NERVOUSystems

The LUCC located in unknown location in central London. Business Insider/Charles Clark

Since working from home, there has been a proliferation of software that enables the tethering of the office. Throughout the pandemic, I became fascinated by the arrival of self-management youtube videos and desk setup porn. I wanted to find an early analogous – digital hybrid to begin to understand how these spaces operate at the cusp of the moment in which software decided to engulf and eat the world in the 90/00s.

It was relatively few who operated the control rooms of the London Underground in the 90’s, but there were more local operators than today. The ability to co-ordinate the complex activity of running the underground involved processes of improvisation, interpretation, and perception, inevitably relying on social organisation and negotiation: a ‘distributed cognition’ [1] that would inform the development of automation software:

Whether one subscribes to a theory of distributed cognition or a more sociological conception of cooperative work, it is clear that we need to move away from laboratory studies of cognition, “which have deliberately stripped away the supporting context of the everyday world, in an effort to study ‘pure’ internal processes

Olson 1990

The technologies of the control room are studied extensively by departments of sociology that seemed to have proliferated throughout universities in the US and UK in the 90’s. One such study: Computer supported Cooperative Work, delivered by Christian Heath and Paul Luff of the University of Surrey, was part of an ongoing empirical study into computer supported cooperative work. These studies include the study of helicopter cockpits[2], the collaborative use of charts, range-finders and other artefacts in the navigation of large vessels[3], and the collaborative aspects of working with computer spreadsheets in an office environments[4]; Mostly supported by the military-industrial/ educational complex (more on that later). In CSCW the focus was on the monitoring of participants coordinating the tasks in the line control rooms of the London Underground.

Bakerloo Line Control Room, Heath Christian & Luff Paul, Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), Department of Sociology, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK; Rank Xerox, Cambridge, (1993)

The study starts with an object-oriented description of the Bakerloo line control room in relation to the tasks of controller and his Divisional Information Assistant and their functionally idiosyncratic relationship – an extremely close collaboration between all personnel throughout the extended network. One element of this extraordinary interweaving of sequential and simultaneous responsibilities and tasks is an emergent and flexible division of labour which allows the personnel to lend support to the accomplishment of each others’ tasks and activities and thereby manage difficulties and crises [5].

Heath Christian & Luff Paul, Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), Department of Sociology, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK; Rank Xerox, Cambridge, (1993)

The main difficulty came from surreptitious monitoring and interrelating tasks whilst remaining sensitive to each other’s conduct. This meant that the controller, the DIA and exterior line managers would communicate with a jargon that would slipped into public announcements, passing comments and even the simple switching on and off of monitors to grab the others attention if a detail had been missed. This operational logistical structure is best described by Goffman’s analysis of conversation[6].

Edgware Road Station was opened in 1927 Business Insider/Charles Clark

Goffman’s analysis suggests that any activity within the line room is dependent upon a particular production format which establishes parameters for action, and in doing so allows others to participate in any event.

Epic Games / Unreal Engines Digital Twin showroom

For me at IRL this analysis is important. In Goffman’s terms, the production format of the activity is sensitive to multiple, simultaneous demands on the Controller, and implicates different forms of co-participation from all those who are within perceptual range of the event. The same activity is produced to organise a form of participation from co-present and physically distributed colleagues; the activity and the participation framework it generates, merge momentarily, different ecologies within the organisational milieu.

The in-depth examination of control rooms, exemplified by the study of the Bakerloo line's control room dynamics, presents profound parallels applicable to planetary computation and decision-making through the concept of digital twins. The intricate coordination, distributed cognition, and adaptive collaboration observed within these control spaces resonate with the complexities inherent in managing planetary systems.

Just as control room operators navigated complex networks and crises through nuanced communication and a flexible division of labor, digital twins serve as virtual replicas of planetary systems, relying on interconnected data streams and adaptive modeling to simulate real-time scenarios.

The lessons learned from the social organization, improvisation, and seamless collaboration in control rooms become crucial templates for the development of digital twin frameworks that emulate the intricate interdependencies and adaptive decision-making required in managing planetary-scale infrastructures.

A Digital Twin, Unreal Engine blog.

This evolution signifies a re-emergence of these principles in a new guise, where insights from the study of control rooms guide the design and implementation of digital twins, fostering more robust and responsive systems for planetary computation and decision-making in the ever-evolving landscape of technology and infrastructure.

For Interfacing Research Laboratory, the study of planetary interiors and their digital representations offers grounding for interdisciplinary collaboration. Our work can harness insights from complexity science and technological advancements to develop cutting-edge interfaces and communication protocols that bridge the gap between digital simulations and real-world applications. They can explore ways to create intuitive, user-friendly interfaces that allow scientists, policymakers, and engineers to interact seamlessly with the complexities of planetary systems, enabling better decision-making and resource management.

In essence, the study of the planetary interior through digital twin models and their control protocols isn't just a scientific endeavor—it's a gateway to innovation, collaboration, and the development of transformative technologies that can shape the future of how we understand and interact with our planet.

Reference/ Links:

1. Hutchins 1989, Olson 1990, Olson and Olson 1991 2. Linde (1988) 3. Hutchins (1990)
4. Nardi and Miller (1990) 5. 19 Heath Christian & Luff Paul, Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), Department of Sociology, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK; Rank Xerox, Cambridge, (1993) 6. 20 Goffman’s analysis in 1983 presented the idea that a person is like an actor on a stage. Calling his theory dramaturgy, Goffman believed that we use “impression management” to present