Overcoming Limited Collaboration Channels in Distributed Intelligence Analysis: Visualization Tools and Design Seeds

Military intelligence analysis (IA) support tools are often developed using generalized models of IA that fail to take into consideration the real-world constraints put on analysts by factors such as organizational structures and cultures. IA in domains where distributed collaboration is required because direct communication and coordination is infeasible represents a challenge for generalized models of IA. This paper provides our analysis of distributed IA, which we conducted to support the design of software. We present a resulting set of capabilities that have been developed and deployed in an operational community. Our analysis approach and design focuses on extracting requirements and translating them into "design seeds" or guidelines for implementation, which are later used to verify that the resulting system meets the expressed requirements.