HCI Design Patterns for C2: A Vision for a DoD Design Reference Library

Abstract

The concept of Net Centric Ops offers the opportunity for sharing information between distributed warfighters and systems like never before. C2 centers are a natural benefactor of NCO since, by design, they coordinate and direct operations that are distributed. However, NCO is a double edged sword for C2 centers. While it offers information sharing like never before, it creates new task demands of info management with the potential for warfighters to get lost in the sea of data. With NCO in C2 centers, the HCI becomes the gateway into the distributed network, with the dual job of accessing and presenting information in useful manner, while filtering out what is irrelevant. But currently, there are no established HCI solutions for command and control. There is also no standard methodology for translating the cognitive work requirements associated with C2 into work-aiding HCI designs or C2. As a result, each HCI design for C2 tends to be one-of-a-kind solution. One-of-a-kind solutions means longer development time and cost. They also mean there can be no guarantee early in the stages of a design project that the finished product will assist human operators in their work within C2. We advocate developing a library of HCI templates designed specifically to help with C2 operations. The HCI templates can be reused in different HCI design projects where the work requirements are similar. Cognitive systems engineering has collectively amassed enough experience modeling work and designing work-aiding HCIs, that we should be able to build a library of reusable HCI templates for C2. My goal for this presentation is to acquaint you with the problem and our approach, and attract your participation in this effort. Reusable HCI templates can provide HCI designers with proto-designs that are known to assist human operators perform certain C2 work functions.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 2006
Accession Number
ADA457602

Entities

People

  • Glenn Osga
  • Jeffrey L. Wampler
  • Kendall Conrad
  • Terry Stanard

Organizations

  • Air Force Research Laboratory

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Air Force Research Laboratories
  • Cognitive Systems Engineering
  • Command And Control
  • Computers
  • Department Of Defense
  • Engineering
  • Engineers
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Human-Computer Interfaces
  • Military Research
  • Mobile Devices
  • Mobile Phones
  • Psychology
  • Standards
  • Systems Engineering
  • Work Functions

Fields of Study

  • Engineering

Readers

  • Database Systems and Applications
  • Enterprise Information Systems Architecture and Joint Command Capability Interoperability Support.
  • Team-Based Human-Centered Cognitive Task Decision Making and Information Performance.

Technology Areas

  • Fully Networked C3
  • Fully Networked C3 - Command and Control