How a Cockpit Remembers it's Speed

What are the BIG ideas from the article?

Hutchins goes about explaining, in his characteristically detailed style, the cognitive phenomenon involved in maintaining the correct speed of a passenger airliner. He sets the cockpit system as the unit of analysis, as opposed to the individuals in the cockpit, to develop the theory that cognitive activity is not exclusively internal and is supported and created by the world in an active environment. To develop this point he demonstrates how the internal cognitive activity cannot account for the speed of the aircraft being remembered, but can only be understood by examining how the pilots coordinate their activity, technologies and media that represent the process to contribute to the larger cockpit system. He concludes that the only effective way to view the phenomenon of speed maintenance in the plane is as an emergent property of the entire cockpit system.

“What is new is the examination of the role of the material media in which representations are embodied, and in the physical processes that propagate representations across media”

What are the representations in the memory system?

Flap Handle- Controls the pitch of the flaps, which changes the speed of the plane.
Spoken Representation- Transmits the information from the AIS to the pilots
Speed Card- The desired speed on approach given an amount of fuel
Speed Bugs- Indicate the desired speed for the plane on approach as stated on the speed card
Airspeed Indicator Instrument (ASI)- Displays the speed of the plane
Fuel Quantity Panel- Amount of fuel the plane contains

What are the properties of the representation?

Flap Handle- Malleable
Spoken Representation- ephemeral and endures only in its production.
Speed Card- Semi-permanent
Speed Bugs- Malleable
Airspeed Indicator Instrument (ASI)- Physical dynamic
Fuel Quantity Panel- Physical dynamic

Additional terminology to know:

• Re-representations
• Information trajectories
• Coordination of representations
• Redundant storage of representations; redundant processing
• Division of labor
• Distribution of access to information
• Cross-checking