Information Visualisation, Counterterror Intelligence, Syndicate 4

Abstract : By consensus, the members of the Syndicate selected the broad area of information visualisation as the topic of interest. In general, it is agreed that information visualisation refers to the presentation of non-physical data with no obvious 3D referents, as typified, for example, by multidimensional sonar or financial data; concepts embodied in documents and the relationships among them, or the morale and readiness of military units Card, Mackinlay et al. 1999. It was felt that the mission of the Syndicate was to: identify information visualisation issues in application domains of importance to NATO, identify and characterize the required capabilities and available technologies that address those domains, and recommend research and development priorities with respect to the technologies involved. A number of application domains were considered, but due to the short time available to the Syndicate, this list was reduced to four, and ultimately only one application domain - counterterror intelligence -was addressed. This area is clearly of high priority to NATO, and at the same time, it is largely characterized by non-physical types of data that are problematic to present , and so counterterror intelligence is well-suited to consideration by Syndicate 4.