Military Review English Edition May-June 2014 | Page 47

NETWORK-CENTRIC WARFARE commander was about 3 hours, versus 24 hours for the non-networked commander. The accurate identification of friendly, neutral, and enemy forces was approximately 60 percent better with networking. The networked formation had a 1:1 (friendly:enemy) casualty ratio, while the non-networked force suffered a 10:1 casualty ratio.14 Information system theory and Army mission command doctrine describe how an IS does not operate independently of people.15 An IS consists of equipment that collects, processes, stores, displays, and disseminates information.16 People use policies, procedures, and communications as they manage and process data to enhance decision making with automation. Network-centric warfare theory frames decision making in terms of four domains of conflict: physical, information, cognitive, and social.17 The DIKW hierarchy is a knowledge management structure that helps people make data become meaningful for decision making. The elements of the DIKW hierarchy are— ●● Data: raw, frequently unstructured items apart from context or interpretation.18 Data are the first link between an IS and the DIKW hierarchy. People use an IS to interact with the data. ●● Information: data that have been transformed to have meaning for human beings by being organized with specific relationships between the data.19 Information adds value to a person’s understanding about something.20 People use an IS to perform this transformation. ●● Knowledge: information that is transformed so it is has patterns and repeatable processes.21 Information System Data Coup d’œil It is independently useful for decision making. People use an IS to perform this transformation. ●● Wisdom: the application of intuition to accumulated knowledge applied in a visionary or anticipatory manner.22 People do not use an IS to create wisdom. Rather, they review knowledge discerned through data-information-knowledge transformations and apply personal intuition to create wisdom. A 19th-century seminal work on military theory, On War, provides the elements that military commanders can use to bind an IS, people, and the DIKW hierarchy together for network-centric operations. The elements are coup d’œil and determination. Coup d’œil is the ability of a military commander to quickly make sense of battlefield activity and come to a tactically sound conclusion.23 Being determined, or resolu te, is the courage to accept responsibility and act once a decision is made.24 Clausewitz’s concept for coup d’œil fits well with the framework for creating wisdom; it provides the context for a military-specific type of intuition. In addition, Clausewitz’s notion that determination balances coup d’œil by providing the courage to act captures the culminating act of decision making supported by an IS. Coup d’œil and determination together link the DIKW hierarchy to competent, informed tactical decisions in battle and the leader’s will to act. The figure illustrates the relationship between a commander, coup d’œil, and an IS in the DIKW hierarchy. The transformations from data to information and from information to knowledge occur with use of the IS. The transformation from knowledge to wisdom only occurs when a commander Commander Determination Act Relationship Between a Commander, Coup d’œil, and an Information System MILITARY REVIEW May-June 2014 45