Applying a Cognitive Engineering Approach to Interface Design of Energy Management Systems

This article presents a case study of the user interface design of a grid (energy) management system. The theoretical backdrop of the case study is cognitive engineering, with its focus on supporting three levels of cognitive control, namely skill-, rules-, and knowledge-based control, respectively. In this design case study, the interface of the grid management system is divided into three hierarchical levels, each corresponding to a type of cognitive control. Details of the prototype system (the Compact System State Display) are introduced, as a reference to readers familiar with the particular challenges of designing energy management systems. The article also discusses the basic assumptions regarding human cognition and behaviour that engineers and designers might utilize in the design process, including the pros and cons of these assumptions.

[1]  Jens Rasmussen,et al.  Skills, rules, and knowledge; signals, signs, and symbols, and other distinctions in human performance models , 1983, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics.

[2]  Barry Kirwan,et al.  A Guide To Task Analysis: The Task Analysis Working Group , 1992 .

[3]  John M. Flach,et al.  The Ecology of Human-Machine Systems: A Personal History , 1995 .

[4]  D. L. Simms,et al.  Normal Accidents: Living with High-Risk Technologies , 1986 .

[5]  S. Ian Robertson,et al.  Problem-solving , 2001, Human Thinking.

[6]  R. D. Christie,et al.  Envisioning power system data: vulnerability and severity representations for static security assessment , 1994 .

[7]  Allen Newell,et al.  Human Problem Solving. , 1973 .

[8]  Susanne Bødker,et al.  Through the Interface: A Human Activity Approach To User Interface Design , 1990 .

[9]  Mary Beth Rosson,et al.  The task-artifact cycle , 1991 .

[10]  Gustav Theodor Fechner,et al.  Elements of psychophysics , 1966 .

[11]  A. Shepherd,et al.  Guide to Task Analysis , 2003 .

[12]  Jens Rasmussen.  Ecological Interface Design for Reliable Human-Machine Systems , 1999 .

[13]  P. Bornard,et al.  Power Systems Computation Conference , 2003 .

[14]  Per Roland,et al.  The engine of reason, the seat of the soul , 1996 .

[15]  David D. Woods,et al.  Decomposing Automation : Apparent Simplicity , Real Complexity , 2003 .

[16]  G. Klein,et al.  Decision Making in Action: Models and Methods , 1993 .

[17]  B. Nardi.  Activity theory and human-computer interaction , 1995 .

[18]  Catherine M. Burns,et al.  Ecological Interface Design , 2004 .

[19]  J. Flach.  Control With an Eye for Perception: Precursors to an Active Psychophysics , 1990 .

[20]  John M. Carroll,et al.  Designing Interaction: Psychology at the Human-Computer Interface , 1991 .

[21]  Refractor.  Vision , 2000, The Lancet.

[22]  J. Gibson.  The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception , 1979 .

[23]  K. J. Vicente,et al.  Evidence for Direct Perception From Cognition in the Wild , 1996 .

[24]  R. M. Gaze.  Dynamic patterns , 1975, Nature.

[25]  Kim J. Vicente,et al.  Ecological interface design: theoretical foundations , 1992, IEEE Trans. Syst. Man Cybern..

[26]  Colin G. Ellard,et al.  Context and consciousness , 1995, Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

[27]  Hubert L. Dreyfus,et al.  Mind over Machine: The Power of Human Intuition and Expertise in the Era of the Computer , 1987, IEEE Expert.

[28]  J. Fodor.  The Modularity of mind. An essay on faculty psychology , 1986 .

[29]  P. Churchland,et al.  The Engine of Reason, The Seat of the Soul: A Philosophical Journey into the Brain , 1995 .

[30]  Ulric Neisser,et al.  From direct perception to conceptual structure. , 1987 .

[31]  M T Turvey,et al.  Perceptual independence of whole length, partial length, and hand position in wielding a rod. , 2000, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[32]  R. D. Christie,et al.  Visualizing voltage profiles for large scale power systems , 1997 .

[33]  David Woods,et al.  How Not to Have to Navigate Through Too Many Displays , 1997 .

[34]  Clay Spinuzzi,et al.  Context and consciousness: Activity theory and human-computer interaction , 1997 .

[35]  Erik Hollnagel,et al.  Joint Cognitive Systems: Foundations of Cognitive Systems Engineering , 2005 .

[36]  D. Mccormick.  Normal Accidents , 1991, Bio/Technology.

[37]  R. Bacher,et al.  Graphical interaction and visualization for the analysis and interpretation of contingency analysis results , 1995, Proceedings of Power Industry Computer Applications Conference.

[38]  M. Turvey.  Affordances and Prospective Control: An Outline of the Ontology , 1992 .

[39]  D. Freidman,et al.  The Engine of Reason, the Seat of the Soul: A Philosophical Journey into the Brain , 1996, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[40]  H. Barlow.  Vision: A computational investigation into the human representation and processing of visual information: David Marr. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman, 1982. pp. xvi + 397 , 1983 .

[41]  A. Noē.  Direct Perception , 2022 .

[42]  David N. Lee,et al.  VISUAL CONTROL OF VELOCITY OF APPROACH BY PIGEONS WHEN LANDING , 1993 .

[43]  Jens Rasmussen,et al.  Cognitive Systems Engineering , 2022 .

[44]  H. Dreyfus.  Mind Over Machine , 1986 .

[45]  Thomas Hoff,et al.  Comments on the ecology of representations in computerised systems , 2004 .

[46]  D. Lewkowicz,et al.  A dynamic systems approach to the development of cognition and action. , 2007, Journal of cognitive neuroscience.

[47]  K. J. Vicente,et al.  Cognitive Work Analysis: Toward Safe, Productive, and Healthy Computer-Based Work , 1999 .

[48]  H. Gardner.  The mind's new science: a history of the cognitive revolution , 1985 .