The Emergence of large-scale logical systems and cognitive ergonomics

Abstract

With the rapid progress of information technology, the work environments that cognitive ergonomics (CE) should deal with are vastly changing. Among the most important ongoing changes is the emergence of large-scale logical systems. Logical systems are in nature software-based but now grow to be both large-scaled and dynamic, integrating a variety of physical facilities and social mechanisms. The domains include telecommunication and traffic, e-commerce, production control, knowledge management, scheduling and distribution. This paper considers the characteristics of the emerging large-scale logical systems (LLSs) and discusses the ensuing needs that CE has to prepare to meet. As a potential main theme in a generalized system design paradigm, the human-system interaction in the middle abstraction levels is emphasized. The directions of further development of CE to prepare such generalization are accordingly probed. Lastly, it is pointed out that the knowledge society brings the notion of cognitive organization to the attention of CE, with increased complexity in the human part.