Communication of Context in Multi-Echelon Information Exchange Environments

Abstract : In fast-paced, distributed, multi-echelon, collaborative environments such as those experienced by the United States military during Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, task performance very often depends on effective and efficient information exchange. One way to facilitate information exchange is to ensure that information producers and consumers develop a thorough shared situation context. Unfortunately, developing such a shared understanding of situation context is extremely difficult in these types of environments. This paper discusses a series of experiments that investigated methods of communicating context to information producers, and the impact this had on task performance. The results of these studies are intended to facilitate the design and development of tools to aid information producers and consumers in quickly and easily building shared situation context, and developing useful, usable information products based on this shared understanding. This paper reports the methods and results of the experiments conducted. The experiment results highlight important issues associated with building a shared situation context among information producers and consumers, and provide important insights necessary to develop tools to facilitate efficient and effective information exchange.