hss-seminar-24

Department of Humanities and Social Sciences

Indian Institute of Technology Ropar

HSS Seminar

Cognitive Work Analysis and the embodied, embedded and socially situated  dimensions of human behavior in sociotechnical systems

by

Dr Vivek Kant

January 27, 2017 (Friday) at 10.30 AM

Venue: Conference Room 2

Abstract

The growing convergence of the Nano-, Bio-, Info- and Cognitive Science (NBIC) related technologies has resulted in the growth of small-scale devices along with intelligent sensors and actuators. As a result, these devices and sensors when implanted in everyday surroundings make them “smart” and “intelligent”. This ushering in of the “smart” has resulted in a shift in the mode of human interaction with technology; i.e. it has become more naturalistic, with technology receding to the background. This naturalistic and seamless interaction involves a broader and detailed comprehension of the embodied, embedded and socially situated dimensions of human behavior. To design for such a scenario demands gathering proper design requirements. Cognitive Work Analysis (CWA), a human factors approach, presents such a requirements-gathering framework that has been extended for the present challenges on embodied, embedded and socially situated dimensions of human interaction with advanced technology. In this presentation, I will chart CWA and its underlying basis and extension using the viewpoints of ecological psychology, activity theory and symbolic interactionism. Thus, the aim is to show that systems design and human cognition are indispensible to each other for addressing human technology interaction in complex sociotechnical systems.

Brief Bio-sketch of the speaker

Dr. VIVEK KANT is Research Fellow at the Division of Sociology, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore . His research interests lie in the field of Cognitive Work Analysis, Ecological Interface Design, Symbolic Interactionism, Ecological Psychology, Activity Theory, Dual nature of artifacts, and Humans and technology. He received his doctoral degree from the University of Waterloo in 2015. He got his Master’s degree in Psychology from the University of Connecticut in 2011 and his Master’s degree in Cognitive Science in 2008. He has published many research papers and received several scholarships.