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The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s (NIOSH) “Prevention through Design” (PtD) initiative encourages the exploration of different methods to foster dialogue between engineers and healthcare workers. Although engineers are encouraged to follow a user-centered design (UCD) process to identify user needs (ANSI/AAMI, 2009; IEC, 2007), NORA (2009) warns that engineers may “fail to get the full range of healthcare worker input on the usability of a device”. The primary goal of this research was to present storytelling as an elicitation method that addressed the PtD call for methods that improve usability within healthcare. This work provides three contributions to the PtD initiative. First, a conceptual model for the role of storytelling in design, which represents a synthesis of narrative and design research, is presented. The conceptual model explicitly states how the elicitation and analysis of stories results in the identification of a design opportunity that addresses user needs. Second, the Design + Storytelling framework, which guides designers’ use of storytelling, is presented. An instantiation of the framework specific to the identification of a design opportunity within an emergency room (ER) is investigated to determine the framework’s impact on design. Findings resulted in the study’s third contribution: design guidance comprised of storytelling guidelines, decision support tools for storytelling method selection, and traceability support for design evaluation. The investigation of the framework focused on two primary stages: (1) story elicitation and (2) story analysis. Storytelling sessions, which varied in context, collected 573 stories (i.e., 441 habitual, 132 hypothetical) from 28 ER nurses. Qualitative analysts used the framework’s instructions to identify and specify 383 user needs within the narratives. Empirical comparisons of the compiled needs across groups informed decision rules for elicitation method selection. The impact of the framework’s analysis instructions during design practice was investigated. Student design teams analyzed nurses’ safety stories to create a conceptual design for an identified design opportunity. Findings indicated a trend for stakeholder experts to rank conceptual designs created by teams with the instructions as more usable than teams without the framework’s instructions. The theoretical and practical exploration indicated a positive impact on design. / Ph. D.

<p>The Systems Dynamics literature demonstrates that individuals have difficulty understanding and working with systems concepts. To model Systems Dynamics (SD), researchers suggest that clients contract with a modeling team to formulate the problem, elicit the mental models of employees at the client, and use software-based simulation tools. This approach is both time-intensive and costly, limiting its use by organizations. This two-part study piloted the Independent Systems Dynamics Elicitation Method (ISDEM), a new method that may be self-administered by teams to reveal individuals' mental models. The first study, a between-subjects design, compared undergraduate participants' responses on the Systems-Based Inquiry Protocol (S-BI) to the ISDEM. Participants reported more relationships and feedback loops using the ISDEM, and obtained significantly higher Systemic Reasoning Level scores. In Study 2, groups of undergraduate participants were asked to brainstorm and develop a collective model of an issue of university interest, using either their typical brainstorming methods, or the ISDEM. Independent coders rated the ISDEM significantly more informative, clear and useful than the control models. In sum, the ISDEM did a significantly better job eliciting individuals' mental models of systems dynamics than traditional measures, and is a valuable new tool for organizations to use to map systemic phenomenon.</p> / Dissertation

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Psychology / Richard J. Harris / Systems that support or require human interaction are generally easier to learn, use, and remember when their organization is consistent with the user’s knowledge and experiences (Norman, 1983; Roske-Hofstrand & Paap, 1986). Thus, in order for interface designers to truly design for the user, they must first have a way of deriving a representation of what the user knows about the domain of interest. The current study evaluated three techniques for eliciting knowledge structures for how General Aviation pilots think about weather information. Weather was chosen because of its varying implications for pilots of different levels of experience. Two elicitation techniques (Relationship Judgment and Card Sort) asked pilots to explicitly consider the relationship between 15 weather-related information concepts. The third technique, Prime Recognition Task, used response times and priming to implicitly reflect the strength of relationship between concepts in semantic memory. Techniques were evaluated in terms of pilot performance, conceptual structure validity, and required resources for employment. Validity was assessed in terms of the extent to which each technique identified differences in organization of weather information among pilots of different experience levels. Multidimensional scaling was used to transform proximity data collected by each technique into conceptual structures representing the relationship between concepts. Results indicated that Card Sort was the technique that most consistently tapped into knowledge structure affected by experience. Only conceptual structures based on Card Sort data were able to be used to both discriminate between pilots of different experience levels and accurately classify experienced pilots as “experienced”. Additionally, Card Sort was the most efficient and effective technique to employ in terms of preparation time, time on task, flexibility, and face validity. The Card Sort provided opportunities for deliberation, revision, and visual feedback that allowed the pilots to engage in a deeper level of processing at which experience may play a stronger role. Relationship Judgment and Prime Recognition Task characteristics (e.g., time pressure, independent judgments) may have motivated pilots to rely on a more shallow or text-based level of processing (i.e., general semantic meaning) that is less affected by experience. Implications for menu structure design and assessment are discussed.

"There are many types of knowledge involved in producing a design (the process of specifying a description of an artifact that satisfies a collection of constraints [Brown, 1992]). Of these, one of the most crucial is the design plan: the sequence of steps taken to create the design (or a portion of the design). A number of knowledge elicitation methods can be used to obtain this knowledge from the designer. The success of the elicitation depends on the match between the knowledge elicitation method used and the information being sought. The difficulty with obtaining design plan information is that this information may involve implicit knowledge, i.e. knowledge that can not be expressed explicitly. In this thesis, an approach is used that combines two knowledge elicitation techniques: one direct, to directly request the design steps and their sequence, and one indirect, to refine this knowledge by obtaining steps and sequences that may be implicit. The two techniques used in this thesis were Forward Scenario Simulation (FSS), a technique where the domain expert describes how the procedure followed to solve it, and Card Sort, a technique where the domain expert is asked to sort items (usually entities in the domain) along different attributes. The Design Ordering Elicitation System (DOES) was built to perform the knowledge elicitation. This system is a web-based system designed to support remote knowledge elicitation: KE performed without the presence of the knowledge engineer. This system was used to administer knowledge elicitation sessions to evaluate the effectiveness of these techniques at obtaining design steps and their sequencing. The results indicate that using an indirect technique together with a direct technique obtains more alternative sequences for the design steps than using the direct technique alone."

Les processus de transmission sont à la fois cruciaux pour la pérennisation des savoirs mais souvent occultés par une représentation dominante du savoir comme innovation. Cette recherche étudie les processus contemporains de la transmission au travail dans une approche sociale clinique en sciences humaines et sociales. Nous repérons des figures historiques de la transmission qui montrent que sa conception évolue en étroite corrélation avec la société et les représentations du temps. Actuellement, le sujet au travail est requis dans un processus de « subjectivisation » où il engage ses capacités subjectives pour faire face à l’incertitude. Nous posons que les difficultés rencontrées dans la transmission au travail aujourd’hui sont issues de l’activité d’explicitation et d’objectivation comme un processus long qui détermine les formes du travail. Ce faisant, les liens au collectif sont fragilisés et rendent plus difficile la transmission.L’étude empirique se base sur une intervention dans une entreprise produisant de l’électricité à l’occasion d’un chassé-croisé entre deux générations, dans un contexte de transformation de l’outil industriel. Cette recherche étudie ces processus de transmission à partir d’une compréhension de l’activité de connaître comme subjectivation. Les apports conjoints de la phénoménologie de Michel Henry, de la psychanalyse de la relation d’objet et de la sociologie de la connaissance de Karl Mannheim nous permettent de proposer la notion de « corps subjectif collectif » comme instance où s’articulent sujet individuel et collectif au travail et qui porte les processus de transmission. L’étude de terrain montre le rôle joué par cette instance ainsi que la crise qui résulte de sa fragilisation, à partir de laquelle peuvent être interprétés les difficultés relationnelles entre générations. Enfin, la thèse met en évidence l’existence d’idéologies de la connaissance opposées, selon qu’elles s’appuient sur le corps subjectif collectif ou sur les représentations qui permettent la circulation de connaissances explicitées et dessinent un nouveau modèle d’apprentissage. / Transmission processes are very important to keep knowledge developped by organizations but are often neglected because of a dominating conception of knowledge as innovation. This research studies contemporary transmission processes using a clinical and social theory and methodology. We identify historical figures of transmission showing their dependency with the evolutions of society and time conceptions. The subject at work is today involved in a situation of « subjectivization », requiring all his capacities as a subject to face risk and uncertainty. We say that these difficulties are linked to an intense activity of elicitation and objectivation of knowledge in a long historical development determining the work forms. The relations between people are thus made vulnerable making transmission a problem. The case studied here is based on an intervention in an organisation producing electricity that is engaged in a demographical transition. We propose to understand knowledge acquisition in the perspective of subjectivation, relying on the philosophy of Michel Henry, object relation theory in psychoanalysis and the knowledge sociology of Karl Mannheim. We define the concept of « collective subjective body » as a support for transmission processes. Our study shows that this « body » gets vulnerable, producing a crisis in transmission and relational problems between young and elder workers. We show that « knowledge ideologies » are at work, opposing workers refering to the collective subjective body and people, mostly managers, who refer to a model of explicit knowledge making its free circulation possible and the roots of a new model of learning.

<p>The maritime industry is experiencing one of its longest and fastest periods of growth. Hence, the global maritime surveillance capacity is in a great need of growth as well. The detection of vessel activity is an important objective of the civil security domain. Detecting vessel activity may become problematic if audit data is uncertain. This thesis aims to investigate if Bayesian networks acquired from expert knowledge can detect activities with a signature-based detection approach. For this, a maritime pilot-boat scenario has been identified with a domain expert. Each of the scenario’s activities has been divided up into signatures where each signature relates to a specific Bayesian network information node. The signatures were implemented to find evidences for the Bayesian network information nodes. AIS-data with real world observations have been used for testing, which have shown that it is possible to detect the maritime pilot-boat scenario based on the taken approach.</p>

The maritime industry is experiencing one of its longest and fastest periods of growth. Hence, the global maritime surveillance capacity is in a great need of growth as well. The detection of vessel activity is an important objective of the civil security domain. Detecting vessel activity may become problematic if audit data is uncertain. This thesis aims to investigate if Bayesian networks acquired from expert knowledge can detect activities with a signature-based detection approach. For this, a maritime pilot-boat scenario has been identified with a domain expert. Each of the scenario’s activities has been divided up into signatures where each signature relates to a specific Bayesian network information node. The signatures were implemented to find evidences for the Bayesian network information nodes. AIS-data with real world observations have been used for testing, which have shown that it is possible to detect the maritime pilot-boat scenario based on the taken approach.

Wissensanalysen besitzen arbeitspsychologische Relevanz, da kompetentes Arbeitshandeln das Beherrschen eines gesicherten Basiswissens voraussetzt. In der arbeitspsychologischen Praxis werden Wissensdiagnosen beispielsweise eingesetzt in Wissensmanagementprozessen, zur Evaluation von Weiterbildungsmaßnahmen oder zur Entwicklung wissensbasierter Systeme. Der Wortassoziationsversuch als ein Verfahren zur Verbalisation fachspezifischen Wissens kann dazu einen Beitrag leisten. Dabei werden Probanden Stimuli aus einer umschriebenen Domäne des Fachwissenbereichs vorgegeben, auf welche diese stichwortartig alle Assoziationen benennen sollen, welche ihnen einfallen. Je mehr jemand assoziiert, desto größer ist – gemäß der Annahme einer netzwerkanalogen Repräsentation – dessen Wissensbesitz. Da die Verfahrensgüte des Wortassoziationsversuchs bisher ungeklärt war, sollten anhand von insgesamt 17 Feldstudien die Haupt- und Nebengütekriterien bestimmt werden. Es zeigte sich, daß der Wortassoziationsversuch in der Lage ist, explizites, deklaratives Fachwissen von Probanden zu erheben, und somit ein brauchbares wissensdiagnostisches Instrument darstellt. Die Reliabilität des Wortassoziationsversuchs konnte belegt werden, somit ist eine wichtige Voraussetzung zur Beurteilung der Validität sowie der Veränderungssensitivität gegeben. Auch die Prüfung der Validität anhand der Außenkriterien Geschäftsführerbeurteilung sowie Klausurleistung erbrachte zufriedenstellende Koeffizienten und kann daher ebenfalls als belegt angesehen werden. Ebenso konnte i.S. der diskriminanten Validierung gezeigt werden, daß mittels der Assoziationstechnik tatsächlich das Konstrukt des Fachwissens und nicht der generellen Fähigkeit zur Wortflüssigkeit erfaßt wird. Insgesamt zeigt sich der Wortassoziationsversuch damit als ein valides, reliables, m.E. Objektives, veränderungssensitves, von den Probanden akzeptiertes, ökonomisches und damit für die arbeitspsychologische Praxis nützliches Verfahren. / Providing methods and instruments to assess the elicitation of domain-specific knowledge from (working) persons is of major relevance for occupational psychology, since basic knowledge is a precondition for competent work performance. In occupational practice, knowledge elicitation methods are realised in organisational knowledge management processes, for training evaluations or for developing knowledge based systems. Free term entry (FTE), which helps to verbalise domain specific knowledge, can contribute greatly in this context. The method involves presenting subjects with stimuli from a specific domain, then the subjects have to list in note form all associations that come to their minds. The more the subject associates, the grater his knowledge – assuming a network-analog representation. Since the quality of the performance data of FTE tests has as of yet been inconclusive, I identified primary and secondary quality criteria using a total of 17 field studies. I was able to show that FTE is able to elicit explicit, declarative domain specific knowledge, and thus is a useful tool for this purpose. Its reliability, an important precondition for validity and sensitivity, was proved. An assessment of the validity on the basis of two external criteria (an appraisal of the subject's vocational expertise by the managing director as a performance measure performance and the subject´s exam performance as a measure of individual domain-specific knowledge) leads to good coefficients. Assessment of the discriminant validity shows that the FTE method captures the construct of domain specific knowledge instead of the general word fluency ability. Overall, the mean frequency of associations is a sensitive measurement for the extent of the individual domain-specific knowledge as well as the extent of vocational expertise – the FTE method is a valid, reliable, objective, economical instrument accepted by the subjects, and therefore is useful for the practice of occupational psychology.

Ce travail contribue à proposer des méthodes et outils de gestion des connaissances (Knowledge Management) propres au domaine de la Fabrication Additive (FA). Le modèle KAM(Knowledge Aided Manufacturing) permet de représenter visuellement les états et actions en lien avec les activités spécifiques à la Fabrication Additive. Il inclut plusieurs types d’objets de connaissance dont le niveau de maturité dépend du degré de certitude ou conviction des experts FA interrogés individuellement et/ou collectivement.Plusieurs techniques et outils d’élicitation personnalisés sont testés puis éprouvés auprès de chercheurs et d’experts industriels impliqués dans la fabrication EBM. L’analyse en termes de connaissances procédurales et déclaratives qui en résulte permet une classification puis une structuration dans le KAM. Ceci nous amène à construire une ontologie sous forme de graphe conceptuel dont la dynamique varie en fonction de contraintes contextuelles (influences, règles d’état, lois) imposées par l’état du monde et de règles d’action dictées par le processus de FA à suivre.Ces éléments de connaissance ont pour but d’aider un utilisateur de FAAO (Fabrication Additive Assistée par Ordinateur) à : mieux appréhender le monde de la FA et en apprendre les principaux concepts ; simuler des actions et en évaluer les impacts en termes de valeur QCT (Qualité, Coût, Temps); décider et agir en conséquence avant de lancer une fabrication. / Additive Manufacturing (AM) has enabled the building of parts with new shapes and geometrical features. As this technology modifies the practices, new knowledge is required for designing and manufacturing properly. To help experts create and share this knowledge through formalization, this research work focuses on knowledge elicitation, analysis and structuring. After defining knowledge concepts we present the SoA in knowledge elicitation and classification. Three case studies present different approaches to capture AM knowledge. The first one points out the assets and limits of three individual elicitation techniques. The second one describes tools and techniques to elicit and structure knowledge about support structures for EBM parts. The last one proposes a method to model AM process rules in relation with EBM technology. As a conclusion, we provide some propositions and recommendations for a better elicitation and formalization of AM knowledge.