There have been several case studies conducted in DC approach to analyse various work systems. Hutchins (1995) was the first who actually began to develop his DC framework while studying navigation as it is performed by a team on the bridge of a naval vessel. He assumed that a new framework was needed to understand the complex cultural nature of cognition, and how cognition can occur in real life. Hutchins (1995) used DC to understand a memory task in the cockpit of a commercial airliner. It was a good example to show that how DC is used to analyse a small sociotechnical system as a unit of analysis rather than a single individual mind.
Hutchins and Klausen (1996) later used DC to describe the communication between the airplane pilots and air traffic controllers for changing the plane's cruising altitude. This is an example of the sociotechnical system which is being analysed that sometimes can be distributed (i.e., physically and socially) that air traffic controllers are on the ground and not in the cockpit.
Ackerman and Halverson (1998) used DC to study a telephone hotline group that focus in answering human resource questions for company employees. The group uses a set of informal routines that can solve a large range of problems. The DC analysis for this case showed a number of interesting aspects to the organisation's memory. Organisation’s memory describes a supra individual memory that uses several people and many artifacts (Ackerman and Halverson, 1998). The authors described how a simple phone call process involved several different memory states, and how a human agent translated among representational states or reconstructed memory states by using the DC framework. The authors also showed that the memories involved in this example were often complexly distributed, interwoven, and occasionally overlaid. The necessary information to answer or solve a customer's question or problem is recovered from the "organisational memories" of the telephone hotline group.
Rogers and Ellis (1994) used DC to describe the functional role of shared representations in the coordination of activities in a hospital department and computer-mediated work in an engineering company. David Chris (1999) compared and contrast with the coordination and environment design in an organisation. Decortis, Noirfalise, and Saudelli (2000) compared and contrasted DC with activity theory and cognitive ergonomics as applied to a transport company.
These case studies show that DC can be used to analyse work systems in a variety of domains. In every case study, the unit of analysis was a small sociotechnical system. Further, a systems-level cognitive viewpoint was used to document the information flow of the system. For each case study, the authors explained about the structures of the system were coordinated to produce the system’s behaviour.
Hutchins and Klausen (1996) later used DC to describe the communication between the airplane pilots and air traffic controllers for changing the plane's cruising altitude. This is an example of the sociotechnical system which is being analysed that sometimes can be distributed (i.e., physically and socially) that air traffic controllers are on the ground and not in the cockpit.
Ackerman and Halverson (1998) used DC to study a telephone hotline group that focus in answering human resource questions for company employees. The group uses a set of informal routines that can solve a large range of problems. The DC analysis for this case showed a number of interesting aspects to the organisation's memory. Organisation’s memory describes a supra individual memory that uses several people and many artifacts (Ackerman and Halverson, 1998). The authors described how a simple phone call process involved several different memory states, and how a human agent translated among representational states or reconstructed memory states by using the DC framework. The authors also showed that the memories involved in this example were often complexly distributed, interwoven, and occasionally overlaid. The necessary information to answer or solve a customer's question or problem is recovered from the "organisational memories" of the telephone hotline group.
Rogers and Ellis (1994) used DC to describe the functional role of shared representations in the coordination of activities in a hospital department and computer-mediated work in an engineering company. David Chris (1999) compared and contrast with the coordination and environment design in an organisation. Decortis, Noirfalise, and Saudelli (2000) compared and contrasted DC with activity theory and cognitive ergonomics as applied to a transport company.
These case studies show that DC can be used to analyse work systems in a variety of domains. In every case study, the unit of analysis was a small sociotechnical system. Further, a systems-level cognitive viewpoint was used to document the information flow of the system. For each case study, the authors explained about the structures of the system were coordinated to produce the system’s behaviour.
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