The Impact of Meta-Information on Decision-Making in Intelligence Operations

Abstract

Decision-making in complex, dynamic, high-risk environments is clearly challenging. Part of this challenge is due to the presence of qualifiers of information, or meta-information (e.g., staleness, uncertainty, source), that alter a person's information processing, situational awareness, and decision-making. We investigated the influence of meta-information on decision-making in a Military Intelligence Operations (IO) environment using Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA) techniques. We performed a CTA on IO tasks surrounding the use of smart sensor webs, a relatively new technology that can be used for a variety of IO purposes. Our analysis addressed information management tasks and tactical decision-making tasks using sensor webs. We discovered that a variety of types of meta-information significantly impacted decision-making, and that the influence of meta-information was both context- and task- sensitive. In this paper, we present the results of the CTA and discuss the implications for the development of decision-aiding systems, including the design of constituent displays, interfaces, and automated systems.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Basapur

Bisantz

A. M.

Kesavadas

(2003). The Effect of Display Modality on Decision-Making in Uncertainty. In Proceedings of Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 47th Ann. Mtg. Denver, CO.

Bisantz

A. M.

(1997). Modeling Environmental Uncertainty to Understand and Support Dynamic Decision Making. Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Atlanta, GA.

Cerpa

Elson

Estrin

Girod

Hamilton

Zhao

(2001). Habitat Monitoring: Application Driver for Wireless Communication Technology. In Proceedings of ACM SIGCOMM Workshop on Data Communications in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Eggleston

R. G.

Roth

E. M.

Scott

R. A.

(2003). A Framework for Work-Centered Product Evaluation. In Proceedings of Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 47th Annual Meeting. Denver, CO.

Lefevre

Pfautz

Jones

(2005). Weather Forecast Uncertainty Management and Display. In Proceedings of 21st Int'l Conf. on Interactive Information Processing Systems (IIPS) for Meteorology, Oceanography, and Hydrology. San Diego, CA.

Madden

(2003). The Design and Evaluation of Query Processing Architecture for Sensor Networks. Unpublished Master's Thesis, U.C. - Berkeley.

Mainwaring

Polastre

Szewczyk

Culler

(2002). Wireless Sensor Networks for Habitat Monitoring. In Proceedings of ACM Workshop on Sensor Networks and Applications.

Pang

A. T.

Wittenbrink

C. M.

Lodha

S. K.

(1997). Approaches to Uncertainty Visualization. Visual Computing, 13(8), 370–390.

Pfautz

Bisantz

Roth

Fouse

Shuster

(2005a). Meta-Information Visualization in Geographic Information Systems. In Proceedings of the Society for Information Display 1905. Boston, MA.

10.

Pfautz

Fouse

Roth

Karabaich

(2005b). Supporting Reasoning About Cultural and Organizational Influences in an Intelligence Analysis Decision Aid. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Intelligence Analysis. McLean, VA.

11.

Pfautz

Roth

Jones

Hudlicka

Fichtl

Karabaich

(2004). Design and Evaluation of a Visualization Aid for Stability and Support Operations. In Hancock

Mouloua

Vincenzi

(Eds.), Human Performance, Situation Awareness, and Automation: Current Research and Trends, Volume II (pp. 253–258). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

12.

Potter

S. S.

Roth

E. M.

Woods

D. D.

Elm

W. C.

(2000). Bootstrapping Multiple Converging Cognitive Task Analysis Techniques for System Design. In Chipman

Shalin

Schraagen (Eds.), Cognitive Task Analysis (pp. 317–340). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

13.

Pottie

Kaiser

(2000). Wireless Integrated Network Sensors. Communications of the ACM, 43(5), 51–58.

14.

Sarter

N. B.

Schroeder

(2001). Supporting Decision Making and Action Selection Under Time Pressure and Uncertainty: The Case of in-Flight Icing. Human Factors, 43 573–583.

15.

Schraagen

J. M. C.

Chipman

S. F.

Shalin

V. L.

(2000). Introduction to Cognitive Task Analysis. In Schraagen

J. M. C.

Chipman

S. F.

Shalin

V. L.

(Eds.), Cognitive Task Analysis (pp. 3–24). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

16.

Scott

Roth

E. M.

Deutsch

S. E.

Malchiodi

Kazmierczak

Eggleston

Work-Centered Support Systems: A Human-Centered Approach to Intelligent System Design. IEEE Intelligent Systems, (in press).

17.

Shafir

Tversky

(1992). Thinking Through Uncertainty: Non-Consequential Reasoning and Choice. Cognitive Psychology, 24 449–474.

18.

Teigen

K. H.

(1988). The Language of Uncertainty. Acta Psychologica, 68 27–38.

19.

Trickett

Trafton

Saner

Schunn

(2005). “I Don't Know What Is Going on There”: The Use of Spatial Transformation to Deal With and Resolve Uncertainty in Complex Visualizations. In Lovett

Shah

(Eds.), Thinking With Data. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates (in press).

20.

Tversky

Kahneman

(1974). Judgments Under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases. Science, 185 1124–1131.

21.

Wallsten

T. S.

Budescu

D. V.

Tsao

C. J.

(1997). Combining Linguistic Probabilities. In Scholz

R. W.

Zimmer

A. C.

(Eds.), Qualitative Aspects of Decision Making (pp. 27–55). Miami, FL: Pabst Science Publishers.

22.

Watkins

E. T.

(2000). Improving the Analyst and Decision-Maker's Perspective Through Uncertainty Visualization. Master of Science, Air Force Institute of Technology, Dept. of Systems and Engineering Management.