Common Operational Picture, Situation Awareness and Information Operations

In 1969, Neil Armstrong said “This is one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”, as he stepped onto the lunar surface. This was a huge change for humans and the authors of this paper are describing a similar step in the management of information flows in information operations. Using information itself, as the viewpoint, the focus of this concept is to gain awareness of the situation, in any dynamic situation, whether business or military., The relevant categories of information and their informational-temporal nature in decision-making process are modelled to support the move from a common operating picture to situational awareness that will better allow participants to successfully perform information operations. The leap is here the transformation from just collecting, expressing and sharing information to the understanding of the real meaning and the temporal value of the required and used information for the operation.