Whereables? Examining Personal Technology Adoption in Contemporary Control Rooms

Early work in wearables research has often proposed visions in which wearable computers are introduced to support human operators in critical environments such as control rooms, ship bridges, cockpits, or operating rooms. Wearable assistants could for instance present critical task-relevant information to users regardless of their location, help in avoiding procedural errors, or enhance collaborations between multiple operators. In reality, however, such visions have not galvanized: What happened? And could operators’ attitudes and misgivings toward wearables be responsible? The rise of personal wearables in the past years has led to fitness trackers, smartwatches, and other consumer devices being worn by a larger audience, likely also among control room operators. We report in this article on findings from a series of onsite interviews and workshops with professional control room operators to get an insight in their attitude toward wearables, and opinions and current views on the use and adoption of wearable and pervasive technologies in their work environment.