Ironies of Automation is a research paper written by Lisanne Bainbridge and published in ''Automatica'' in 1983, and has been widely recognized as a pioneering statement of the problems inherent in

automation Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, namely by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines ...

. Barry Strauch analyzes the paper's significance, observing that by November 2016 it had attracted 1800 citations, far beyond other influential works on the topic, and that "The number of citations of Bainbridge’s work, large as it is, is also increasing at a considerable rate." Retrospectives on "Ironies of Automation" and its significance have appeared in both

IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

and ACM publications.

Author

Lisanne Bainbridge is a

cognitive psychologist Cognitive psychology is the scientific study of mental processes such as attention, language use, memory, perception, problem solving, creativity, and reasoning. Cognitive psychology originated in the 1960s in a break from behaviorism, which he ...

, active in

human factors Human factors and ergonomics (commonly referred to as human factors) is the application of psychological and physiological principles to the engineering and design of products, processes, and systems. Four primary goals of human factors learnin ...

research between the late 1960s and 1998. She obtained a doctorate in 1972 for work on process controllers and went on to author various research on mental load, process operations, and related topics. She taught at

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

and

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

(See the references in Strauch for a partial bibliography, or her home page link below.) Little is known of Bainbridge's biography or present whereabouts, nor are any images of her apparently extant. See https://www.complexcognition.co.uk/p/home.html, including note on relation to Rasmussen's work.

References

External links

Ironies of Automation direct access
for convenience; not paywalled and accessible as of 2021 Jun. {{Authority control Academic journal articles