We use two ethnographic methods, situated breakdown analysis and information ecologies, to understand how a group of military decision-makers collaborated as they performed a battle damage assessment (BDA) mission.
Using Ethnography for Understanding Team Decision-Making in a Time-Sensitive Military Setting
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We use two ethnographic methods, situated breakdown analysis and information ecologies, to understand how a group of military decision-makers collaborated as they performed a battle damage assessment (BDA) mission. These methods emphasized analysis of anomalous situations as well as the interdependencies among the people involved. By doing so, we were able to view decision-making beyond "by the book" situations and thus better understand collaboration needs. Further, we determined cases in which the technology provided to the military decision-makers could be improved to better support their collaboration needs. We believe this is the first use of situated breakdown analysis in a military setting.