Informing Collaborative Information Visualisation Through an Ethnography of Ambulance Control

An ethnographic analysis of an ambulance control centre is presented, specifically investigating the design of information displays and their practical use in this setting. The spatial distribution of the displays around the control room is described and its consequences for cooperative work drawn out. From these analyses, we make several suggestions for information visualisations in virtual environments, including a design concept of multiple displays coexisting within a 3D environment as an alternative to the notion of ‘immersive’ information visualisation more commonly encountered. The paper closes with a reflection on the relationship between ethnographic analysis and system development that our work here exemplifies.