's physicians seem to have deployed an "anchoring heuristic," as they held firm with their first hypothesis of stomach flu and never saw his signs and symptoms under a different light. </span><span style="font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; text-align: left;">The anchoring heuristic is not unusual to human cognition, where one mistakenly anchors to the first hypothesis and doesn't consider alternatives resulting in a decision bias, or first hypothesis error. </span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Once Rory was incorrectly discharged, it turned out to be a point of no return. He went into septic shock at home (fever, nausea, pain, etc.). He was rushed back to the LMC's emergency department and despite the best efforts of the doctors he could not be revived.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ex post facto, of course, with our "hindsight bias," it is easy to blame the emergency physician for prematurely discharging the patient and attribute it to negligence or at-risk, reckless behavior. But one has no idea as to the circumstances <span style="background-color: white;">(technical to financial pressures)</span><span style="background-color: white;"> that may have led to that incorrect decision. And it is highly likely that this was an unintentional error on the part of the physician at that time as she had no idea on what may occur thereafter.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In this posting, I will simplify this somewhat complex systems issue and highlight just two major theories that may partly explain the failure of the system in Rory's case:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1) Swiss cheese model</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2) Blunt-end/Sharp end</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Despite the safety barriers we humans devise in complex and safety-critical systems (aviation, nuclear power, medicine, etc.) somehow an adverse event worms its way through the "holes" in these barriers. This was iconically explained by the safety expert James Reason with his Swiss Cheese Model (Fig. 2).</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.safety-s2s.eu/modules/s2s_wp4/uploads/4370a0177ed0f.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="241" src="http://www.safety-s2s.eu/modules/s2s_wp4/uploads/4370a0177ed0f.gif" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Fig. 2: </b>Swiss Cheese Model for Accident (via<a href="http://www.safety-s2s.eu/modules.php?name=s2s_wp4&idpart=4&idp=1412"> S2</a>S)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The latent failures are "invisible" (hidden in the system), until the stresses and strains in the system cause the proverbial holes in the Swiss Cheese slices expose them. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Often times, after a tragic accident has occurred, the spot light is put on the human agent -- whether it be a physician, pilot or operator -- who is on the front-lines making the final call, decision or intervention. This is referred to as the <i>sharp end </i>of the system. Little attention is paid to the "back office" or <i>blunt-end </i>of the system where policies, procedures, training, financial/throughput pressures exist and may influence how the sharp-end performs. This was best captured by Woods & Cook in their blunt-end/sharp-end model (Fig. 3).</span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8FK58USer5w/UBQV_hdvgXI/AAAAAAAAAIY/lqOX24g-ASc/s1600/Blunt+end+Sharp+end.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8FK58USer5w/UBQV_hdvgXI/AAAAAAAAAIY/lqOX24g-ASc/s1600/Blunt+end+Sharp+end.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Fig. 3 </b>Blunt-end/Sharp-end (via <a href="http://csel.eng.ohio-state.edu/productions/pexis/readings/submod1/BriefLookFront.pdf">Woods & Cook</a>)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When one analyzes the blunt-end, it is possible that any one of these (or more) could have contributed to the physicians unintentional errors:</span><br />
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<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Are the physicians trained to avoid diagnostic biases (e.g., anchoring heuristic)?</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Insufficient time due to "throughput" pressures </span></li>
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<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Patient turnover due to financial pressures </span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Capacity of ER (does the ER have the resources (room, medical staff, etc.) to permit a wait, watch and observe protocol for a patient whose recovery status is unclear?; or is there pressure to make room for the next incoming patient due to patient volume?)</span></li>
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<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Can EMR (Electronic Medical Records) or other technology aid physicians in diagnosis and not only flag premature discharge, but <i><u>prevent</u></i> it?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Can there be policies and technologies that can keep the patient's caregiver in the loop -- i.e., make the process transparent with an open dialogue? </span></li>
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<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So that even if the professionals missed something flagged by EMR, the patient or his caregivers would be notified electronically (smart phone, computer, etc.), and they can in turn resume the dialogue with the professional healers to clarify it or seek further assistance.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are also things that can be done outside the system. For instance, how about educating the public that a freshly incurred wound should be washed under running water before putting on a band-aid? Because washing the wound is the first line of defense against infection and possible sepsis down road.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Blaming a physician at the "sharp-end" of the system may be emotionally satisfying. The physician's poor judgment or flawed decision making at the sharp-end are more than likely to have been a product of a fragile socio-technical system. What is needed is a more reasoned and seasoned approach at the socio-technical systems level, with its many layers, to prevent the next tragic error.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ernst Mach observed <span style="background-color: white;">"</span><i>Knowledge and error flow from the same mental resources, only success can tell the one from the other.</i><span style="background-color: white;">" And a well designed healthcare socio-technical system has the potential to favor knowledge over error, promote recovery rather than adverse outcomes.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/moinrahman">Moin Rahman</a><br />Founder/Principal Scientist<br /><a href="http://hvhfsciences.com/">HVHF Sciences, LLC</a></span></span><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15703567509415022352noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7653648332023631531.post-54964576852185589892012-07-21T10:14:00.000-07:002012-08-19T11:00:36.467-07:00Colorado Shooting Tragedy: A Socio-Technical System Failure to the "Left-of-Fire"Once again the inability to devise, legislate and put in place a policy that will prevent senseless shootings has cost <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/21/us/shooting-at-colorado-theater-showing-batman-movie.html?pagewanted=all">12 lives in Colorado</a>. (The shooter, James Holmes, 24, was able to<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/20/batman-shooting_n_1690547.html"> legally</a> purchase his weapons in gun stores and many rounds of ammunition online.)<br />
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The objective of this post is not to debate the history or the constitutionality of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution#Text">second amendment</a>, which can be read in this fine piece published in the <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/04/23/120423fa_fact_lepore">New Yorker</a>, but to study the role of technologies that have a potential to kill in civil society.<br />
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<b style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;">Socio-technical Systems</span></b><br />
A civil society is a socio-technical system, where society (a group of citizens) must interact with both simple and complex technologies ranging from electricity to automobiles. These technologies can kill, if citizens are reckless, negligent -- or malevolent in their intent. To prevent this, a socio-technical system (STS) at-large, with its different stratas (politicians, policy makers, regulators, business owners, engineers, end-users, among others) and interacting technological components, has to plan, coordinate, engineer, implement and execute a robust and reliable system which will prevent injury and death.<br />
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One good example of this STS, a quasi eco system, if you will, are motor vehicles. Consider two organizations in the motor vehicle STS: the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The DMV is charged with ensuring drivers have the necessary knowledge and skills to safely operate an automobile. The NHTSA is charged with ensuring that vehicles are designed to meet the minimum standards for safety. Despite these measures there were 32,885 motor vehicle deaths in the US in 2010. Of course, this should take into consideration that the primary purpose of a motor vehicle is to provide a means for transport and not to kill. <span style="background-color: white;">Needless to say, a socio-technical system seen in the case of motor vehicles is lacking for guns. </span><br />
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<b style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;">Left-of-Fire</span></b><br />
In counter-insurgency warfare, a new doctrine called to the "<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/specials/leftofboom/index.html">left-of-boom</a>" was developed based on social science and network theory to put an end to roadside bombs (a.k.a.,improvised explosive devices, IEDs) set-off by insurgents. If one were to visualize bomb-making as a supply chain in an insurgency socio-technical system, moving from left-to-right, one finds a funder for the operation, a technical planner, a material purchaser, supplier of components, assembler, intelligence gatherer, bomb planter, trigger puller -- all occurring to the left of boom (the bomb going off) on the road. On the right side of the boom you've the response. Paramedics, forensics, law enforcement, legal prosecution, among others. By going to the left-of-boom and disrupting the supply chain, counter-insurgents (allied military) in Iraq reduced their road-side fatalities caused by IEDs.<br />
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In the case of motor vehicles we have fairly robust STS -- to the "left-of-crash" -- that has reduced <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motor_vehicle_deaths_in_U.S._by_year">road fatalities</a> over the years, but it is still not good enough. In the case of guns, the STS that exists today, to the "left-of-firing," is woefully inadequate. In addition to legal controls, we don't have technologies that specifically look at the human factor ("end-user") and at the point of user interaction (gun-human interface). For instance, we do not know how to lock-out a weapon if the user at the moment happens to be deranged, inebriated, or experiencing a moment of rage.<br />
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Until one has a robust STS for guns, with policies, laws and technologies that can provide the necessary checks and controls, gun violence, unfortunately is here to stay. Or it could be prevented by design, by taking a socio-technical systems perspective founded in technology, human factors psychology, and systems engineering. And if one were to express this in the language of the second amendment, it would go like this:<br />
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<span style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.16666603088379px;"><i>A well regulated socio-technical system being necessary to the security of all citizens in a free state, the right of the people not to be grievously injured by someone else's inability to safely bear arms shall not be infringed.</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 12px;"><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/moinrahman">Moin Rahman</a></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Founder/Principal Scientist</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">High Velocity Human Factors "HVHF" Sciences</span><br />
<a href="http://hvhfsciences.com/">http://hvhfsciences.com/</a><br />
<a href="http://on.fb.me/hvhfsciences">HVHF on Facebook</a>
<br />
<a href="http://www.linkedin.com/company/hvhf-sciences-llc">http://www.linkedin.com/company/hvhf-sciences-llc</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15703567509415022352noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7653648332023631531.post-47358865897753199882012-07-12T10:28:00.000-07:002012-08-19T11:01:28.050-07:00Automation's Biggest Irony (after all these years): The Non-Surprise<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 13.63636302947998px;">Bainbridge (1987) in the "Ironies of Automation" observed automatic equipment seems to function best when the workload is light and the task routine; when the task requires assistance because automation is incapable of handling a novel situation, causing a spike in the operator's workload, this is when the automatic equipment is of least assistance. This is the 'irony' of automation. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 13.63636302947998px;">This "irony" seems to have some relevance to the crash of Air France 447 as reported by<a href="http://spectrum.ieee.org/riskfactor/aerospace/aviation/air-france-flight-447-crash-caused-by-a-combination-of-factors?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=linkedin"> IEEE Spectrum</a>. In short, the pilot had no idea as to why the autopilot may have disengaged suddenly at cruising altitude -- a surprise (!) -- which resulted in inappropriate pilot inputs. (The pilots were unaware that all three air speed sensors (pitot tubes) were defective -- giving incorrect inputs to the flight computers due to the formation of ice crystals -- and as the autopilot didn't have airspeeds to work with, it automatically disengaged.)</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.airbus.com/typo3temp/pics/5d9444c496.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.airbus.com/typo3temp/pics/5d9444c496.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 13.63636302947998px;">The biggest irony of automation, after all these years of human factors research and design, should really be viewed as a "non-surprise" for the following reasons:</span><br />
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<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 13.63636302947998px;">Automation is not fail-proof and it can result in dangerous consequences when the human operator is suddenly made-in-charge of an [automation] failure, thrusting him/her in a situation when the stakes are high and the time on hand is less. </span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 13.63636302947998px;">A sudden failure in automation in a highly complex system, whose inner workings are opaque to the operator, may prove beyond the cognitive means of a highly stressed (panicky) operator to troubleshoot the situation and recover on time. </span></li>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 13.63636302947998px;">The above (#2) happens when a pilot is suddenly made to shift roles from a passive monitor ["out-of-the-loop"] to an active operator ["into-the-loop"] and is forced to grapple with the situation and grasp what is going on by rapidly developing a veridicial mental model of the situation). Furthermore, this ability could be impaired due to danger or stress-induced impoverishment of an operator's cognitive control (rational thinking) resulting in disorganization of thought and/or inappropriate responses. (The latter topic forms the intellectual underpinnings of<a href="http://hvhfsciences.com/"> "High Velocity Human Factors."</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 13.63636302947998px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 13.600000381469727px;">Years of experience have shown that i</span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 13.600000381469727px;">nvariably automation will abdicate its responsibility, when its performance envelope has been exceeded and bewilder the operator -- which should come as no surprise to the designers. So I will refer to it as a Non-Surprise. Thus it behooves </span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 13.63636302947998px;">designers to provide "means" -- that are not mentally taxing, e.g., requiring cognitive transformations and inferential reasoning -- where a highly stressed operator can comprehend and take control of a non-normal situation. But what are the "means" to this end? I will reserve this for another post. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 13.63636302947998px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 12px;"><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/moinrahman">Moin Rahman</a></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Founder/Principal Scientist</span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">High Velocity Human Factors "HVHF" Sciences</span><br />
<a href="http://hvhfsciences.com/">http://hvhfsciences.com/</a>
<br />
<a href="http://on.fb.me/hvhfsciences">HVHF on Facebook</a>
<br />
<a href="http://www.linkedin.com/company/hvhf-sciences-llc">http://www.linkedin.com/company/hvhf-sciences-llc</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 13.63636302947998px;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15703567509415022352noreply@blogger.com2