title: The Situation Awareness Weighted Network (SAWN) model and method: Theory and application.
abstract: We introduce a novel model and associated data collection method to examine how a distributed organisation of military staff who feed a Common Operating Picture (COP) generates Situation Awareness (SA), a critical component in organisational performance. The proposed empirically derived Situation Awareness Weighted Network (SAWN) model draws on two scientific models of SA, by Endsley involving perception, comprehension and projection, and by Stanton et al. positing that SA exists across a social and semantic network of people and information objects in activities connected across a set of tasks. The output of SAWN is a representation as a weighted semi-bipartite network of the interaction between people ('human nodes') and information artefacts such as documents and system displays ('product nodes'); link weights represent the Endsley levels of SA that individuals acquire from or provide to information objects and other individuals. The SAWN method is illustrated with aggregated empirical data from a case study of Australian military staff undertaking their work during two very different scenarios, during steady-state operations and in a crisis threat context. A key outcome of analysis of the weighted networks is that we are able to quantify flow of SA through an organisation as staff seek to "value-add" in the conduct of their work.
authors.affiliation: Defence Science and Technology Group, David Warren Building, 24 Scherger Drive, Canberra, ACT 2609, Australia. Electronic address: Alexander.Kalloniatis@dsto.defence.gov.au.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kalloniatis
authors.affiliation: Defence Science and Technology Group, David Warren Building, 24 Scherger Drive, Canberra, ACT 2609, Australia.
authors.forename: Irena
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.affiliation: Defence Science and Technology Group, David Warren Building, 24 Scherger Drive, Canberra, ACT 2609, Australia; Faculty of Arts and Business, Centre for Human Factors and Sociotechnical Systems, The University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs, Australia.
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Neville
authors.affiliation: Defence Science and Technology Group, David Warren Building, 24 Scherger Drive, Canberra, ACT 2609, Australia.
authors.forename: Phuong
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: La
authors.affiliation: Defence Science and Technology Group, David Warren Building, 24 Scherger Drive, Canberra, ACT 2609, Australia.
authors.forename: Iain
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Macleod
authors.affiliation: Defence Science and Technology Group, David Warren Building, 24 Scherger Drive, Canberra, ACT 2609, Australia.
authors.forename: Mathew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zuparic
authors.affiliation: Defence Science and Technology Group, David Warren Building, 24 Scherger Drive, Canberra, ACT 2609, Australia.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kohn
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D001364:Awareness; D032882:Comprehension; D006801:Humans; D008889:Military Personnel; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010465:Perception; D011385:Projection; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis
keywords: Case studies; Empirical model; Network analysis; Situation awareness