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Traffic management in aviation, shipping, and rail transport shows similarities and dissimilarities in the work process. For example, they share the temporal aspect, but different levels of urgency in the control work set different requirements on monitoring, decisions, and actions. However, few studies have been presented that model and compare the different domains in terms of temporal decision-making. The Joint Control Framework (JCF) is an approach to analyse and temporally model operators’ control processes from a cognitive systems engineering perspective. In this study, we have used JCF to map, and compare, cognitive joints, such as perceptions, decisions, and actions, in temporally challenging control situations in air traffic control, maritime vessel traffic service, and train traffic management. Data was collected collaboratively with traffic operators, focusing on (1) identifying challenging traffic situations and (2) jointly modelling the temporal decision-making patterns of these situations using simplified JCF. Post-analysis was done by breaking down the results into different processes and comparing domains to ascertain how operators maintain control. An intermediate level of activity—between general monitoring and work with specific vehicles—was identified: processes-in-focus. A shared problem arises in the shift between general monitoring and the processes-in-focus. All processes-in-focus comprise cognitive joint cycles of perceptions, decisions, and actions. However, depending on the framing of processes-in-focus, the patterns of joints, such as temporal extension and complexity, differ. In the remainder of the article, implications for the interaction design, in particular the potential for human–AI/automation teaming with higher levels of automation and cognitive autonomy, are discussed.

Group work is frequently used in higher education to prepare students for their future work roles and to foster the development of interpersonal and social skills. Such skills may be of particular importance when solving complex problems, in study situations as well as in real life. However, students often report on problems in group work and teachers face difficulties in making fair assessments of the individuals’ contribution. This paper emphasizes the development of openness as an essential team skill for enabling successful group work, to counteract free-riding, and to facilitate teachers in making fair assessments. With the use of a questionnaire for peer assessments of team skills, we measured openness in 23 groups from two different courses—one with students who know each other well and one with students who just met. In a comparison of the two student groups, we conclude that students with a history of working together exhibited more openness, thus speaking in favor of group work running over a longer period of time. We consider the operationalization of the concept of openness as the main contribution here, in addition to the empirical result.

Operational train traffic is dependent on an efficient traffic plan monitored and executed by the traffic controllers, the proficient maneuvering of the trains by the train drivers, and on the interaction, communication, and coordination between these two work roles. The railway research community, and the branch of industry itself, has called for an integrated systems perspective for the whole train traffic system to achieve an efficient performance. As human-human and human-technology interactions are natural parts of the socio-technical system of train traffic, the aim of this paper is to provide illustrative examples for why a systems perspective is needed for the future of railway research. Furthermore, we present the theoretical framework of distributed cognition (DCog) as a necessary addition to the theoretical and methodological toolbox of the Human Factors and Ergonomics (HF&E) discipline. To realize efficient and coordinated processes involved in organizing and executing operational train traffic, the paper proposes that the DCog framework should be implemented in the train traffic domain as a viable approach forward.

Although there has long been a call for a holistic systems perspective to better understand real work in the complex domain of railway traffic, prior research has not strongly emphasised the socio-technical perspective. In operational railway traffic, the successful planning and execution of the traffic are the product of the socio-technical system comprised by both train drivers and traffic controllers. This paper presents a study inspired by cognitive ethnography with the aim to characterise the coordinating activities that are conducted by train traffic controllers and train drivers in the work practices of the socio-technical system of Swedish railway. The theoretical framework of distributed cognition (DCog) is used as a conceptual and analytical tool to make sense of the complex railway domain and the best practices as they are developed and performed “in the wild”. The analysis reveals a pattern of collaboration and coordination of actions among the workers and we introduce the concept of enacted actionable practices as a key concern for understanding how a successfully executed railway traffic emerges as a property of the socio-technical system. The implications for future railway research are briefly discussed.

Introducing automation in a human-machine system changes the tasks performed by human operators. It is difficult to analyse systems for which there are no experienced operators. This issue emerged within a project with the aim to develop a human–machine interface for a highly automated long-haul vehicle. To handle the problem, a formative strategies analysis method with promises to enable desktop analyses through predefined strategy categories was adopted. The method was used to investigate strategies for controlling the future long haul vehicle by conducting workshops with today's drivers. The method was shown to be a valuable asset in eliciting strategies for revolutionary design.