Author(s):

Camp, Paul, J.; Hudson , James, M.; Keldorph, Russell, B.; Lewis, Scott; Mynatt, Elizabeth, D.

Title:

Supporting Communication and Collaboration Practices in Safety-Critical Situations

Publication:

CHI '00 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Keywords:

anthropology; attention; awareness; collaborative systems; distraction; effectiveness; ethnographic study; field studies; interviews; interruption; iterative design process; naturalistic observation; participatory design; qualitative research methods; self-reporting; social sciences; transparency; user evaluation; user modeling; user-centered design

Paper Summary:

This paper presents an initial design of a firefighter communication system based on ethnographic interviews and investigations.

The goal of the firefighter communication system is to reduce critical and sometimes deathly communication errors and missed communications between firefighters. To develop such a system, the design team began an ethnographic-style investigation by reading firefighting literature and manuals, interviewing firefighters and listening to tapes of actual communications.

This approach enabled the design team to identify documented policies and procedures as well as to learn about more informal, undocumented practices.

The design of the system includes two communication systems based on the roles and responsibilities of the firemen. The first system is used in smaller teams who enter structures to fight the fire, while the second system supports a command network of officers. The designs were evaluated by firefighters and subsequently modified based on user input and interviews.

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