User experience: does it matter in complex systems?

This paper explores the concept of user experience (UX) within complex systems in the domain of nuclear power production. The specific context is the development of main control room solutions. As UX has become a prevalent concept in human–computer interaction and related research fields, it is a valid question, whether the concept could bring something new to the research concerning complex safety–critical systems also. In this paper, we introduce the concept of UX as an indicator of the users’ subjective feeling of the appropriateness of the proposed tool for the activity. Based on activity theoretical contemplation, we presume that UX is grounded in the feelings and emotions evoked in the usage of the systems and which concern the status of the whole activity. In the paper, a theory-based characterization of UXs in the particular domain is developed based on three general functions of a tool: instrument, psychological, and communicative. We present the operationalization of UX and three studies in which UXs concerning different control room systems during a control room transformation process were followed. Based on the results of the three studies, we find that the significance of UX as an indicator of quality in use lies in the ability to bring the professional users’ experiences, which are embedded in the inner characteristics of the work and not always observable by external evaluators, to the process of designing new systems. Evidence to support the initial background assumption that UXs may concern instrumental aspects of tools was identified in the studies.

[1]  Salu Ylirisku,et al.  Framing design in the third paradigm , 2009, CHI.

[2]  Steve Harrison,et al.  Making epistemological trouble: Third-paradigm HCI as successor science , 2011, Interact. Comput..

[3]  Andreas Pfeiffer,et al.  User experience research , 2006, UBIQ.

[4]  Sidney Dekker,et al.  Drift into Failure: From Hunting Broken Components to Understanding Complex Systems , 2011 .

[5]  Maurice Merleau-Ponty,et al.  Phenomenology of perception , 2016 .

[6]  Harry Daniels,et al.  Learning and expanding with activity theory , 2009 .

[7]  G. Rückriem,et al.  Learning and Expanding with Activity Theory: Digital Technology and Mediation: A Challenge to Activity Theory , 2009 .

[8]  Marco Winckler,et al.  Human-Computer Interaction - INTERACT 2011 - 13th IFIP TC 13 International Conference, Lisbon, Portugal, September 5-9, 2011, Proceedings, Part III , 2011, INTERACT.

[9]  Hannu Paunonen,et al.  Usability and user experience of process control systems and the feeling of control , 2011 .

[10]  Satu Luojus,et al.  From a momentary experience to a lasting one : the concept of and research on expanded user experience of mobile devices , 2010 .

[11]  J. Dewey,et al.  The Quest for Certainty , 1929 .

[12]  Manfred Tscheligi,et al.  User Experience Research in the Semiconductor Factory: A Contradiction? , 2011, INTERACT.

[13]  Paula Savioja,et al.  Systems usability framework for evaluating tools in safety–critical work , 2013, Cognition, Technology & Work.

[14]  Pascal Béguin,et al.  Designing for Instrument-Mediated Activity , 2000, Scand. J. Inf. Syst..

[15]  Paula Savioja,et al.  Operators' conceptions of Procedure Guidance in NPP Process Control , 2013 .

[16]  Kaisa Väänänen,et al.  User Experience in Machinery Automation: From Concepts and Context to Design Implications , 2009, HCI.

[17]  Effie Lai-Chong Law,et al.  Maturing Usability - Quality in Software, Interaction and Value , 2008, Human-Computer Interaction Series.

[18]  Paula Savioja,et al.  Practises of process control in digital control room: possibilities and threats , 2006, ECCE '06.

[19]  Susanne Bødker,et al.  When second wave HCI meets third wave challenges , 2006, NordiCHI '06.

[20]  Aquinas Saint Thomas,et al.  Selected philosophical writings , 1998 .

[21]  Maurice Merleau-Ponty.  Phenomenology of Perception , 1964 .

[22]  E. Hutchins.  Cognition in the wild , 1995 .

[23]  Morten Lind,et al.  Plant modelling for human supervisory control , 1999 .

[24]  John D. Lee,et al.  Trust in Automation: Designing for Appropriate Reliance , 2004, Hum. Factors.

[25]  Jonathan Stewart.  Drift into failure: From hunting broken components to understanding complex systems , 2012 .

[26]  David Woods,et al.  Resilience Engineering: Concepts and Precepts , 2006 .

[27]  Kasper Hornbæk,et al.  Old wine in new bottles or novel challenges: a critical analysis of empirical studies of user experience , 2011, CHI.

[28]  Richard H. Gutsche.  User experience , 1976, PERV.

[29]  Virpi Roto,et al.  USER EXPERIENCE WHITE PAPER Bringing clarity to the concept of user experience , 2011 .

[30]  Leena Norros,et al.  Evaluating the potential of new technological tools for safety critical work , 2011, Interact. Comput..

[31]  이호형,et al.  원자력 발전소 인간공학 프로그램 ( Human Factors Engineering Program in Nuclear Power Plant ) , 1996 .

[32]  박영환,et al.  해군 함정 레이더 디스플레이의 EID(Ecological Interface Design)를 위한 WDA(Work Domain Analysis) 적용 , 2011 .

[33]  Shaowen Bardzell,et al.  Feminist HCI: taking stock and outlining an agenda for design , 2010, CHI.

[34]  Victor Kestenbaum.  The Phenomenological Sense of John Dewey: Habit and Meaning , 1977 .

[35]  John M. O'Hara,et al.  Human Factors Engineering Program Review Model (NUREG-0711) Revision 3: Update Methodology and Key Revisions , 2012 .

[36]  Gary S Kaplan,et al.  Experience-based design for integrating the patient care experience into healthcare improvement: Identifying a set of reliable emotion words. , 2013, Healthcare.

[37]  John D. Lee,et al.  Trust in Automation: Designing for Appropriate Reliance , 2004 .

[38]  Lucy Suchman.  Plans and situated actions: the problem of human-machine communication , 1987 .

[39]  L. Vygotsky.  Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes: Harvard University Press , 1978 .

[40]  Hans Baumgartner,et al.  Response Styles in Marketing Research: A Cross-National Investigation , 2001 .

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

[42]  Marc Hassenzahl,et al.  User experience - a research agenda , 2006, Behav. Inf. Technol..

[43]  Marlien Herselman,et al.  Essential UX metrics to be considered when designing m-health applications in order to provide positive user experiences , 2010 .

[44]  Matthias Peissner,et al.  From product concept to user experience: exploring UX potentials at early product stages , 2010, NordiCHI.

[45]  John Zimmerman,et al.  User experience over time: an initial framework , 2009, CHI.

[46]  Peter C. Wright,et al.  Experience-Centered Design: Designers, Users, and Communities in Dialogue , 2010, Experience-Centered Design.

[47]  Kari Kuutti,et al.  Where are the Ionians of user experience research? , 2010, NordiCHI.

[48]  Maaria Nuutinen,et al.  Expert Identity in Development of Core-Task-Oriented Working Practices for Mastering Demanding Situations , 2006 .

[49]  Y. Poortinga,et al.  Response Styles in Rating Scales , 2004 .

[50]  Claudia Eckert,et al.  The reality of design , 2005 .

[51]  Paul Dourish,et al.  Where the action is , 2001 .

[52]  Y. Engeström,et al.  Learning by expanding: An activity-theoretical approach to developmental research , 2014 .

[53]  Paula Savioja,et al.  Functional situation models in analyses of operating practices in complex work , 2012, ECCE.

[54]  Charles S. Peirce,et al.  The essential Peirce , 1992 .

[55]  Erik Hollnagel,et al.  Resilience Engineering in Practice: A Guidebook , 2012 .

[56]  Pj Clarkson,et al.  ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION AS A DRIVER OF DESIGN , 2003 .

[57]  K. Rudnick.  The Essential Peirce: Selected Philosophical Writings , 1993 .

[58]  Paula Savioja,et al.  Systems Usability - Promoting Core-Task Oriented Work Practices , 2008, Maturing Usability.

[59]  J. Jacko,et al.  The human-computer interaction handbook: fundamentals, evolving technologies and emerging applications , 2002 .

[60]  Paula Savioja,et al.  Systems usability concerns in hybrid control rooms , 2012 .

[61]  John C. McCarthy,et al.  Technology as experience , 2004, INTR.

[62]  Ann Blandford,et al.  Proceedings of the 6th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction: Extending Boundaries , 2010, NordiCHI 2010.

[63]  Claudia Eckert,et al.  Design process improvement : a review of current practice , 2005 .

[64]  Caren A. Wenner,et al.  Human factors engineering. , 2010 .

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

[66]  Mike Kuniavsky,et al.  User Experience and Hci , 2007 .