Beyond the control room: mobile devices for spatially distributed interaction on industrial process plants

The industrial control room has been a strong shaping image for design of information technology at process plants and even for information and control systems in other areas. Based on recent studies of the work of process operators and on ethnographically inspired fieldwork this paper question the relevance of control room type interfaces. The paper suggests new types of mobile interfaces, which enables the operators to configure and apply individual temporary views of the plant, originating in the problem focus of the operator. To explore the relevance of such new interfaces a number of design concepts are suggested. The design of a particular device: The Pucketizer (Personal Bucket Organizer) has been developed in close collaboration with process operators at a wastewater treatment plant. The paper concludes that mobile interfaces for spatially distributed interaction such as the Pucketizer seem to have generic qualities reaching beyond the immediate context at process plants.