Hollnagel, E., Mancini, G. & Woods, D. D. (Eds.) (1986) Intelligent decision support in process environments. Berlin: Springer Verlag.

PREFACE

The increasing complexity of technological systems has shifted the demands on human performance from a mechanical/physical level to a cognitive level. The role of the human in complex systems is to act as a supervisor of automated or semi automated resources with goal setting, problem solving, and decision making as the primary tasks. While the negative consequences of possible malfunctioning have grown, the tolerances for performance variability have been reduced and the demands to accurate and safe performance increased, thereby leaving the human operator in a very difficult position. At the same time, advances in computer science (e.g. automated decision makers, object oriented programming, and expert systems) have provided new possibilities to support human performance that challenge established man-machine system design principles.

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