Future Oriented Research and Creative Endeavors: The “FORCE” Project
The FORCE is investigating potential new distribution avenues to support a pervasive, 24/7 training regimen for soldiers deployed in today's asymmetrical current operating environments (COEs). Media created within these areas can provide advantages and enhance traditional military training modalities by providing greater accessibility, on-demand and situated learning opportunities, as well as rapid integration of lessons learned in the field. Mobile technology in today's culture has widespread usage. Handheld electronics serve as electronic gaming devices, delivery systems for passive entertainment, points of contact for social networking, and as accessories to offline cooperative and competitive gaming. These devices include categories of Portable Media Players (PMPs), smart phones, hand held computers and even game consoles.
Web 2.0 systems are increasing in functionality and can provide a technology base that leverages user input to help populate, organize and prioritize data, provides continual content and functionality updates with no downtime (24 hour access), and permit high levels of interactivity, subject and data aggregation, and personalization. For Army training these areas can be coupled together through podcasts, RSS feeds and other push-pull functionalities for expeditious content delivery. The first tasks for the FORCE was to create two capabilities and assessment documents that survey two areas of interest: 1) the latest generation of mobile devices and 2) Web 2.0 internet tools. These are available as Web 2.0 interactive charts on The FORCE web pages. We have also ported a version of the AXL.net Power Hungry training module to an Apple iPOD. We are also working on other mobile platforms.
Most military training happens before a soldier deploys to his assignment, often not allowing for in-depth training in areas that take time to master, such as cultural understanding and sensitivity, awareness of the often shifting political climate in a given area and even the subtleties of colloquial speech. Much of a soldier's day-to-day duties concern complex situations where threats may come from anyone at any time, and require skills in negotiation and assessing social and cultural behaviors. The ICT has created state-of-the-art content for real time rehearsals and case-based learning that address these training needs, including ELECT biLAT, SASO's virtual humans, and AXL.net. The FORCE will create prototype modules from select ICT projects that could benefit from retargeting to mobile and Web 2.0 functionality.
