Researching trust in Wikipedia

As the use of collaborative online encyclopedias such as Wikipedia grows, so does the need for research on how users evaluate its credibility. In this paper we compare three experimental approaches to study trust in Wikipedia, namely think aloud, eye-tracking, and online questionnaires. The advantages and disadvantages of each method are discussed. We conclude that it is best to use multiple methods when researching information trust, as each single one of the discussed methods alone does not give all possible information

Sustained adaptability:the transaction level

A new system level, called the ‘Transaction Level’ is introduced. I argue that such architectures should not be couched in (macro)cognitive terms, but rather in terms of networks of nodes and links that effectuate transactions. The principle of relationality governing this level states that links are selected to attain transactions. The transaction level is a true systems level rather than a perspective on a particular unit of analysis (individual, team, organization). The novelties and advantages of the introduction of the transaction level for the field of resilience engineering are: (1) an increased emphasis on longitudinal data collection and use of social network analysis as one of the tools to analyse data collected on nodes and links; (2) providing an explanation for when transactions fail and may lead to accidents in sociotechnical systems; (3) a renewed emphasis on the study of patterned interactions of sociomaterial assemblages; (4) providing a language for describing architectures for sustained adaptability and thus advancing relative invariants in the study of Layered Networks

Dealing with unforeseen complexity in the OR: the role of heedful interrelating in medical teams

Highly complex operations such as paediatric cardiac surgery operations are characterised by many non-routine events. This study looked in detail at 40 paediatric cardiac cases in order to study how a highly competent team deals with the unforeseen complexity arising during these cases. A multi-method approach was used, employing questionnaires and direct team observations. Our results show that this particular team relied to a large extent on explicit coordination processes in order to deal with non-routine events. Non-routine events were strong predictors of explicit coordination processes, even when we controlled for the duration of the operation. Most non-routine events were noticed and dealt with through routine procedures. For dealing with the remaining difficult problems, processes such as heedful interrelating are required

Factual accuracy and trust in information: the role of expertise

In the past few decades, the task of judging the credibility of information has shifted from trained professionals (e.g., editors) to end users of information (e.g., casual Internet users). Lacking training in this task, it is highly relevant to research the behavior of these end users. In this article, we propose a new model of trust in information, in which trust judgments are dependent on three user characteristics: source experience, domain expertise, and information skills. Applying any of these three characteristics leads to different features of the information being used in trust judgments; namely source, semantic, and surface features (hence, the name 3S-model). An online experiment was performed to validate the 3S-model. In this experiment, Wikipedia articles of varying accuracy (semantic feature) were presented to Internet users. Trust judgments of domain experts on these articles were largely influenced by accuracy whereas trust judgments of novices remained mostly unchanged. Moreover, despite the influence of accuracy, the percentage of trusting participants, both experts and novices, was high in all conditions. Along with the rationales provided for such trust judgments, the outcome of the experiment largely supports the 3S-model, which can serve as a framework for future research on trust in information

Assessing the Structure of Non-Routine Decision Processes in Airline Operations Control

Unfamiliar severe disruptions challenge airline operations control professionals most, as their expertise is stretched to its limits. This study has elicited the structure of airline operations control professionals’ decision process during unfamiliar disruptions by mapping three macrocognitive activities on the decision ladder: sensemaking, option evaluation, and action planning. The relationship between this structure and decision quality was measured. A simulated task was staged, based on which think aloud protocols were obtained. Results show that the general decision process structure resembles the structure of experts working under routine conditions, in terms of the general structure of the macrocognitive activities, and the rule-based approach used to identify options and actions. Surprisingly, high quality of decision outcomes was found to relate to the use of rule-based strategies. This implies that successful professionals are capable of dealing with unfamiliar problems by reframing them into familiar ones, rather than to engage in knowledge-based processing. We examined the macrocognitive structure of airline operations control professionals’ decision process during a simulated unfamiliar disruption in relation to decision quality. Results suggest that successful professionals are capable of dealing with unfamiliar problems by reframing them into familiar ones, rather than to engage in knowledge-based processing

Teams and cardiac surgery

Motivation\ud Our study is designed to identify human factors that are a threat to the safety of children with heart disease.\ud \ud Research approach\ud After an initial observation period, we will apply a major safety intervention. We will then re-measure the occurrence and types of human factors in the operating room, and the incidence of adverse events, near misses and hospital death, to evaluate if there was a significant post-intervention reduction. \ud \ud Findings/design\ud We focus on challenges encountered during the training of the observers. Research Limitations\ud Because of the complexity of the OR, observations are necessarily subjective. \ud \ud Originality/Value\ud This work is original because of the systematic evaluation of a safety intevention and the training protocol for the observers.\ud \ud Take Away Message\ud Systematic and periodic assessment of observers is required when teamwork is observed in complex, dynamic settings

Characterizing naval team readiness through social network analysis

Characterizing a team’s level of readiness in an efficient and objective way is important for organizations such as the military. Current methods to characterize real-time team interaction know limitations that may be addressed by social network analysis techniques. The purpose of the current field study was to investigate the usefulness of these techniques by applying them to two naval teams, one more experienced than the other. We observed how these teams responded during an actual training exercise to a comparable scenario and recorded their communication processes. The descriptive, non-inferential, results showed that, at the network level, the more experienced team displayed higher levels of information sharing and team member participation compared to the less experienced team. At the actor level, the team coordinator played a much more central role in the more experienced team, whereas in the less experienced team this role was taken up by various other team member

Making Teams More Resilient:Effects of Shared Transformational Leadership Training on Resilience

Resilience is of great importance to teams operating in complex environments, such as command and control teams. Team resilience is the ability of teams to respond to sudden, unanticipated demands for performance quickly and with minimum decrement of performance. The objective of this study was to design and test a training intervention to make teams more resilient. In a between-subjects design utilizing a sample of 35 three-person teams, two training manipulations were compared to each other and a control group. Higher levels of team resilience were found when shared leadership was enforced through brief training of transformational-leadership behaviors. This study demonstrated the effectiveness of a relatively small training intervention in boosting resilience