- Psychology, Health Sciences, Neuroscience, Cognitive Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, and 17 moreKnowledge Management, Strategic Management, Social Research Methods and Methodology, Complex Systems Science, Research Methods and Methodology, Sustainable Communities, Participatory Research, Business/IT Alignment, Software Engineering education, Psychosis, Sociotechnical Systems, Telehealth, Renewable Energy Clusters, Autism Spectrum Disorders, Autism Spectrum Treatment, Science and Technology Studies, and Barriers to cluster developmentedit
- Leveraging what users know and can do, in the design or implementation of health and business infrastructure using qu... moreLeveraging what users know and can do, in the design or implementation of health and business infrastructure using qualitative and quantitative research. My research applies this to diverse types of infrastructure from telehealth systems to renewable energy clusters, where there are recurring barriers to the alignment of diverse people, processes and technologies.edit
Springer Internat. Available by August 2017 Taking eleven countries in Europe, Canada, South Africa, America, Latin America and Australia, this book discusses recurring barriers to cluster development in the renewable energy sector. The... more
Springer Internat. Available by August 2017
Taking eleven countries in Europe, Canada, South Africa, America, Latin America and
Australia, this book discusses recurring barriers to cluster development in the renewable energy sector. The authors look at the real-world dynamics and tensions between stakeholders on the ground, with a particular focus on the relationships between SMEs and other actors. This trans-regional study is unique in its scale and scope, drawing on a decade of field research to show how by learning from the successes and failures of other clusters, costs and risk can be reduced. The book fills a significant gap in the literature for policymakers, managers and economic developers in a key market
Taking eleven countries in Europe, Canada, South Africa, America, Latin America and
Australia, this book discusses recurring barriers to cluster development in the renewable energy sector. The authors look at the real-world dynamics and tensions between stakeholders on the ground, with a particular focus on the relationships between SMEs and other actors. This trans-regional study is unique in its scale and scope, drawing on a decade of field research to show how by learning from the successes and failures of other clusters, costs and risk can be reduced. The book fills a significant gap in the literature for policymakers, managers and economic developers in a key market
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As above
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This chapter deals with the recurring barriers relating to policy—at different stages in the cycle—from the initial stage of communication and development, through to implementation, and feedback from those on the ground about impact and... more
This chapter deals with the recurring barriers relating to policy—at different stages in the cycle—from the initial stage of communication and development, through to implementation, and feedback from those on the ground about impact and new requirements. It points to the importance of establishing regular meaningful dialogue with all the stakeholders if emerging risks (and opportunities) are to be identified and addressed in a timely way, and to the need for Universities to take a more active role in supporting this dialogue. The first section concentrates on the very recurrent funding policy issues and the policies that respondents felt were most effective for the sector, and for companies themselves. The second section concentrates on the extent to which poor implementation of policies can hamper rather than help in practice. Lastly this chapter looks at the barriers to feedback and collaboration between companies and policymakers, highlighting the economic cost of failure to harness what users know about the cluster landscape on the ground and the potential to learn from other sectors that have harnessed this to advantage.
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The South African case study provides examples of some of the more extreme barriers encountered in a nascent renewable energy sector that was still under development. This chapter looks at the tensions between efforts to develop the huge... more
The South African case study provides examples of some of the more extreme barriers encountered in a nascent renewable energy sector that was still under development. This chapter looks at the tensions between efforts to develop the huge potential of solar energy in South Africa, and the difficulty of changing the existing landscape of laws. It focuses on introducing financial incentives such the process of designing and implementing feed-in mechanisms and its related roles and representation of different stakeholders that are affected in this change process. Interview and survey feedback provide a picture of the barriers to cluster development, with a particular focus on the concentration of power and control in the hands of a parastatal organisation monopolising the generation, transmission and the distribution of electricity. The case also discusses barriers that reflect the unique historical and political context, as well as the more generic, cross-cutting barriers that are shar...
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The German photovoltaic cluster is a prime example of a rapidly grown cluster driven by Feed-in Tariffs (FiTs) and special funding programmes. The cluster was helped by cross-fertilisation and mobility between chemical and semi-conductor... more
The German photovoltaic cluster is a prime example of a rapidly grown cluster driven by Feed-in Tariffs (FiTs) and special funding programmes. The cluster was helped by cross-fertilisation and mobility between chemical and semi-conductor industry clusters in the region, and a strong regional tradition of mechanical engineering as well as a strong R&D culture. Stakeholder interviews and survey perceptions provided particular insights into the external threat of increasing competition from China, as cheap imports threatened local production, and some companies started migrating to low labour-cost countries, taking with them cutting edge know-how developed in the German cluster. This external threat coincided with an internal threat from the rapid reduction in FiTs, which disproportionately penalised those SMEs at the forefront of innovation. Managers felt that they did not have the necessary influence with policymakers to make the rapid and radical changes required to sustain SMEs, an...
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The first chapter sets the scene for the book. As clusters have gained increasing prominence in the context of economic development, their promotion and support has become integral to regional and global policy. But do clusters generate... more
The first chapter sets the scene for the book. As clusters have gained increasing prominence in the context of economic development, their promotion and support has become integral to regional and global policy. But do clusters generate in practice what they promise in theory? Does co-location foster the kind of knowledge sharing and innovation that is promised? If not—why not? What barriers do companies encounter on the ground when seeking to develop a project or test an innovation? How do the linkages between stakeholders in education, government and industry impact on outcomes? The book focuses on clusters in the renewable energy sector and presents work with clusters in 11 countries for over a decade. It highlights recurring barriers to value creation in clusters which are not currently receiving the attention they should in policy, in professional development and in research.
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The field study in Alberta gives a fascinating snapshot of an early stage renewable energy cluster competing against incumbent fossil fuel companies in a liberalised electricity market. The outcomes of the study are discussed,... more
The field study in Alberta gives a fascinating snapshot of an early stage renewable energy cluster competing against incumbent fossil fuel companies in a liberalised electricity market. The outcomes of the study are discussed, highlighting the barriers from the perspective of different actors in an early-stage renewable energy cluster, where there are tensions between different energy players in the market. The chapter suggests why, despite the huge potential in the region, and the wealth of entrepreneurs and industry experience, the sector has had limited success in achieving the aims of the cluster to create employment, increase GDP and achieve environmental goals.
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This chapter summarises the recurring barriers identified and their impact on the vision of clusters as a focus for value creation. It underlines the crucial importance of more timely feedback on operating conditions on the ground, to... more
This chapter summarises the recurring barriers identified and their impact on the vision of clusters as a focus for value creation. It underlines the crucial importance of more timely feedback on operating conditions on the ground, to better inform policies on emerging needs, challenges and opportunities that also impact on economic outcomes. This is presented as complementing the role of models dealing with the factors and condition in the market. The chapter highlights the economic advantages of better leveraging the distributed knowledge of stakeholders on the ground, and the potential for more pro-active involvement of Universities in mediating this, through collaborative and practice–based research on the ground.
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This chapter provides an advance organiser for the cross-cutting analysis of recurring barriers across clusters. It underlines their impact on economic outcomes in clusters and companies, as well as the implications for realising the... more
This chapter provides an advance organiser for the cross-cutting analysis of recurring barriers across clusters. It underlines their impact on economic outcomes in clusters and companies, as well as the implications for realising the cluster vision. The chapter highlights the need for an understanding of these recurring scenarios to be more accessible to managers, if the cluster vision is to be realised as a benefit for regions. It underlines the importance of creating the less tangible architecture that facilitates knowledge spillovers, collaboration and strategic alliances, and supporting SMEs that can generate employment and innovation. The chapter highlights the implications for policy, for professional development and for research.
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This chapter presents a case study of the Baixo Alentejo photovoltaic cluster in the South-East of Portugal. The cluster is a good example of an early stage cluster that had been initiated largely ‘top-down’, in a rural region with no... more
This chapter presents a case study of the Baixo Alentejo photovoltaic cluster in the South-East of Portugal. The cluster is a good example of an early stage cluster that had been initiated largely ‘top-down’, in a rural region with no real business/entrepreneurship culture or well-established networks of communication and coordination between players. The case shows how limited opportunities for SMEs to engage constructively with other stakeholders can constrain value creation for the cluster and the region. SME interview and survey feedback was characterised by a perception of real inequalities between SMEs and other players. The case highlights the impact of a very unequal relationship between SMEs and (a) policymakers shaping the business environment (b) large companies administering access to key services (c) Universities charged with supporting research and innovation.
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The Californian Cluster study is presented in such a way as to familiarise the reader with the methods we used to explore the barriers, and to introduce the context on the ground, where different arrangements of people, procedures and... more
The Californian Cluster study is presented in such a way as to familiarise the reader with the methods we used to explore the barriers, and to introduce the context on the ground, where different arrangements of people, procedures and technology shape the outcomes. The chapter provides an introduction to the geographical, historical and cultural context, as well as the operating environment of the solar cluster, as context for understanding the issues raised. It also provides an overview of the methodology, highlighting the benefits of combining qualitative and quantitative approaches to understand where and why problems arise, and the potential for addressing or mitigating them. This includes the initial use of qualitative interviews to elicit themes as stakeholders see them, through to the elaboration of semi-structured surveys to validate, explore and quantify the issues in greater depth, with a wider population. The chapter uses the outcomes from the Californian case to introduc...
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In this chapter, we look at the theoretical concept of clusters. We trace the concept through history starting with Marshall, who laid the foundations for it with his “industrial districts” analysis in the late nineteenth century. We then... more
In this chapter, we look at the theoretical concept of clusters. We trace the concept through history starting with Marshall, who laid the foundations for it with his “industrial districts” analysis in the late nineteenth century. We then look at how the concept was revived in the 1970s and 1980s of the last century by the Italian researcher Giacomo Becattini on the move from industrial “sectors” to industrial “districts” as a locus for inter-firm collaboration in Italy in 1979, by the French GREMI group, and later, (in the early globalisation debate of the 1990s) by the American economists Krugman and Porter. This section gives some background to the concept of clusters in the literature, and the particular focus of different theories. This provides some context for the focus of the study in the operating landscape for stakeholders on the ground, rather than at the level of macro-economic conditions that are the traditional focus of the literature on cluster competitiveness.
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This chapter highlights the value of sharing experience of barriers and enablers across clusters, as a means of minimising risks and optimizing value. We illustrate this initially through an early case in the oil and gas sector which... more
This chapter highlights the value of sharing experience of barriers and enablers across clusters, as a means of minimising risks and optimizing value. We illustrate this initially through an early case in the oil and gas sector which shows how an early stage cluster was able to benefit from the experiences of a mature oil and gas cluster to mitigate risks in relation to the retention of SMEs. The case reveals the central role SMEs play in clusters in terms of innovation, employment and niche expertise crucial to the enhancement of cluster performance. The chapter highlights the potential of clusters at different stages of development to learn from each other, as a means of anticipating, minimising and mitigating unanticipated cost and risk. The chapter also highlights the need for a better understanding of the landscape on the ground, at the crucial interfaces where it is assumed that actors in government, education and industry co-produce value.
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The interface between Universities and SMEs was perceived by many as creating barriers rather than creating value in the key areas where clusters are expected to generate shared value. It includes surprising evidence of the difficulties... more
The interface between Universities and SMEs was perceived by many as creating barriers rather than creating value in the key areas where clusters are expected to generate shared value. It includes surprising evidence of the difficulties faced by companies in collaboration with academic organisations with very different aims, goals and modus operandi, and highlights the pressing need for more practice-based, collaborative and cross-disciplinary research to meet the real demands of a sector in urgent need of answers. In terms of innovation—the area where Universities typically claim to contribute to the economy, significant difficulties in aligning the different needs of both parties was seen, combined with a lack of targeted funding for research-active SMEs testing new concepts or seeking to commercialise these. This section also highlights a cross-cutting concern about the lack of appropriate skills and professional development in the sector as a real constraint to companies and the...
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In a cluster, where value is traditionally intended to accrue from the exchange and the strategic alignment of knowledge, skills and information between players (so-called positive externalities), the nature of the information and... more
In a cluster, where value is traditionally intended to accrue from the exchange and the strategic alignment of knowledge, skills and information between players (so-called positive externalities), the nature of the information and communication infrastructure would seem to be crucial. Yet despite investment in putting the pieces in place, there was often little evidence of any coherent strategy for connecting them up, either to support knowledge transfer, or collaboration in the creation of shared value. The chapter looks at key interfaces between players, and shows how the barriers to communication, collaboration and coproduction impacted on the competitiveness of companies and the cluster, and points to the lessons from other clusters and other sectors if clusters are to generate the benefits promised in the cluster rhetoric.
The German photovoltaic cluster is a prime example of a rapidly grown cluster driven by Feed-in Tariffs (FiTs) and special funding programmes. The cluster was helped by cross-fertilisation and mobility between chemical and semi-conductor... more
The German photovoltaic cluster is a prime example of a rapidly grown cluster driven by Feed-in Tariffs (FiTs) and special funding programmes. The cluster was helped by cross-fertilisation and mobility between chemical and semi-conductor industry clusters in the region, and a strong regional tradition of mechanical engineering as well as a strong R&D culture. Stakeholder interviews and survey perceptions provided particular insights into the external threat of increasing competition from China, as cheap imports threatened local production, and some companies started migrating to low labour-cost countries, taking with them cutting edge know-how developed in the German cluster. This external threat coincided with an internal threat from the rapid reduction in FiTs, which disproportionately penalised those SMEs at the forefront of innovation. Managers felt that they did not have the necessary influence with policymakers to make the rapid and radical changes required to sustain SMEs, an...
Research Interests:
The first chapter sets the scene for the book. As clusters have gained increasing prominence in the context of economic development, their promotion and support has become integral to regional and global policy. But do clusters generate... more
The first chapter sets the scene for the book. As clusters have gained increasing prominence in the context of economic development, their promotion and support has become integral to regional and global policy. But do clusters generate in practice what they promise in theory? Does co-location foster the kind of knowledge sharing and innovation that is promised? If not—why not? What barriers do companies encounter on the ground when seeking to develop a project or test an innovation? How do the linkages between stakeholders in education, government and industry impact on outcomes? The book focuses on clusters in the renewable energy sector and presents work with clusters in 11 countries for over a decade. It highlights recurring barriers to value creation in clusters which are not currently receiving the attention they should in policy, in professional development and in research.
Research Interests:
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A round table scenario building workshop was proposed to explore issues of trust that arise across telecare projects aiming to support the management of chronic illness. We have chosen this topic because telecare systems constitute one of... more
A round table scenario building workshop was proposed to explore issues of trust that arise across telecare projects aiming to support the management of chronic illness. We have chosen this topic because telecare systems constitute one of the most rapidly expanding areas of the digital economy with potential opportunities for patients and care providers and for commercial providers. However the digital mediation of traditional care services reconfigures the nature of care, costs, risks and benefits for these different stakeholders in ...
This case study has been produced for the Digital Curation Centre (DCC) SCARP project, funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) to investigate disciplinary attitudes and approaches to data deposit. The study looks at the... more
This case study has been produced for the Digital Curation Centre (DCC) SCARP project, funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) to investigate disciplinary attitudes and approaches to data deposit. The study looks at the data curation lifecycle in Telehealth research. Telehealth, or telecare, is an emerging sub-domain of eHealth, and the report profiles current practices in several telehealth pilot projects. Data curation is at an embryonic stage but can draw on related eHealth initiatives and clinical data management ...
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ABSTRACT: Enterprise networks are 'socio-technical'systems 'par excellence', depending on the integrated management of knowledge of a range of co-ordinating technical and socio-technical processes. The paper outlines a... more
ABSTRACT: Enterprise networks are 'socio-technical'systems 'par excellence', depending on the integrated management of knowledge of a range of co-ordinating technical and socio-technical processes. The paper outlines a cross-disciplinary collaboration taking a socio-technical perspective on the design and management of extended ICT-supported systems such as the supply chain and e-business portals. It investigates the potential of patterns, pattern-languages, and pattern-building communities as vehicles for the collaborative ...
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The paper offers a social science perspective on some of the assumptions and abstractions implicit in the semantic web vision in one bio-medical domain. The focus here is on the more persistent semantic and systemic alignment issues in... more
The paper offers a social science perspective on some of the assumptions and abstractions implicit in the semantic web vision in one bio-medical domain. The focus here is on the more persistent semantic and systemic alignment issues in the context of neuro-psychiatric disease, as experienced by Grid projects working in this domain in the UK, EU and US, where the opportunities and the challenges of integration have been particularly evident.
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The biggest problems faced by those responsible for designing, managing and integrating computer systems are often not technical-they are'socio-technical.'The greatest costs (and the greatest... more
The biggest problems faced by those responsible for designing, managing and integrating computer systems are often not technical-they are'socio-technical.'The greatest costs (and the greatest benefits) lie in harnessing the dynamic forces associated with organizational and human as well as technical aspects of IT systems. Invisible Architecture identifies strategies for designing software around the cognitive, social, cultural, political, economic, organizational and business processes affecting companies and their IT systems. This ...
Abstract: Differentiation practices are defined by the Scottish Office Education Department as the identification of, and effective provision for, a range of abilities in one classroom, such that pupils in a particular class need not... more
Abstract: Differentiation practices are defined by the Scottish Office Education Department as the identification of, and effective provision for, a range of abilities in one classroom, such that pupils in a particular class need not study the same things at the same pace and in the same way at all times. This issue of the" Interchange" describes two studies of differentiation practices in primary and secondary schools. The first study investigated how primary teachers allocate different work to different pupils and the extent to which they match the ...
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Abstract The paper focuses on the alignment of technical and human infrastructures in the semantic web, taking the development ,and alignment ,of ontologies ,in eHealth as a ,vehicle for exploring the barriers to achieving this. The... more
Abstract The paper focuses on the alignment of technical and human infrastructures in the semantic web, taking the development ,and alignment ,of ontologies ,in eHealth as a ,vehicle for exploring the barriers to achieving this. The authors report on the ,outcomes ,of a ,recent eScience workshop ,looking at data integration and ontology alignment across Grid projects in the same disease domain. It is premised on a view of Grids as socio-technical systems ,aligning technical and human ,networks ,in ways ,which can create useful synergies, but may also work at cross purposes, generating unpredicted costs and risks and barriers. 1. Socio-technical Alignment The eHealth vision of large-scale, seamless data-sharing for research and clinical trials faces real barriers in the development of shared infrastructures for collecting, coding, cleaning and representing data across multiple distributed,communities ,of practice. ,Ontology development is a significant strand in that vision, premised...
A qualitative report of users' experiences of home telemonitoring in COPD (Chronic Obstructive Lung Disorder) in Lothian Region. This research, with patients, carers, nurses, physiotherapists and GPs provided an early... more
A qualitative report of users' experiences of home telemonitoring in COPD (Chronic Obstructive Lung Disorder) in Lothian Region. This research, with patients, carers, nurses, physiotherapists and GPs provided an early insight into the experience of the players in a new approach to managing chronic disease, and was designed to inform the design and development of a larger study of the techical, clinical, social, organisational, and usability issues.
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Ure, J., Procter, R., Martone, M., Porteous, D., Lloyd, S., Lawrie, S., Job, D., Baldock, R., Philp, A., Liewald, D., Rakebrandt, F., Blaikie, A., McKay, C., Anderson, S., Ainsworth, J., van Hemert, J., Blanquer, I., Sinnott, RO,... more
Ure, J., Procter, R., Martone, M., Porteous, D., Lloyd, S., Lawrie, S., Job, D., Baldock, R., Philp, A., Liewald, D., Rakebrandt, F., Blaikie, A., McKay, C., Anderson, S., Ainsworth, J., van Hemert, J., Blanquer, I., Sinnott, RO, Barillot, C., Gibaud, B., Williams, A., Hartswood, M., Watson, P., Smith, L., Burger, A., Kennedy, J., Gonzalez-Velez, H., Stevens, R., Corcho, O., Morton, R., Linksted, P., Deschenes, M., Mcgilchrist, M., Johnson, P., Voss, A., Gertz, R., and Wardlaw, J.
A framework for building an infrastructure that semantically integrates, archives, and reuses data for various research purposes in human brain imaging remains critical. In particular, problems of aligning technical, clinical, and... more
A framework for building an infrastructure that semantically integrates, archives, and reuses data for various research purposes in human brain imaging remains critical. In particular, problems of aligning technical, clinical, and professional systems in order to facilitate data sharing are a recurring issue in brain imaging. However, large samples of well-characterized images with detailed metadata are increasingly needed. This paper outlines the experience of the NeuroGrid Stroke Exemplar and further work in the Brain Research Imaging Centre and Stroke Trials Unit in developing an infrastructure that facilitates the linkage, archiving, and reuse of imaging data from stroke patients for large-scale clinical and epidemiological studies. We examined data from 12 past stroke projects carried out over the past two decades in our center and two large trials with 329 centers. We assessed previously published schemas and those developed specifically for large multicentre ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke treatment trials. We then developed our own harmonized and integrated schema and database with a web-based interface system, Longitudinal Online Research and Imaging System (LORIS), aiming to be flexible and adaptable to future trials and observational studies. We then linked image and metadata from 3,079 patients acquired in stroke research in one center in a 14-year period (1996–2010) with prospective central hospital health statistics to obtain long-term follow-up. Our integrated database includes 3,079 subjects and over 550 federated and searchable data items including imaging details, medical history, and examination, stroke, and laboratory details, which map to large multicentre stroke trials with imaging data from over 10,000 patients from 30 countries. The central linkage identified 879 of 3,079 patients had died, 525 had recurrent strokes, and 291 developed dementia during up to a 19-year period (range = 0–19; median = 9.04; IQR = 12.17) of follow-up, demonstrating its utility. The core metadata schema has benefited from extensive development in large clinical trials. Further trials' data can now be added. It provides an opportunity to crosslink and reuse data for a range of large-scale stroke
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A framework for building an infrastructure that semantically integrates, archives, and reuses data for various research purposes in human brain imaging remains critical. In particular, problems of aligning technical, clinical, and... more
A framework for building an infrastructure that semantically integrates, archives, and reuses data for various research purposes in human brain imaging remains critical. In particular, problems of aligning technical, clinical, and professional systems in order to facilitate data sharing are a recurring issue in brain imaging. However, large samples of well-characterized images with detailed metadata are increasingly needed. This paper outlines the experience of the NeuroGrid Stroke Exemplar and further work in the Brain Research Imaging Centre and Stroke Trials Unit in developing an infrastructure that facilitates the linkage, archiving, and reuse of imaging data from stroke patients for large-scale clinical and epidemiological studies. We examined data from 12 past stroke projects carried out over the past two decades in our center and two large trials with 329 centers. We assessed previously published schemas and those developed specifically for large multicentre ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke treatment trials. We then developed our own harmonized and integrated schema and database with a web-based interface system, Longitudinal Online Research and Imaging System (LORIS), aiming to be flexible and adaptable to future trials and observational studies. We then linked image and metadata from 3,079 patients acquired in stroke research in one center in a 14-year period (1996–2010) with prospective central hospital health statistics to obtain long-term follow-up. Our integrated database includes 3,079 subjects and over 550 federated and searchable data items including imaging details, medical history, and examination, stroke, and laboratory details, which map to large multicentre stroke trials with imaging data from over 10,000 patients from 30 countries. The central linkage identified 879 of 3,079 patients had died, 525 had recurrent strokes, and 291 developed dementia during up to a 19-year period (range = 0–19; median = 9.04; IQR = 12.17) of follow-up, demonstrating its utility. The core metadata schema has benefited from extensive development in large clinical trials. Further trials’ data can now be added. It provides an opportunity to crosslink and reuse data for a range of large-scale stroke brain imaging clinical and research purposes including developing data analytics models for research into common brain diseases and their consequences.
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Abstract: The User Requirements and Web Based Access for eResearch Workshop, organized jointly by NeSC and NCeSS, was held on 19 May 2006. The aim was to identify lessons learned from e-Science projects that would contribute to our... more
Abstract: The User Requirements and Web Based Access for eResearch Workshop, organized jointly by NeSC and NCeSS, was held on 19 May 2006. The aim was to identify lessons learned from e-Science projects that would contribute to our capacity to make Grid infrastructures and tools usable and accessible for diverse user communities.
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Abstract. Increasingly “social computation” will be used in the delivery of key services, particularly public services. Social computation is a combination of computational infrastructure, voluntary and paid human effort together with an... more
Abstract. Increasingly “social computation” will be used in the delivery of key services, particularly public services. Social computation is a combination of computational infrastructure, voluntary and paid human effort together with an incentive structure to encourage and reinforce participation. For example, in care we will see the use of family and friends to filter out false positives from telemonitoring implementations. An important part of a social computation is the model that underpins the incentive structure.
The Social Sciences have made a significant contribution to the analysis of hazards in socio-technical systems that, so far, have not been adopted widely in the deployment of such systems. Normal Accident Theory (NAT) analyzes application... more
The Social Sciences have made a significant contribution to the analysis of hazards in socio-technical systems that, so far, have not been adopted widely in the deployment of such systems. Normal Accident Theory (NAT) analyzes application domains and their technologies, to provide a characterization of their complexity-coupling risk space (Perrow, 1999).