Collaborative Activity and Technological Design: Task Coordination in London Underground Control Rooms

Motivation: CSCW at the time had still failed to succeed due to tasks not being adequate to the tools developed, since it works different from the way social scientists would understand it. Underground control rooms show a live example of a collaborative environment.

Problem: How can we avoid the introduction of “inappropriate systems” into a real-world environment? Can a collaborative tool be created for the underground control rooms that still guarantee a reliable service?

Approach:

In order to understand the approach taken here, it is important to note that there is a strong desire to move away from lab studies of cognition and create a system centered in the users and their tasks.

Coordination occurs through a paper timetable that contains all the information and allows identifying difficulties within operations and also management. Each underground line has a timetable. Controllers and DIA’s use the timetable in conjunction to determine the adequacy of service. DIA draws inferences, while the controller employs techniques to keep operator informed of changes. Modifications to the timetable are made through cellophane sheets that go on top of the paper, written with felt pen.

Design Implications:

Real time, screen based timetable that provides the conventional timetable information and the possibility of undertaking complex changes. To simulate the cellophane sheets, there is an electronic pen that allows overwriting on the timetable.

Evaluation: N/A

Things I liked about the paper:

The heavy consideration of the user and the analysis of the collaboration environment in order to create a true collaborative system could be beneficial. Yet I think the key contribution here is that there needs to be a higher focus on the users.

Things I did not like about the paper:

I actually found this to be a heavy read and I did not feel the descriptions about the control rooms were very clear since it was so technical. I’m basically feeling it would be nice if this was dumbed down a bit further. In addition they provide all these so called design implications, but they never implement or evaluate the system, which kind of disappointed me.