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Value sensitive design of a virtual assistant for workload harmonization in teams

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Abstract

Uneven workload distributions in teams can lead to suboptimal team performance. This paper therefore describes the design of a virtual assistant that supports workload harmonization in teams by measuring workload, informing team members about their own and other team members’ workload, and supporting team members in the redistribution of workload. The virtual assistant was developed in the context of train traffic control according to the situated Cognitive Engineering (sCE) methodology, which was extended to allow for a value sensitive design process. More specifically, the values ‘insight,’ ‘helping others’ and ‘privacy’ were explicitly accounted for throughout the design of the virtual assistant. A prototype of the virtual assistant was evaluated positively in a focus group. Thereby, the contribution of the paper is twofold. First, an improvement in a human-centered development methodology—sCE with values—is described and its use is demonstrated in an actual design case. Second, a novel, positively evaluated solution for workload harmonization in teams is presented.

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Notes

  1. http://www.prorail.nl/.

  2. The clause “if permitted” was added to preserve privacy (see objective 3).

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the members of the focus group for their valuable input. This research is part of the RAILROAD project and is supported by ProRail and the Netherlands organization for scientific research (NWO) (Under Grant 438-12-306).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Delft University of Technology, Mekelweg 4, 2628 CD, Delft, The Netherlands

    Maaike Harbers & Mark A. Neerincx

  2. Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, Wijnhaven 103, 3011 WN, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Maaike Harbers

  3. TNO Human Factors, Kampweg 5, 3769 DE, Soesterberg, The Netherlands

    Mark A. Neerincx

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  1. Maaike Harbers
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Correspondence to Maaike Harbers.

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Harbers, M., Neerincx, M.A. Value sensitive design of a virtual assistant for workload harmonization in teams. Cogn Tech Work 19, 329–343 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10111-017-0408-4

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