Description

COLAB is an analysis environment in which multiple human analysts in different physical locations can collaborate to build hypotheses of unfolding scenarios. COLAB consists of two components: an instrumented analysis working environment built on a blackboard system, and a web-based user interface that integrates the Trellis hypothesis authoring and management tool with a query language.

On the blackboard, analysts collect data and perform analyses using relational database queries and a set of analysis tools that include group identification and suspicion scoring algorithms. Evidence extracted from data analysis on the blackboard may then be incorporated in hierarchical argument structures in the Trellis tool, combining evidence sources with user-supplied free text. Trellis arguments may then be shared between analysts and collaboratively authored. COLAB has been integrated with the Hats Simulator challenge domain and serves as a prototype mixed-initiative information fusion system.

Contact Clayton T. Morrison for inquires about the status and availability of COLAB.

This project has been supported by the Center for Research on Unexpected Events, the Command and Control Research Projects, and the Center for Edge Power.

Personnel

Clayton T. Morrison
Paul R. Cohen

Funding

A Laboratory Environment for Studying Collaborative Knowledge Creation. Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense, Networks and Information Integration (OASD-NII), Research and Development for the Command and Control Research Projects (CCRP) program. September 2004-2005.

COLAB: A Collaborative Laboratory Environment for the Study of Shared Knowledge Creation. Director of Central Intelligence (DCI), Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. July 2003-2004.

Publications

• Clayton T. Morrison. Paul R. Cohen. The Hats Simulator and Colab: An Integrated Information Fusion Challenge Problem and Collaborative Analysis Environment. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Intelligence and Security Informatics (ISI 2006). LNCS 3975. 2006. (PDF)

• Clayton T. Morrison. Paul R. Cohen. The Colab Mixed-Initiative Analysis Environment. The 9th International Conference on Information Fusion (Fusion 2006), special session on Making Histories.. 2006. (PDF)

• Clayton T. Morrison. Paul R. Cohen. COLAB: A Laboratory Environment for Studying Analyst Sensemaking and Collaboration. The Tenth International Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium (10th ICCRTS). 2005. (PDF)

Talks