Assessment of a Novel Chat Messaging Interface for Rapid Communication in Tactical Command and Control

Abstract

Two experiments explored speed of communication when transmitting and receiving chat messages in different formats for a military command and control (C2) task. In Experiment 1, participants were prompted with a tactical display and responded by composing chat messages with an appropriate command. Speed, accuracy, and subjective workload were compared for three chat messaging formats: 1) full-text; 2) abbreviated text; or 3) click-chat. Writing full-text messages took longer, resulted in more typing errors and higher workload ratings than abbreviated text or click-chat. Although there was no difference in response times between abbreviated and click-chat messaging, the abbreviated chat yielded higher error rates. A translation delay was evidenced by slower initial response times for abbreviations and click-chat compared to full-text. However, faster message completion, once initiated, compensated for this delay resulting in faster communication overall. Experiment 2 demonstrated that there was no difference in the speed, accuracy, or workload for completing commanded actions when receiving abbreviated compared to full-text chat messages

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