Perspectives on studying collaboration in distributed networks

This report describes cognitive variables and frameworks that are useful in the investigation of network collaboration in Army environments. Network collaboration is currently under study by the U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences (ARI) in the context of performance in a simulated network task using the game SCUDHunt. SCUDHunt was developed by ThoughtLink, Incorporated for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The use of SCUDHunt does not constitute endorsement of the product by ARI, the U.S. Army or the U.S. Department of Defense. Key variables that facilitate functioning in this simulated network environment are discussed, based on the results of interviews with proficient SCUDHunt players. Frameworks for examining the data from the SCUDHunt studies are presented. Finally, brief recommendations for the directions of future research in this domain are presented.