SAINT
Modern warfare is a fast-paced activity that relies heavily on experienced and innovative commanders, fast reliable communications, and an increasing array of command-specific computer tools and aids. In both military and civilian life, normal modes of communication have shifted dramatically in a remarkably short time. Where once couriers, postal service, faxes, and telephones were primary, today these traditional channels are augmented or supplanted by a host of network-based techniques including, e-mail, instant messaging, chat, and threaded discussions. Network-based communication has dramatically lowered communication costs and it has opened the door for radical integration of different modes of communication, analysis, innovation, and decision.
SAINT’s endeavor (Semantics, Adaptation, and Influence in Networked Teams) focus on the construction of a system as a demonstration of the power of computer enhancement and visualization of the meaning, social structure, and creative flow of command discourse and decision making. The system builds on the DISCUS (distributed innovation and scalable collaboration in uncertain settings) framework started as a collaboration between the Illinois Genetic Algorithms Laboratory and the Automated Learning Group at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) in 2003.
