Putting the Science Back in C2: What Do the Buzzwords Really Mean?

Current command and control C2 terminology is laden with buzzwords that may, or may not, be useful to helping advance the science of C2 e.g., effects-based operations EBO or sensemaking. In theory each term was devised for a reason, however, more often than not the reasons are lost and the terms are bantered about as proof of a good system, experiment, etc. We review some of the major terms and their history, as well as the potential evidence for their scientific integrity. Next we discuss how best to understand these terms by investigating their psychological e.g., cognitive and social as well as decision making roots. Finally we show how one may develop experiments and then eventually systems that either test or use these terms as they were originally defined. We give examples of how we are attempting to test these ideas in the laboratory as well as how others may test them in the future. We conclude with some discussion about the usefulness of buzzwords in the C2 realm as well as ways to keep them effective exemplars of their original meanings thus helping to advance the theory as well as knowledge of C2 systems.