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Control Room Collaboration and Control: Does it Work?

This talk provides an overview of a research study on CCTV control rooms, discussing research problems and pitfalls of previous studies, research findings from field work at public CCTC control rooms, and future work and conclusions.

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Control Room Collaboration and Control: Does it Work?

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  1. University College London Human Centered Systems Hina Keval Control Room Collaboration and Control: Does it Work? 9th HCT Workshop, 11-12thSept 2006

  2. Overview of Talk • Describe: Research Problems • Discuss: Pitfalls with Previous Control Room Research • Research Findings from field work at public CCTV control rooms • Conclusions to Field Work • Future Work • Q & A

  3. Research Arena: CCTV & HCI/Ergonomics • CCTV first used in London Underground 1961 • Estimated excess of 14 million cameras in UK today • Several changes in security have occurred: • Crime rates gone up • Terrorist attacks • Perceived fear of crime risen • Advances in CCTV technology • Usage scenarios changing • Increased funding

  4. Research Questions: CCTV Control Rooms • More applications are being integrated into existing systems • No assessment on operator task performance within CCTV control rooms • How are operators coping with information demands in busy control rooms? • Are control rooms physically designed to support cognitive tasks?

  5. Previous Research: CCTV Control Rooms • Several ethnographic studies have studied workplace interactions • Air traffic control centres (Bentley et al, 1992) • Ambulance control rooms (McCarthy et al, 1991) • Transport control rooms (Luff and Heath, 2001) • Findings descriptive not prescriptive • Very little analysis on HCI issues & design changes for • tasks & technology set-up. • Home Office evaluations (Gill et al, 2005a and Gill et al, 2005b) • Use of technology in control rooms not examined • CCTV technology changing at the time of the study

  6. Previous Research: Cont… • Some design issues given • Ergonomics practice & HCI barriers to task performance ignored • Purchasing expensive equipment • Radically re-designing control room environment processes • Luff and Heath’s London Underground Control Room Study

  7. Methodology • Distributed Cognition (Hollan et al, 1999) “…seeks to understand the organisation of cognitive systems.” - Useful to understand nature of task, processes involved when operators communicated and used technology to perform surveillance tasks. • Ran series of ‘quick and dirty’ ethnographic observations at 6 control rooms: - Total of 25 operators / 6 managers and 6 supervisors interviewed – semi-structured questions - Conducted naturalistic overt observations ~ 5-6 hours

  8. CCTV Control Room Research GOALS… • Understand the organisational & general practices of CCTV control rooms within large cities. • Identify types of technology used by operators & how they were used. • Identify limitations concerning tasks and system design.

  9. Operator Tasks Identified • REACTIVE TASKS - Responding (2) PROACTIVE TASKS - Monitoring (3) ADMINISTRATION TASKS • Tape labelling and preparing copies for police • Creating incident reports

  10. Problems Identified • CAN’T SEE “You don’t get us watching TV anymore” (2) TOO MUCH INFO “They just keep adding cameras.” “I can hardly concentrate in hear, it’s so noisy”

  11. Search for Camera/Street Location 2 1 11 1 3 12 5 7 6 4 9 10 8 13 (4) Ineffective Search & Select Task • Majority of operators don’t live in surv. area • All control rooms visited – no maps linked to cams • Staff drew their own maps for newcomers • Need to memorise camera locations, numbers & screens • Paper maps can go astray & need updating 2. Map of Area i.e Camden with Cameras No. 1. CamerasDatabase

  12. Camera Number 10 – Gower Street

  13. 8 Different pieces of equipment!! (5) Bad Ergonomics • Operator complained that old equipment left lying about. • Work area cluttered • Controls to equipment were poorly located, preventing operator in using camera controls properly

  14. Field Work Conclusions • Technology changing – need for assessment • Lack of system and tool integration in CCTV control rooms • Design should focus on operator tasks not just technology • Workspace layout and expansion should consider impact on operator comfort, performance and health & safety not just what impact upgrades have on crime statistics

  15. Future Work • 8 further ethnographic field studies carried out in control rooms in and out of London • Police control rooms also studied • Recommendations validated via reports to : • Metropolitan Police at Heathrow Command & Control Airport • 1 London Borough Control Room (South London) Findings will be used to form usability framework for CCTV users – where ergonomics and HCI factors are central to framework

  16. References

  17. Q & A… Thank you for your attention. Any questions ?

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