Invisible Monitoring of Human Performance

Abstract

Human performance encompasses e.g. speed, quality, resource efficiency, productivity, impact, sustainability, and adaptability and is influenced by physical, psycho-social, and cognitive factors, as well as the environmental context. Assessing overall performance by collecting, processing, and utilizing extensive data sets is very resource intensive and can cause disruption and disturbance for objects of observation. It remains unclear whether the benefits consistently outweigh the associated burdens of human performance monitoring and management. The ongoing RDI project Invisible Monitoring in Development of Well-being and Performance investigates the potential of invisible monitoring methods to minimize the burden of data collection, analysis and use while maintaining the practical value of the information produced. The project systematically tests and evaluates approaches to invisible monitoring, focusing first on applications in sports, but investigating also the potential to adapt these methods to other domains. Preliminary main findings from the ongoing project are: 1) Identifying relevant data is a challenge 2) The whole chain from data collection to decision-making needs to be addressed in terms of both benefits and burdens 3) Invisible monitoring is technology-driven 4) Solutions from sports can be applied to other domains concerning human performance 5) Ethical and secure data handling is essential 6) The greatest bottleneck is the ability of using information in decision making. A new comprehensive concept definition of invisible monitoring is proposed as a basis for developing effective knowledge-based human performance management. It is essential that technology of monitoring and data analysis, the ethical and regulatory practices as well as the competences of the users of the monitoring outputs are developed.

Keywords: Invisible Monitoring, Holistic Human Performance, Human Performance Management, Human Performance Assessment, Performance Data, Athlete Monitoring, Burden-benefit Ratio, Knowledge-based Practice.

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1007597