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dhtobey Tobey

Pentagon: Boost Training With Computer-Troop Mind Meld | Danger Room | Wired.com - 0 views

www.wired.com/...-with-computer-troop-mind-meld

pentagon training MindMeld AugCog augmented-intellect EEG thinkLet basal-ganglia

shared by dhtobey Tobey on 28 Apr 10 - Cached
  • The Pentagon is looking to better train its troops — by scanning their minds as they play video games. Adaptive, mind-reading computer systems have been a work-in-progress among military agencies for at least a decade. In 2000, far-out research agency Darpa launched “Augmented Cognition,” a program that sought to develop computers that used EEG scans to adjust how they displayed information — visually, orally, or otherwise — to avoid overtaxing one realm of a troop’s cognition. The Air Force also took up the idea, by trying to use EEGs to “assess the operator’s actual cognitive state”  and “avoid cognitive bottlenecks before they occur.”
  • Now, the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) is soliciting small business proposals for an even more immersive trainer, one that includes voice-recognition technology, and picks up on vocal tone and facial gestures. The game would then react and adapt to a war-fighter’s every action. For example, if a player’s gesture “insults the local tribal leader,” the trainee would “find that future interactions with the population are more difficult and more hostile.” And, most importantly, the new programs would react to the warrior’s own physiological and neurological cues. They’d be monitored using an EEG, eye tracking, heart and respiration rate, and other physiological markers. Based on the metrics, the game would adapt in difficulty and “keep trainees in an optimal state of learning.”
    • dhtobey Tobey
      dhtobey Tobey on 28 Apr 10
       
      Could this be an application of the immersive training system being developed at Raytheon? Ironically they use the name "Mind-Meld" in the title of this article. We should get Guilded Skilled Performance copywrighted and trademarked as DARPA seems to be heading in this direction. Could be a source of future grant-related funding.
  • The OSD isn’t ready to use neuro-based systems in the war zone, but the agency does want to capitalize on advances in neuroscience that have assigned meaningful value to intuitive decision-making. As the OSD solicitation points out, troops often need to make fast-paced decisions in high-stress environments, with limited information and context. Well-reasoned, analytic decisions are rarely possible
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  • That’s where neuroscience comes in. OSD wants simulated games that use EEGs to monitor the cognitive patterns of trainees, particularly at what’s thought to be the locus of neurally based, intuitive decision-making — the basal ganglia. In his seminal paper on the neuroscience of intuition, Harvard’s Matthew Lieberman notes that the ganglia can “learn temporal patterns that are predictive of events of significance, regardless of conscious intent … as long as exposure is repeatedly instantiated.”
    • dhtobey Tobey
      dhtobey Tobey on 28 Apr 10
       
      The basal ganglia is where I hypothesized the command neurons were located which trigger thinkLets -- the source of intuitive decision making according to this research.
dhtobey Tobey

Putting organizational complexity in its place - McKinsey Quarterly - Organization - St... - 0 views

www.mckinseyquarterly.com/...l_complexity_in_its_place_2580

complexity organizational-behavior research assessment LivingSurvey

shared by dhtobey Tobey on 10 May 10 - No Cached
  • The goal? To identify where institutional complexity is an issue, where complexity caused by factors such as a lack of role clarity or poor processes is a problem, and what’s responsible for the complexity in each area. Companies can then boost organizational effectiveness through a combination of two things: removing complexity that doesn’t add value and channeling what’s left to employees who can either handle it naturally or be trained to cope with it.
  • In this article, we review the experience of a multinational consumer goods manufacturer that applied this approach in several regions and functions and consequently halved the time it needed to make decisions in critical processes.
  • Armed with the survey data, the manufacturer constructed several “heat maps” to help senior managers pinpoint where, and why, complexity was causing trouble for employees. Each map showed a particular breakdown—a region or function, for example—and how much complexity of various kinds was occurring there, as well as the level of coping skills employees possessed.
    • dhtobey Tobey
      dhtobey Tobey on 10 May 10
       
      Heat maps would be a nice tool for the CD. We should begin to create a catalog of these visualizations that support decision analysis, as opposed to simple graphical displays in basic analytics applications that don't naturally lead to a transformation that provides insights.
    • dhtobey Tobey
      dhtobey Tobey on 10 May 10
       
      Additionally, each of these "temperatures" should have a gradient to indicate the degree of consensus associated with each map. The graphic below implies there is only one view that all share -- preposterous!
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  • A regional map, reproduced here (Exhibit 1), highlighted confusion over accountability between the company’s headquarters and a country office in the same region. T
  • Another map showed how the manufacturer’s supply chain employees were struggling with duplication that stemmed from confusing sales forecasting and from ordering processes that required decisions to pass through multiple loops (including time-consuming iterations with regional offices) prior to approval.
  • Of course, managers must be mindful that not all complexity is equally manageable, and proceed accordingly (Exhibit 2). Exhibit 2: Types of complexity Imposed complexity includes laws, industry regulations, and interventions by nongovernmental organizations. It is not typically manageable by companies. Inherent complexity is intrinsic to the business, and can only be jettisoned by exiting a portion of the business. Designed complexity results from choices about where the business operates, what it sells, to whom, and how. Companies can remove it, but this could mean simplifying valuable wrinkles in their business model. Unnecessary complexity arises from growing misalignment between the needs of the organization and the processes supporting it. It is easily managed once identified.
  • Whenever companies tackle complexity, they will ultimately find some individuals who seem less troubled by it than others. This is not surprising. People are different: some freeze like deer in the headlights in the face of ambiguity, uncertainty, complex roles, and unclear accountabilities; others are able to get their work done regardless.
    • dhtobey Tobey
      dhtobey Tobey on 10 May 10
       
      Difference between the ability to handle complexity may be due to thinkLets and assessable using the Bivariate Emotion Indicator I developed in my dissertation. This could be an assessment of a "CIP CMM" that we offer NEPCO through Assante's new non-profit.
  • Steve King on 10 May 10
     
    wow great stuff.. fully concur.. IMO a catalog of visualizations is very much in line with our mantra of METHODOLOGY, not TECHNOLOGY :)
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