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In the Eye of the Storm: the role of Distributed Cognition theory for informing the design of meteorological information systems

At the same time as major constraints are being imposed on the Australian Bureau of Meteorology’s (BoM) resources there are rising levels of end-user expectations about the availability, quality and delivery of weather services. These circumstances have led to an increasing workload on meteorologists and recognition within the BoM of the need to redesign the information systems used to support the forecasting process. The forecast streamlining and enhancement project (FSEP) aims to guide the development, design and implementation of the next generation of these information systems. Significantly, the FSEP project has recognized that these information systems must aim to support not just the specialized skill sets of meteorologists, but also the interactions between them in the forecasting process. The need to thoroughly understand the weather forecasting process poses a major challenge for researchers due to the nature of the BoM’s working environment. How can understanding of the information requirements of meteorologists be acquired without interrupting the continuous work of forecasting? This research challenge is compounded by the fact that many of the most critical information requirements arise in the cognitive interactions between meteorologists and because a ‘key bottleneck’ for weather products remains the situated, embodied and distributed nature of the interactions used to generate the forecast. This paper explores the utility of distributed cognition (DC) theory as one approach to overcome these research challenges and generate insights for the design of the BoM’s next generation of meteorological information systems. At the theoretical level, DC theory allows for the capture and validation of design insights through observing cognitive behaviour viewed as a system of individuals interacting within their material environment. At the methodological level, the data collection techniques deployed allowed for the capture of the complex socio-technical nature of meteorologists’ information sharing without interrupting their work. This paper highlights the utility of DC theory in sensitizing designers to an awareness of the cognitive implications of changes to information systems and/or work processes.