Development of the user input system for the control room upgrade of Southern African Large Telescope (SALT)

Abstract

Whether one is fascinated by the night sky as a child, or as a professional astronomer looking back to the beginning of time solving life’s big questions; at some point in our lives we have curiously looked up at the heavens above. The desire to explore the universe has lead us to constructing larger and more advanced telescopes, with the sole focus of observing deeper into the cosmos in an attempt to unravel its secrets. Like with most other technological advances, it has created advanced and technically complex control rooms. Based on a design ethnographic study this thesis will focus on the exploration of the effects of complex interfaces of a control room environment and its users, where one of the leading twenty first century telescopes of its kind, Southern Africa Largest Telescope (SALT), is studied. While the STS framework and policy debates concerning the rapid development and integration of complex human and non-human systems into larger systems become common practice. The design ethnographic study revealed that the operation of the SALT telescope and the research being conducted by the astronomers is clearly hindered by poor control room design. The study identified relationships between the framework and the empirical findings, which was used to frame a design pilot study to determine if further design intervention would have a positive impact on the interaction of a control room system. This project will consist of: a literature review, an ethnographic study and the analysis of the findings, design framing of a pilot study, a design pilot study, and an evaluation of the study. The results from the design pilot study clearly show that the application of a design intervention to a control room environment could potentially impact the space positively and reduced frustration, improve comfort, increased efficiency in the users work practices, and ultimately amplified productivity. Providing an appropriate starting point for the exploration of possible solutions for identified challenges experienced in complex control room environments, more importantly it contributed to narrowing the socio-technical gap, between the mechanical and research departments of a leading international optical telescope, SALT.