Enhancing Situational Awareness in Information Systems Through Adaptive Systems: a User Study
Shuja Mughal, Jens H. Weber, Assad Abbas · 2025
Information systems are essential for numerous applications requiring safety, efficacy and dependability. While system developers have argued about the various benefits of information systems, some researchers have highlighted safety hazards and technology-induced errors when using information systems. Accidents are caused by differences between the situation awareness that the controllers (both human and automated) have and the reality of the process that is being controlled or managed. This is especially true for accidents involving safety information systems. To minimize this problem, we propose using a self-adaptive system design sensitive to a user's situational awareness. In this design, the information system automatically adjusts its information content and navigation structure based on the circumstances of its use (e.g., to compensate for user distraction). To validate the feasibility of this approach, we performed a controlled user experiment. Experimental results indicate that our system design reduces errors, allowing for efficient decision-making processes.