Assistive Technologies: Companion or Controller? – Appropriation Instead of Instruction

Assistive digital technologies support employees in coping with complex activities by providing the necessary infor-mation directly related to the work task and according to the individual requirements. On the one hand, they have the potential to relieve people at work, for example by sup-porting physical assistance systems in physically demand-ing activities. Cognitive assistance systems can achieve re-lief by preparing complex data in a way that is comprehen-sible to the employee and supporting him in carrying out his work and in making decisions. On the other hand, as-sistance systems can lead to expropriation and alienation by depriving employees of autonomy and room for maneu-ver. This happens especially when the distribution of roles between the working person and the assistance system only provides the executive role for the human being and all decisions are determined by a technical system that sup-posedly has the greater stock of knowledge and intelli-gence. The question arises as to how a digital cognitive assistance system can help people to experience themselves as self-effective in their work and to develop further.