La pancarte de consignation : un artefact cognitif pour l'intelligibilité mutuelle dans une industrie à risques

International audienceJoint collective activity contributes to the reliability of High-Risk Organizations and relies on a set of coordinative practices. Such practices are documented in this paper from two perspectives: the production of mutual intelligibility and the role played by cognitive artifacts in this production. The empirical material is provided by a workplace study undertaken in the context of a design project that aims at improving the clearance and tagging process in a high-risk industry. Findings illustrate the role played by cognitive artifacts in the clearance and tagging process, focusing on the coordinated use of a particular artifact: the clearance tag. A detailed analysis of an interaction sequence reveals how this artifact, which was designed to support coordination in a specific way, may fail to support the production of mutual intelligibility in asynchronous collaboration.Dans sa contribution à la construction de la fiabilité des systèmes à risques, l'activité conjointe mobilise de manière centrale des mécanismes de coordination. Cette communication documente ces mécanismes, du point de vue de la production d'intelligibilité mutuelle et de celui du rôle joué par les artefacts cognitifs dans cette production. Elle se fonde sur une étude menée dans le cadre d'un projet de modification du dispositif de consignation dans une industrie de process. Les résultats illustrent le rôle des artefacts cognitifs dans le processus de consignation par une analyse détaillée de l'usage coordonné d'un artefact : la pancarte de consignation. L'analyse d'un épisode d'activité met en évidence les limites intrinsèques de cet artefact, conçu pour assurer une fonction précise dans la coordination des opérateurs, en termes d'assistance à la production d'intelligibilité mutuelle dans une interaction asynchrone

Analyse de l'activité et coopération des acteurs de la conception

Le processus de conception d'une situation de travail résulte de la coopération de plusieurs acteurs (opérateurs, concepteurs, ergonomes). À travers trois études, nous illustrons le fait que les résultats de l'analyse de l'activité sont essentiels pour orienter le processus de conception, mais aussi pour favoriser la coopération des acteurs. La première étude met l'accent sur l'intérêt d'une analyse de l'activité collective en vue de la définition des nouvelles salles de régulation du trafic urbain. La deuxième étude souligne l'intérêt pour les concepteurs de réaliser l'évaluation d'un système d'assistance en situation réaliste d'utilisation. La troisième étude montre le rôle moteur que joue l'analyse de l'activité aux différentes phases d'un processus de conception informatique.This article is based on three empirical studies carried out in different work environments: metropolitan traffic control, car driving and software design. The article illustrates how ergonomics can contribute to different stages of design processes.Activity-centered design is described first. Designing truly supportive technologies requires an understanding of the user's actual activity. Therefore, it is necessary for ergonomists to collect data on natural work situations and to propose descriptions (sometime models) which are useful to cooperate with designers. Ergonomie studies may be carried out throughout the whole design process or they may be developed at specific stages of the process.The first study emphasizes the significance of analyzing collective work in order to define future metropolitan traffic control rooms. The characteristics of the collective handling of disruptions in traffic control rooms orients the design of new tools favouring cooperation and communications. We briefly present one of the proposais we have put forward: a device enhancing the computer system that is able to support the individual monitoring of an incident, as well as the collaborative supervision of train movements.The second study stresses the relevance of considering the evaluation of a support system in a realistic situation. The purpose was to evaluate how the drivers assimilated the "Autonomous Intelligent Cruise Control" System in their activities, and the actual support provided to them by the system. The methodology consisted in the observation of the drivers' behaviour during a highway trip of 900 km. The results of the activity analysis and the ergonomie approach allowed modifications of the designers' views on several points. In short, we have stressed the role of the driver throughout the design process, and demonstrated the limitations of the designers' views.The last study shows the importance of activity analysis in the different phases of a software design process. This study is an important illustration of how participants cooperate and how this cooperation evolves at each step of the process. Cooperation between the participants is studied in relation to a particular programme (the definition of a design methodology for a software help package). Three phases are detalled: the definition phase of the functional requirements, based on the analysis of the activity, in order to favour innovating proposais; the specification phase, based on a modeling of the activity (in our case, the modeling of human help), aimed at a precise software model, complete and consistent with the user's needs; the design phase, aimed at the definition of technical solutions consistent with the functional requirements. This latter phase saw the design of a dialogue prototype from which an ergonomie experiment was developed. In conclusion, we stress the need for collaboration between all the participants in the design process: users, ergonomists and designers who will need to confront and coordinate their points of view in seeking to transform the "work situation". Such cooperation has a strong influence on the behaviour of all the participants: the designer should broaden his or her approach, and should not adhere to a purely technical vision; the user, on the other hand, is not a mere executant, and should be involved in the different phases of the design; and the ergonomist cannot be concerned only with the end product, but has to be involved as early as possible in the design phase

The genetic architecture of the human cerebral cortex

The cerebral cortex underlies our complex cognitive capabilities, yet little is known about the specific genetic loci that influence human cortical structure. To identify genetic variants that affect cortical structure, we conducted a genome-wide association meta-analysis of brain magnetic resonance imaging data from 51,665 individuals. We analyzed the surface area and average thickness of the whole cortex and 34 regions with known functional specializations. We identified 199 significant loci and found significant enrichment for loci influencing total surface area within regulatory elements that are active during prenatal cortical development, supporting the radial unit hypothesis. Loci that affect regional surface area cluster near genes in Wnt signaling pathways, which influence progenitor expansion and areal identity. Variation in cortical structure is genetically correlated with cognitive function, Parkinson's disease, insomnia, depression, neuroticism, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Contribution à la définition d'un métier : agricultrice

If we take into account only their occupational status as farmers' wives or family helpers, women farmers seem to intervene very little on the farm, and their chores seem light. However the ergonomie analysis of the work they do shows that they use skills, know-how and knowledge that, though necessary, are not recognized to be so. Observations on the farm are used to point out the differences between women's supposed or prescribed jobs and the work actually done, which is an essential factor of production and of remuneration.Si l'on s'en tient à leur statut professionnel d'épouses ou (l'aides-familiales, les agricultrices, conjointes d'agriculteurs, interviendraient peu dans l'exploitation familiale et leurs tâches seraient légères. Pourtant l'analyse ergonomique de leur travail réel, montre qu'elles mettent en jeu des compétences, des savoir-faire et des connaissances spécifiques nécessaires mais non reconnus comme tels. A partir d'observations sur le terrain, les auteurs font apparaître les décalages entre leur travail supposé, ou prescrit par des «marchands intégrateurs », et leur travail réel qui constitue pourtant un facteur essentiel de la production et de sa rémunération.Nicourt Christian, Filippi Geneviève. Contribution à la définition d'un métier : agricultrice. In: Sociologie du travail, 29ᵉ année n°4, Octobre-décembre 1987. Les agriculteurs français face à une nouvelle crise. pp. 477-494

Cours d'action et conception d'un système d'aide à la coordination : le cas de la régulation du trafic du RER

Jacques Theureau and Geneviève Filippi The course of action and the design of computer-assisted coordination How is a current incident in traffic regulation on a parisian subway managed ? Conducted by two ergonomists, this empirical analysis of collective actions is grounded in a constructivist model, the concept of course of action, and a methodology combining observations, recordings and selfconfrontations. Concrete recommendations are made for orienting the design of traffic-control installations with computer assistance in coordinating actors -an alternative to the «cognitive crutches» now being proposed.Comment est géré un incident banal de régulation du trafic sur la ligne A du RER ? L'analyse empirique de l'activité collective proposée ici par deux ergonomes repose sur un paradigme constructiviste, un concept clé, celui de cours d'action et une méthodologie qui mêle l'observation, l'enregistrement et l'auto-confrontation. Elle aboutit à des recommandations concrètes susceptibles d'orienter la conception des installations de contrôle du trafic en termes d'aide à la coordination des acteurs, présentées comme une alternative à la conception actuellement dominante de «prothèses cognitives».Theureau Jacques, Filippi Geneviève. Cours d'action et conception d'un système d'aide à la coordination : le cas de la régulation du trafic du RER. In: Sociologie du travail, 36ᵉ année n°4, Octobre-décembre 1994. Travail et cognition. pp. 547-562

Analyzing work practices for design: the upgrading of field operators' computer devices

International audienceDespite advances in digital and communication technology over recent years, we know very little about the way these complex systems affect everyday work and interactions. Work practices studies are essential for providing a thorough understanding of everyday, seemingly mundane, moment-by-moment actions resulting in a body of empirical findings on real-world settings. This paper illustrates these considerations by a study of field operator's work practices in a French nuclear power plant, contributing to the upgrading of a portable computer device supporting the optimization of field operator's route. It gives insight on the gap between field operator's task analysis and the actual mode of acting, i.e. what these workers do in singular cases and why they accomplish this work. Thus, it illustrates the practical value for design of work practices analysis and its methodological implication underlying real-world analysis and its impact on design of the workplace

Changement technologique et organisationnel dans les industries à risques : artefacts cognitifs et intelligibilité mutuelle

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Innovation in high-risk industries: supporting mutual awareness with cognitive artifacts

International audienceThe social, organizational, and technological complexity of high-risk organizations creates a strong need for coordination. Joint activity in such systems thus relies both on formal coordination and on a set of informal coordinative practices. Coordinated joint activity is documented in this paper from two perspectives: the development of coordinative practices to overcome the limitations of formal coordination, and the use of artifacts for coordinative purposes. The empirical material is provided by a workplace study undertaken according to theoretical conceptions of situated action and cognition. It was undertaken in the context of a design project that aims at improving the tagout process in a high-risk industry. Findings first describe and analyze situations in which formal coordination turned out to be more of a constraint than a resource for effective action. They then illustrate the role played by artifacts in coordinated activity, focusing on the use of a particular artifact, the tagout tag, in different situations

Coordination and artifacts in joint activity: the case of tagging in high-risk industries

International audienceThe social, organizational, and technological complexity of high-risk organizations creates a strong need for coordination. Joint activity in such systems thus relies both on formal coordination and on a set of informal coordinative practices. Coordinated joint activity is documented in this paper from two perspectives: the development of coordinative practices to overcome the limitations of formal coordination, and the use of artifacts for coordinative purposes. The empirical material is provided by a workplace study undertaken according to theoretical conceptions of situated action and cognition. It was undertaken in the context of a design project that aims at improving the tagout process in a high-risk industry. Findings first describe and analyze situations in which formal coordination turned out to be more of a constraint than a resource for effective action. They then illustrate the role played by artifacts in coordinated activity, focusing on the use of a particular artifact, the tagout tag, in different situations