Cooperative Work Settings Research Articles

The Impact of Imperfect XAI on Human-AI Decision-Making

Explainability techniques are rapidly being developed to improve human-AI decision-making across various cooperative work settings. Consequently, previous research has evaluated how decision-makers collaborate with imperfect AI by investigating appropriate reliance and task performance with the aim of designing more human-centered computer-supported collaborative tools. Several human-centered explainable AI (XAI) techniques have been proposed in hopes of improving decision-makers' collaboration with AI; however, these techniques are grounded in findings from previous studies that primarily focus on the impact of incorrect AI advice. Few studies acknowledge the possibility of the explanations being incorrect even if the AI advice is correct. Thus, it is crucial to understand how imperfect XAI affects human-AI decision-making. In this work, we contribute a robust, mixed-methods user study with 136 participants to evaluate how incorrect explanations influence humans' decision-making behavior in a bird species identification task, taking into account their level of expertise and an explanation's level of assertiveness. Our findings reveal the influence of imperfect XAI and humans' level of expertise on their reliance on AI and human-AI team performance. We also discuss how explanations can deceive decision-makers during human-AI collaboration. Hence, we shed light on the impacts of imperfect XAI in the field of computer-supported cooperative work and provide guidelines for designers of human-AI collaboration systems.

The key to happiness in collaborative workplaces. Evidence from coworking spaces

This quantitative study explores the significant psychological and behavioral dynamics in coworking spaces. We collected data from a sample of 175 people working in Italian coworking spaces and found that a more cooperative organizational climate increases coworking space users’ happiness. We also found that this relationship is positively moderated by several job crafting behaviors. More specifically, when workers are proactive in the work environment, they are more likely to benefit from the potential advantages (resources, challenges, networking opportunities, etc.) that cooperation-oriented work settings provide, which, in turn, amplifies the positive effect of cooperative work settings on individual happiness. These findings make a useful contribution to both the growing literature on coworking spaces and the more general job crafting literature. Indeed, the previous research on both behavioral dynamics that are specific to coworking spaces and on the role played by job crafting in influencing workers’ happiness remains limited. The study’s managerial implications concern the relevance of establishing a cooperative climate and encouraging workers’ proactivity to promote their happiness.

The Key To Happiness In Collaborative Workplaces. Evidence From Coworking Spaces

This quantitative study explores some significant psychological and behavioral dynamics in coworking spaces, an increasingly popular type of work organization especially among freelancers, professionals and entrepreneurs. We collected data from a sample of 175 people working in coworking spaces and we found that a more cooperative organizational climate increases the workers' happiness. We also found that such relationship is positively moderated by several job crafting behaviors. In other words, when workers experience work proactively they are more likely to benefit from the potential advantages (resources, challenges, networking opportunities, etc) that cooperation-oriented work settings provide, which, in turn, amplifies the positive effect of cooperative work settings on individual happiness. These findings represent a useful contribution for both the sparse literature on coworking spaces, and on the more general job crafting literature, as there are still very limited contributions on behavioral dynamics that are specific to coworking spaces, and on the role played by job crafting in influencing workers’ happiness as well.

Designing Technology, Developing Theory: Toward a Symmetrical Approach

We focus on collaborative activities that engage computer graphics designers and social scientists in systems design processes. Our conceptual symmetrical account of technology design and theory development is elaborated as a mode of mutual engagement occurring in an interdisciplinary trading zone, where neither discipline is placed at the service of the other and nor do disciplinary boundaries dissolve. To this end, we draw on analyses of mutual engagements between computer and social scientists stemming from the fields of computer-supported cooperative work, human−computer interaction, and science and technology studies (STS). We especially build on theoretical work in STS concerning information technology in health care and extend recent contributions from STS with respect to the modes of engagement and trading zones between computer and social sciences. We conceive participative digital systems design as a form of inquiry for the analysis of cooperative work settings, particularly when social science becomes part of design processes. We illustrate our conceptual approach using data from an interdisciplinary project involving computer graphics designers, sociologists, and neurosurgeons with the aim of developing patient-centered visualizations for clinical cooperation on a hospital ward.

DHM simulation in virtual environments: a case-study on control room design

This paper will present the workflow developed for the application of serious games in the design of complex cooperative work settings. The project was based on ergonomic studies and development of a control room among participative design process. Our main concerns were the 3D human virtual representation acquired from 3D scanning, human interaction, workspace layout and equipment designed considering ergonomics standards. Using Unity3D platform to design the virtual environment, the virtual human model can be controlled by users on dynamic scenario in order to evaluate the new work settings and simulate work activities. The results obtained showed that this virtual technology can drastically change the design process by improving the level of interaction between final users and, managers and human factors team.

Affording Mechanisms: An Integrated View of Coordination and Knowledge Management

In this paper we question the separation between technologies that support information and handle the ordered flow of work and technologies that support knowledge management. On the basis of observational studies and initiatives of participatory prototype design that we performed in the hospital domain and other cooperative work settings, the paper proposes a unified view of these high-level functionalities through the notion of Affording Mechanism. In order to clarify the implications for design, the paper discusses the relationships between knowledge and representations; the role of artifacts that are used in activities where knowledge is allegedly "produced, shared and consumed"; and finally the notion of affordance and its dynamics. In very general terms, an AM consists of an artifact and of dynamic relationships between the context of use and the artifact's affordances, expressed in terms of simple if-then constructs. The affordances conveyed through and by the artifact are modulated in order to evoke a "positive" reaction in the actors who use these augmented artifacts and to support knowledgeable behaviors apt to the situation. Moreover, the paper illustrates a prototypical technology through examples derived from the studies mentioned above, and discusses the kind of support this application provides in the light of an unusual interpretation of what it might mean to "manage" knowledge through computer-based technology.

The Dynamics of Material Artifacts in Collaborative Research Teams

Boundary objects are material artifacts that mediate the relationship between two or more disparate perspectives. The concept of boundary objects has been demonstrably useful in a variety of research areas; however, the meaning and function of boundary objects is contested. At issue is the relationship between boundary objects that negotiate between perspectives and those that specify across perspectives. In this study the changing nature of boundary objects in cooperative work is related to the dynamics of evolving problem conceptualization, system design, and enactment within cooperative work settings. Design based research on material artifacts produced by an incipient cross-disciplinary research team during their efforts towards negotiating integrated conceptualizations and specifying shared research agendas is used to generate a more comprehensive model of boundary objects through the life of a project.

Ethnographically informed analysis for software engineers

It is increasingly recognized that human, social, and political factors have a significant impact on software systems design. To address this, ethnographic studies of work have been used to inform the systems design process, especially in cooperative work settings where systems support several users working together. Based on our experience of these studies, we have investigated the integration of social analysis into the systems design process by developing an integrated approach to social and object-oriented analysis. New methods are unlikely to be adopted in industry unless they can be integrated with existing practice. Our approach, called Coherence, addresses this issue by helping identify use cases, generating initial use case models, and by using the Unified Modelling Language (UML) to represent social aspects of work that may have an impact on the design of computer-based systems. Coherence is the fusion of two well-established strands of research on ethnographically informed design and viewpoint-oriented requirements engineering. This paper introduces Coherence, and focuses on the support provided for social analysis. We have identified three social viewpoints, namely a distributed coordination viewpoint, a plans and procedures viewpoint and an awareness of work viewpoint. Coherence is illustrated using a case study based on an air traffic control system.

Activity theory, cognitive ergonomics and distributed cognition: three views of a transport company

Activity theory, cognitive ergonomics and distributed cognition are three theoretical frameworks used to understand cooperative work settings. In the past, each has used case studies to describe and defend its point of view. However, comparisons are made difficult by the fact that these studies are usually based on different work settings. This paper describes the application of each framework to exactly the same setting. We believe our approach shows the features that are emphasized and those that are ignored in each framework, enabling us to differentiate their relevant questions. We discuss the effects of a theoretical filter on understanding the work setting, the differences in the concept of activity, the tools and interactions between humans and tools, the concept of representation, and we look at how a plurality of viewpoints may broaden any interpretation.

Cooperation, reliability of socio-technical systems and allocation of function

When (re)designing a work environment, tasks or functions are allocated more or less explicitly among humans and between humans and machines. After a brief review and discussion of issues related to task allocation, we argue that an important aspect to be addressed when (re)designing socio-technical systems is the systematic evaluation of the impact of allocation decisions on the overall reliability of such systems. It is contended that the cooperative dimension of such systems is one of the main elements that contribute to this reliability. This claim leads us to present a conceptual framework for modelling the human contribution to the overall reliability of complex cooperative work systems. The framework is characterized here as a set of notions, mainly regulation and shared context, used to discuss and reason about this role of humans in the error tolerance properties of such systems. These notions are demonstrated with different examples derived from empirical studies of work practices in two complex cooperative work settings (air traffic and nuclear reactor control). We then show how this conceptual framework can be used for the evaluation of allocation decisions and more generally to inform design.

Coordination mechanisms: Towards a conceptual foundation of CSCW systems design

The paper outlines an approach to CSCW systems design based on the concept of ‘coordination mechanisms.’ The concept of coordination mechanisms has been developed as a generalization of phenomena described in empirical investigations of the use of artifacts for the purpose of coordinating cooperative activities in different work domains. On the basis of the evidence of this corpus of empirical studies, the paper outlines a theory of the use of artifacts for coordination purposes in cooperative work settings, derives a set of general requirements for computational coordination mechanisms, and sketches the architecture of Ariadne, a CSCW infrastructure for constructing and running such malleable and linkable computational coordination mechanisms.