I’m a UK deck cadet and for my degree project I’m researching the impact that newer technologies such as AIS and ECDIS have had on bridge procedures.<br>It strikes me that such powerful tools cannot have failed to change how things are done these days and I’m investigating how serving mariners have absorbed these tools into their arsenal and how bridge procedures have evolved to accommodate them. This may be a conscious or unconscious process.<br>The ultimate aim is to determine if there is a necessity to revise some of the more traditional ways in which a bridge team operates to increase effectiveness.<br>Any proposed changes will not be made by me (I haven’t a sufficiently large ego) but will be drawn from the views of serving navigators.<br><br>Although my research includes more ‘academic’ methods, I’d welcome any anecdotal comments that anyone wishes to make.<br><br>If anyone has a spare five minutes, would you mind following this link and responding to ten checkbox questions which will help me guide the research?<br><br>http://www.polldaddy.com/s/205DB0DB4D61CD3B/<br><br>A couple of points just to whet the appetite;<br><br>As AIS gives the watchkeeper collision avoidance information which is beyond visual range, should this produce a change in the ColRegs which specify ‘vessels in sight of one another’?<br><br>High-speed vessels operate a ‘pilot/co-pilot’ bridge team,relying absolutely upon GPS and ECDIS for position fixing. Would such a model be appropriate to all vessels?<br><br>Is the modern bridge officer more of a ‘VDU watcher’ and ‘button pusher’ than a skilled navigator?<br><br>Hope this provokes some thoughts<br><br>cheers y’all<br>Paul
Monksy! Welcome to the fray. My first question would be, are you a Student Member of the Nautical Institute? And second would be, have you had, or do you have, access to their magazine “Seaways”.<br><br>I’ll be watching to see how your thoughts progress as you put together this paper.<br><br>Cheers!
I’m not a member of the Nautical Institute, no.<br>I’ve got access to Plymouth Uni’s back copies of Seaways, it is a good read! But they’ve cancelled their subscription. I will be contacting the NI next year with a view to interviewing some local guys.<br>Thanks for your interest.
Why don’t you join NI now, or at the very least, attend one of the meetings in Plymouth. I’m not quite sure I’m clear as to why your conducting a survey about AIS and ARPA, yet resilient to utilizing a great resource right under your nose. NI has acquired a wealth of information on the subject, since the introduction of AIS.<br><br>I did take your survey, however, I think there’s more to the story than you’ve dug for. Just an obesrvation, and a hint.<br><br>Paul Wright, on faculty at the University of Plymouth, would be a great person to start with: P.wright@plymouth.ac.uk<br><br>Let me know if you’d like any more information…
Oh, don’t worry, I’ll be utilising those resources!<br>Paul Wright is one of my lecturers. I know what you mean, he knows everyone!<br>And Capt. John Hooper’s really helpful as well, don’t know if you know him.<br><br>My idea here on gCaptain is to try and collect a few views and opinions from the wider maritime world if possible. <br>The results I get from the questionnaire and any interesting opinions anybody expresses are to help structure later interviews for next year. <br>It’s still early days really and I’m just getting a headstart on it by posting this up now.<br><br>As to why I’ve selected that subject matter, it’s just that it’s one subject which I can’t really guess what the results will be in advance. I’m half expecting a ‘generational difference’ between officers in their attitudes towards these technologies but I’m prepared to be surprised. <br>I’m not expecting to discover anything world changing and the purpose is more for me to demonstrate applying some of these academic techniques in a nautical context in order to get the degree!<br>So I have to collect a bit of data first hand before ‘cheating’ and comparing with others.<br>
I’m being a bit facetious but basically I’ll be consulting the NI and others later on in the project.<br><br>If you are really interested, I’m following a technique called ‘grounded theory’, which social scientists use and the basic idea is that the results direct the research itself in a kind of feedback loop.<br><br>It’s a qualitative study rather than a technical one, so the focus is more on the way in which these tools are utilised as opposed to any study of their practical limitations.<br><br>Thanks for your help and interest though. Always a good thing.<br><br>
Hi Monksy, I have only discovered this thread today unfortunately so i hope you are still monitoring the page. I am currently involved in the installation and procedural changes necessary in fitting ECDIS onboard for a very distinguished company. If you could send me a draft copy of your thesis I would be extremely interested in reading it and there maybe a possibility of some sort of publicity for yourself. My email address is dakellz@hotmail.com I look forward to hearing from you.