Human Systems Networks

Catalog description

This course provides an awareness of the role of humans in systems. It builds upon a fundamental understanding of human work by situating humans within systems of other humans and things. Students will learn the fundamentals of social networks analysis methods. They will also learn to collect and compile data from humans in systems. Equipped with the fundamentals, students will then formulate task, knowledge, and social networks to represent behavior and performance in different work domains. The use of human-system networks as a descriptive mechanism will be contrasted with optimization methods to improve networks. Examples will be provided to enable students to apply the methodology in the transportation domain and in sociotechnical systems (such as a hospital).