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Temporality in Planning: The Case of the Allocation of Parking Areas for Aircrafts

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ECSCW 2013: Proceedings of the 13th European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, 21-25 September 2013, Paphos, Cyprus

Abstract

Several recent studies have focused on plans as coordination devices, demonstrating how organisational members use such plans to organise and make sense of their work. This research project aims to foster empirical research on plans showing how operators at the centre of coordination in handling activities at an Italian airport plan the allocation of parking areas for aircrafts. Based on the analysis of the operators’ knowledge of the temporal features of planning, this research contributes to the understanding of how timely assistance for aircrafts on the ground depends on how spaces are allocated. This research highlights temporality in planning and promotes the understanding of the features of allocation and planning as situated and distributed activities.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    It is worth noting that this research defines plans as “we might intend this term in ordinary affairs” (Sharrock and Button 2003)—that is, artefacts that anticipate future ways of performing activities (Bardram 1997) and that might take the form of “formal organizational constructs” (Schmidt 1999) such as schedules, office procedures, classification schemes, and checklists.

  2. 2.

    In this paper, the terms “apron tower” and “ramp control tower (RCT)” will be used interchangeably.

  3. 3.

    The indexicality of rules and instructions has been widely investigated in ethno-methodological studies that have shown that (1) being competent in following instructions means being able to grasp the connection between an outcome and courses of actions based on information given in the instructions (Zimmerman 1971) and (2) rules and instructions often work as “prospective accounts”. Indeed, rules can serve as accounts for what was done, “although in any actual performance a great deal more is necessarily done that can be comprised in the instructions” (Amerine and Bilmes 1988; pp. 329–331).

  4. 4.

    Handling activities on the ground comprise aircraft fuelling, luggage loading and unloading, and passenger assistance during boarding and disembarkation procedures. The apron tower operators coordinate the activities on the ground by means of both radios and mobiles, with which they are in touch with all the operators on the ramp (ramp agents, bus drivers, marshalers, follow-me truck drivers, etc.).

  5. 5.

    In air traffic control, cooperative functions are embedded in the execution of work in a similar way (see: Berndtsson and Normark 1999).

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Acknowledgments

Thanks to Dave Randall with whom we discussed the role of plans in workplace settings.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Università della Svizzera italiana, Lugano, Switzerland

    Ilaria Redaelli & Antonella Carassa

Authors
  1. Ilaria Redaelli
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  2. Antonella Carassa
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Correspondence to Ilaria Redaelli .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, Aarhus University, Abogade 34, Aarhus, 8200, Denmark

    Olav W. Bertelsen

  2. C3RI, Sheffield Hallam University, Arundel Street 153, Sheffield, S1 2NU, United Kingdom

    Luigina Ciolfi

  3. Xerox Research Group Europe, chemin de Maupertuis 6, Grenoble, 38240, France

    Maria Antonietta Grasso

  4. Department of Computer Science, University of Cyprus, University Avenue 1, Aglantzia, Nicosia, 2109, Cyprus

    George Angelos Papadopoulos

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Redaelli, I., Carassa, A. (2013). Temporality in Planning: The Case of the Allocation of Parking Areas for Aircrafts. In: Bertelsen, O., Ciolfi, L., Grasso, M., Papadopoulos, G. (eds) ECSCW 2013: Proceedings of the 13th European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, 21-25 September 2013, Paphos, Cyprus. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-5346-7_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-5346-7_3

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