Visual Analysis of Social Networks in a Counter-Insurgency Context
R. Lecocq, Valérie Lavigne, Denis Gouin · 2011
Abstract : Over the last several years, the Canadian Forces (CF) have been called to conduct operations taking place in very complex counter-insurgency (COIN) environments. The Canadian COIN doctrine emphasizes the political and social issues that are an intrinsic part of the current CF operations. In parallel, literature as well as our allies? military practice and research reiterate the value of analysing social networks in order to increase situational awareness in such contexts. With this regard, Defence RD (2) Specifying data sources used to represent and analyse the social network (SN); (3) Representing the SN of interest; (4) Analysing SNs and enabling sense-making; and (5) Ensuring SNA products usability. Finally, the paper highlights some of the foreseen challenges for such a SNA capability and the corresponding usage of visualisation.