Distributed team collaboration in a computer mediated task

Abstract

Due to the rapid development of technology, many simple tasks can now be automated, leaving more difficult and cognitive tasks such as planning, decision making and design to teams. Technology also allows these teams to be distributed through time and space. While this is becoming more and more prevalent in the business world, distributed teams also exist in the military where the stresses are much different. One of the key factors associated with collaboration in military teams is situational awareness. This research used a commercial command and control type video game to investigate the issues of collaboration and situational awareness. The amount of information subjects had access to was varied to see if there was a significant impact upon their level of situational awareness which was measured by the accuracy of maps that the subjects drew. Results from this research may provide insight into how much information is needed by distributed teams and when they need it. Ideas for future research in this area have also been proposed.