Sense-making Training for Information Analysts
Abstract
Social media and networking platforms have enabled relatively small numbers of actors to have a disproportionate impact on the conte,nt, narratives, and perceptions of entire communities and societies. People require new combinations of skills so they can identify,, anticipate, support, undermine, and otherwise respond to social media content and campaigns. Although social media is largely techn,ologically-mediated, the core goals are human-centric: users aim to inform, influence, inspire, and inhibit other people, not techno,logical systems. As a result, any attempt to understand behaviors in social media and networks must invariably focus on the human mo,tivations, reasoning, and foibles that produce it. This research project will address two key questions:1. What types of trainingcl,assroom instruction, additional scaffolding on workflows, brief reminders, etc.are most effective at reducing problematic learning,, interpretation, and reasoning biases in information analysts?2. How should that training be integrated with training on relevant so,ftware tools for building situational awareness, predictive models, and usable hypotheses? Specifically, this project will result in, the development of a high-level education and training framework for sense-making, critical thinking, situational awareness, narrat,ive construction, narrative analysis, design of responses, and selection of course of action. The project will also develop appropri,ate educational and workflow interventions to improve core cognitive capabilities that are required in the social media domain. Thes,e interventions will be tested in simulated or actual exercises to determine their efficacy, and then iteratively refine and improve, the materials. The resulting materials will help to support the ability of Naval information analysts to tackle the complex new wor,ld of social media.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Feb 08, 2022
- Source ID
- N000142212108
Entities
People
- David Danks
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of California, San Diego