Behind Human Error, 2nd Edition

12HOW PRACTITIONERS ADAPT TO CLUMSY TECHNOLOGY

In developing new information technology and automation, the conventional view seems to be that new technology makes for better ways of doing the same task activities. We often act as if domain practitioners were passive recipients of the “operator aids” that the technologist provides for them. However, this view overlooks the fact that the introduction of new technology represents a change from one way of doing things to another.

The design of new technology is always an intervention into an ongoing world of activity. It alters what is already going on – the everyday practices and concerns of a community of people – and leads to a resettling into new practices. (Flores et al., 1988, p. 154)

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