“I Want My Control Room To Be. . . ”: On the Aesthetics of Interaction in a Safety-Critical Working Environment

Abstract

Control rooms are safety-relevant working environments characterized by complex IT infrastructure. With regard to the interaction of operators with control room systems, usability has been the major criteria for decades. However, there is increasing discussion about the extent to which the concept of user experience (UX) also plays a role in such safety-critical contexts. What is still largely missing is the application of concrete UX-specific methods in the context of control rooms. This paper explains how and with what results 9 operators used an interaction vocabulary focusing on pragmatic and hedonic qualities to complete the sentence “I want my control room to be. . . ”. Results first suggest that pragmatic, i.e., usability-oriented, attributions are of greater importance to operators. However, especially the more UX-specific terms of the interaction vocabulary, which were initially not found to be so relevant, yielded many valuable hints and inspiration for the future design of control room workplaces. By reflecting on the process of discussing the aesthetics of interactions in such a safety-critical working environment, recommendations are provided for considering UX in safety.