Know the Network, Knit the Network: Applying SNA to N2C2 Maturity Model Experiments

摘要

ELICIT aims to investigate social and cognitive impacts of command and control approaches and organisational structures within the context of information sharing, shared awareness and knowledge task. Nowadays, command and control is increasingly seen as the result of multidimensional factors and processes that intertwine the physical, information, cognitive and social domains, highlighting the decisive human element. Thus, the ELICIT experiments reflect (social) networking from which patterns of interaction (key command and control factor) may be drawn. For years, social network analysis (SNA) has been a scientific methodology to assist in the explanation of networking and interrelationships between actors. Rather than seeing individuals as discrete units of analysis, SNA focuses on how the structure of ties affects individuals and their relationships. Its long-time established metrics seem therefore suitable for application in the ELICIT Case Study. In fact, SNA is a main concept of the Office of Force Transformation to study dynamics and personal interactions occurring in the battlefield and to explain forces and influences that determine how decisions and choices are made, especially in critic periods (Edison, 2005). Benefiting from SNA teachings and NetDraw software, we select a relevant analytical view, encompassing the network's structure and location properties (roles and positions), based upon the geodesic distance concept. From this concept, conclusions may be derived with respect to underlying patterns in the network, prefigured in terms of centrality, embeddedness, activity, clustering and also network reach (paths) and structural cohesion. Through SNA, we recognise the emergence of individuals that find their connection mutually beneficial, giving form to a social interaction based on trust, shared values and beliefs, and allowing the sharing of information.