Design problems for cognitive ergonomics research: What we can learn from ATM-like micro-worlds

Cognitive Ergonomics research practices of acquiring and validating design knowledge require the specification of design problems, such that this know ledge can be shown to solve these problems. Operational problems are reject ed as appropriate expressions for the acquisition, but not for the applicat ion, of such knowledge. There is a need, then, to develop a specification o f design problems for research, problems nevertheless having a relationship with operational problems. This paper describes and illustrates a framewor k for expressing such Cognitive Ergonomic design problems, using an air tra ffic management-like micro-world. A design problem is expressed informally as: to design users interacting with computers to perform effective work. n e illustration includes both framework models (that is, design problem; wor ksystem; domain; performance; and operator domain representation) and their operationalisation as data. The paper concludes that, because they are les s complex, microworlds may be a better initial development environment for specifying design problems for Cognitive Ergonomics research, than either o perational or macro-worlds.