Cognitive Systems Engineering

Lectures:

27 h

Recommended for

Graduate and doctoral students.

The course was last given:

Fall 1999.

Goals

To provide a unified presentation of the concepts and methods of Cognitive Systems Engineering (CSE). CSE is a technical discipline that offers a coherent view on the analysis, design and evaluation of complex human-machine systems, which goes beyond human factors, human-machine interaction and HCI.

Prerequisites

Graduate status as HMI student

Organization

Guided discussions based on reading of prepared material. Case studies and examples will be used to illustrate the practical application of the main concepts and methods.

Contents

The course presents main concepts, data, and methods of Cognitive Systems Engineering. The concepts are the basic hypotheses and assumptions about the domain of human work. The data define the empirical basis for CSE, and thereby provide the justification for the concepts.

The methods, finally, refer to the consistent and systematic ways in which the concepts and the data of CSE can be applied. The application can have a practical or utilitarian purpose such as in design, i.e., the specification and implementation of a specific (joint) cognitive system. It can also have a more scientific purpose, such as improving the understanding of the set of causes that have led to a specific consequence, or understanding the way in which various aspects or conditions interact, for instance in the development of automation. Focus on the use of CSE for interface design and evaluation, development of tools and support systems, risk and reliability analysis, and accident investigation.

Literature

Hollnagel, E. and Woods, D. (in preparation) Cognitive Systems Engineering.
Selected papers.

Teachers

Erik Hollnagel

Examiner

Erik Hollnagel

Schedule

Spring 2001.

Examination

Attendance + term paper analysing and specifying decision support for a chosen application.

Credit

5 credits.