What is Command and Control Coming to? Examining Socio-Cognitive Mediators That Expand the Common Ground of Teamwork

Abstract

The design of command and control centers has undergone significant changes in recent years. In contrast to traditional human factors, contemporary approaches to the design of future command posts will necessarily engage various socio-cognitive activities that lead to effective and efficient teamwork. This paper provides a description of the contemporary “Living Lab” approach and the presentation of a study involving the use of socio-cognitive mediators within a simulated command post environment. The roles and outcomes of team member schema similarity and fuzzy cognitive maps (as two distinct types of mediators) are presented along with their use in a complex, situated problem domain involving AWACS command and control operators. Implications are drawn that suggest how socio-cognitive mediators may be used to expand and understand the common ground of teamwork and how this applies to the envisioned design of command and control centers.