Value Focused Thinking: Guided C2 System Interface Design

Abstract

Interfaces, from displays for command and control to screens for military intelligence analysts, are the gateways to the underlying software technology. Despite how state-of-the-art and sophisticated the underlying algorithms are, if the interface does not address the user s critical functions, the software capabilities will be underutilized. Therefore, design of the interface is critical to ensure the user has the right information displayed at the right time in the right way. Meeting this goal within project constraints is a challenge. Therefore, a framework is needed to guide development so that resources can be focused on the most relevant aspects of the interface development. Value Focused Thinking (VFT) provides an objective methodology that is well suited for handling multiobjective problems such as interface design. In this paper, the VFT methodology will be described and a specific VFT hierarchy that was developed with the Air Force Research Laboratory will be explained. Discussions show that VFT can be more generally applied to gain understanding for Command and Control (C2)- specific software development and that the described research can be used for guiding the development of software tools for C2 functions.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 2004
Accession Number
ADA465838

Entities

People

  • Janet E. Miller

Organizations

  • Air Force Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Air Force Research Laboratories
  • Algorithms
  • Analysts
  • Cognitive Systems Engineering
  • Command And Control
  • Hierarchies
  • Intelligence Analysts
  • Intelligence Domains
  • Mathematics
  • Military Intelligence
  • Military Research
  • Overload
  • Situational Awareness
  • Systems Engineering
  • Thinking
  • United States

Fields of Study

  • Engineering

Readers

  • Database Systems and Applications
  • Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

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