A Newsletter Enabling Information Technologies by the IRMC IT Department
A Newsletter Enabling Information Technologies by the IRMC IT
Department
Spring 1998
- What’s Inside -
Designing IRMC Distance Education Courses for Our DoD Customers Factors to consider in developing distance ed courses.
AIPA Symposium Check out the latest scoop from information analysts in the intelligence community.
Management Flight Simulator Learn about this unique type of simulation approach.
Creating Web Pages in Word Discover a quick and easy way to develop web pages!
How Should Information Security Support Acquisition Reform? Contemplate some probing questions.
DESIGNING IRMC DISTANCE EDUCATION COURSES FOR OUR DoD CUSTOMERS
Part I -- Design Strategies
By Dr. Jim Kasprzak
There are many possible factors to consider in designing distance education courses. "Course content" is the most important single consideration, but there are other factors, including the computer expertise of students and instructors, cost and availability of hardware, software and bandwidth, and "customer requirements" -- the aims and needs of the student. In the case of the Information Resource Management College, we need to consider the special needs of civilians and military in the Department of Defense.
Distance education -- teaching and learning by means of telecommunications -- has some significant potential advantages for students in general. For one thing, the student is freed from many of the daily constraints of time and space in pursuing an educational objective. The most obvious freedom, (and the one most frequently mentioned by students), is geographical independence: no more long commutes, no winter nights walking across campus parking lots; better access to remote facilities. Military personnel, who are often assigned to remote locations, intensely appreciate the access to distant educational resources. (Ever been to the Aleutian Islands at night in Winter? Or for that matter, at any time, in any season?) Furthermore, military personnel are reassigned frequently, and sometimes, unexpectedly. In December, 1997, one of my students became the commander of an F-16 Squadron in Okinawa. While assigned there, he was sent to the Persian Gulf for a month for potential action against Sadaam Hussein. One course, one student, three very distant locations in the world.
A less obvious advantage is the student's independence from time and scheduling. In a world of long work days, lengthy commutes and multiplexed family activities, a student may very much appreciate the opportunity to match class time to his/her own time, pace, and personal capabilities. Some significant commuting actually may be eliminated, with savings in real time. In other cases, students may only want to "shift" their classes to better hours or to flexible hours whenever time becomes available. There are many reasons why students are interested in shifting time: single parents who participate, "while the kids are in bed"; women who feel it is dangerous to be out in a city by night; Pentagon workers who are "on call" or subject to changes in work schedules; commuters tied to the schedules of public transportation.
"Distance" is a real, but diminishing consideration in the design of distance learning courses. True enough, there are many parts of the world where it is impossible, or very, very expensive, to obtain Internet access, but American military personnel are often concentrated near bases or urban areas where they can get access to commercial ISP's. Not all have these advantages. Some of my students in foreign countries have had very limited telecommunications access (low bandwidth) through local Internet Service Providers (Korea, Northern Japan) while others had only fragile connectivity (undersea fiber line to Korea cut by a fishing vessel, November, 1997 and out for a week). Navy personnel on large ships can usually get Internet access, but during military exercises all such communications will be cut off for 3 to 10 days at a time.
(Military personnel outside the U.S. have frequent military exercises. It's a way of life.) Finally, worldwide connectivity means that there are international considerations of all kinds. The currency crisis in Korea has meant that Korean Internet Service Providers must renegotiate their fixed fee contracts or go bankrupt. Two ISP's went bankrupt in early March, cutting off two of my students without notice, for two weeks.
"Time" is a different variable in the design of distance learning courses. "Asynchronous" distance learning classroom tools allow the student to access instruction at a convenient time and location. An e-mail lecture, for example, can be sent to a class of students, each of whom can pick up the mail at home or work. Many military personnel use the e-mail at work, but some military units prohibit this activity, and others (notably NSA and military intelligence organizations) have firewalls that screen out all mail from the ".edu" domain. (Helps deter hacking.) E-mail teaching is very labor intensive, time sensitive and demanding. An instructor may have to read and send many hundreds of messages over the length of a course, and this must be done promptly, or the course loses tempo. Much of this administration and time pressure disappears when a LISTSERV is used. This software automatically resends any material it receives, providing it to all students and instructors in a class. A "bulletin board" system is even better, since it allows all students to see each other's comments in a more or less structured location. I have found, however, that it must be supplemented with e-mail, since LISTSERVs and BBS don't have confidentiality and sometimes even inhibit discussion. (Some students don't want to ask "really stupid" questions in front of everybody.) While asynchronous systems are very convenient and offer a great many advantages to everyone concerned, students generally find them "cold", relatively "artificial" and clumsy. They're are also difficult to adapt to some kinds of educational material, including high-level management techniques favored at the IRM College. "Team" discussions and assignments by e-mail and other asynchronous techniques are relatively unsatisfactory. Teams "cheat" by simply cutting the assignment up into parts and have someone assemble the pieces. There is nowhere near the kind of discussion that occurs in a classroom. I found another kind of "cheating" in a group on Okinawa that simply met at someone's house, rather than use the software. Other teams in the same class did work of far lower quality because the students lived too far apart to visit each other in person. This tool does not seem appropriate to the task.
"Synchronous" approaches are more like the traditional classroom or seminar, but are much more technically demanding and expensive, and may give up some of the advantages of the "distance" mode. Using "chat" or "whiteboard" software, the entire class signs in at the same time, and each person can see the comments or responses of others in the class in real time. Comments tend to be relatively shallow and brief (most people can't type that fast) and text may scroll at a rapid pace down the screen. The instructor may want to carefully limit the pace and activities of the class by "calling on" different students, watching for "hands raised" and so on, but this requires more software and cost. In an International environment, time zones must also be considered. Okinawa is 14 hours off from Eastern Standard Time. One lady in a class told me she considered it unreasonable and dangerous for me to require her to go to her office in Kadena at 2:00 AM, to allow her peers in Washington to have their class at 10:00 AM. (Imagine that!) Even when everyone can agree on a time, there are inexplicable lags (seconds or minutes) in "real time" delivery overseas.
The high end of synchronous techniques is found in greater simulations of traditional classroom activity: Internet telephone and Internet Radio; online video; educational television. These are much easier on the instructor, since much classroom material (not all) is readily adapted to these media, and talking is what instructors do best. (Just can't shut them up!) This is where distance learning is headed, although it isn't quite there yet. Nearly everyone in DoD has access to email, but not everyone has access to Pentium computers, cameras, specialized software, and the kind of high-speed Internet access that video requires. Nor does everyone have the aptitude or skills to install such equipment and software, operate them and diagnose their problems. We might want to give (lend?) (sell?) such equipment to students, or see that it gets into the hands of education officers at a few major sites or bases. We could require students to take one course on location at IRMC in order to learn the equipment, pick up books and software, and see some demonstrations that could not be easily done by Internet. (Our decision room, for example.) There are many possibilities, and we will have to be a little creative while awaiting George Gilder's "Tsunami of Gigabits."
In the meantime, here are some techniques that you might find helpful in designing distance learning courses today for your IRMC customers:
-- Use a variety of transportation and presentation techniques, each one suited to the particular material you have and to the capabilities of your students. Short lectures and presentations are well done asynchronously. Demonstrations can be done if you have a camera. "Chat" lets students coordinate. A great deal of research -- not all -- can now be profitably done on the Internet.
-- Consider alternatives. If a student can't attend a synchronous session, for technical or mechanical reasons, does he/she fail the course? The rule now is that a student can only miss a few hours of an intensive course. Will you mail an equivalent videotape? (The Air Force Institute of Technology does.) If a fiber optic line to the Aleutians goes down for two weeks, do you allow students to "make up" work? (It sure messes up the discussions.)
-- If the student is reasonably available (the U.S.) call him/her on the telephone in the first week of class. Ten minutes of talk settles 50% of the problems. (And most are amazed and grateful that you took the trouble to talk to them. Helps to boost class morale and cohesion.)
-- Use what is already on the Internet. There are tremendous resources on the Net, already available to the student.
-- Use graphics. It helps to offset the "coldness" of the asynchronous text medium. Bullet slides and text in Powerpoint don't count as graphics.
-- Keep the course structure clear and simple. It's easy to get confused, lose material, overlook things when you have a dozen little compartments, or a hundred messages. Leave extra time for the inevitable mistakes, technical failures, accidents.
-- Encourage the students to contribute in solving distance learning problems, extending the medium, contributing ideas, even providing services. (Some of my students have posted group projects on their personal web pages; used special equipment and software from work; gone out to newsgroups to ask experts for technical help; brought "guest speakers". Some of these are really smart and well connected people.)
Symposium on Information Processing and Analysis
A symposium on Advanced Information Processing and Analysis (AIPA) was held on March 17-18 in Tyson’s Corner, Virginia. It focused on advanced technologies that support the needs of analysts in the intelligence community. These analysts have a functional role very similar to others in any information services industry. They must rapidly gather, manipulate, understand, and use large volumes of information, just as information workers do in, for example, banking, finance, and health.
The Management Flight Simulator
By Dr. John Saunders
Pilots use cockpit flight simulators for a number of reasons. They are considerably less expensive to operate than actual aircraft. They also provide an opportunity for pilots to fly specific patterns (e.g., New York to Chicago) before an actual flight, which include landing at realistic portrayals of specific runways. Simulators also provide an opportunity to practice crisis problem solving without putting real people or aircraft at risk. Commercial airlines such as American and United require their pilots to spend hundreds of hours each year in simulators, even after they are well experienced. When supervised, training in flight simulators is recognized by the Federal Aviation Administration as a substitute for actual flying time.
If simulation is such an important part of a pilot’s education, then why is the same not true for managers in operations, finance, marketing, or information systems? Shouldn’t managers be taught to fly specific patterns and to practice crisis resolution before confronting a real life situation? To meet this need a new type of simulator called a "Management Flight Simulator (MFS)" has been created.
Simulating Micro and Macro Challenges
Management Flight Simulators are now available to help professionals address both very specific as well as grandiose challenges in virtually all disciplines. Some examples follow:
- The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources built a multi-player simulator called AgLand. It is used by policy makers, farmers and citizens to look at the impacts of land use on soil, wildlife and water quality. It includes levers that can be used to levy taxes, impose regulations and create incentives to achieve economic, social, and environmental goals. It runs over a period of decades so that all parties can see the results of their actions over time.
- The US Air Force built a Diverse Workforce simulator. It was built to help them better understand the policy implications and methods for modifying age, ethnic, racial, and gender diversity in its ranks. The simulator was built by a professional modeler who created it from the input of hundreds of team participants over a six month period. The simulator provided the group with a mechanism to explore a wide variety of policy decisions such as increasing dollars devoted to recruiting specific population segments, offering early retirement to certain groups, or modifying occupational specialties.
- Sleeper is a simulator developed for training anesthesiologists at the University of California Medical School in San Diego. In the simulation, the doctor administers drugs and monitor’s the vital signs of a cartoon-like patient during an hypothesized operation. The user interface to the system includes graphic displays such as an electrocardiogram monitor and a simulated hypodermic needle. The "patient" reacts to medication overdoses or insufficient medication just as a real patient would be expected to do.
- Thinking Tools, Inc. developed Think 2000, a mission-critical Year 2000 risk simulation software program. In the environment of a fictitious organization, it enables executive decision-makers to assess the overall business impact of problems associated with the Year 2000 date change, establish valid priorities for remediation projects, and document activities in the event of litigation or audits.
- Project Challenge is a simulation designed to provide the player with the opportunity to exercise management judgment in a realistic information technology project environment. The focus is on managing a project; the player experiences the complex inter-dependencies and tradeoffs of management decisions that affect the project’s schedule, budget, team morale, and customer satisfaction. Players can interview team members, listen in on gossip in the lunchroom, and go ask the boss for more money. Project Challenge was developed by Thinking Tools jointly with SHL Systemhouse, an MCI company.
Friday Night at the ER, from Breakthrough Learning was originally built for a healthcare organization struggling with issues of resource use and service availability in a hospital's emergency, surgical and critical care departments. The board game simulation covers a twenty-four hour period from Friday noon to Saturday noon - -usually the busiest time for an emergency department. Your team's job is to keep service quality high as well as control the financial impact of that increased demand.
SimCity2000 Network Version from Maxis Corp. is a multi-player simulation that can be played over a local area network or using the Internet. In the simulation, players bid for land, build infrastructure, negotiate contracts with each other, and adjust tax rates and the tax allocations to public services such as police, fire departments, and schools.
These are only a few of the hundreds of Management Flight Simulators that have been developed. With these examples we can start to formulate a definition for the concept of what constitutes a MFS.
A Basic Definition
A simple definition for a management flight simulator is:
MFS = Dynamic (Pictorial Computer Interface + Computation Engine)
The essence of a dynamic pictorial interface is movement and the use of symbols. A simple interface would contain drag bars and gauges as inputs and two dimensional graphs as output. The graphs would be drawn in "real time" or as you watched.
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Figure 1. Some Controls from a Management Flight Simulator
More complex interfaces include audio and video prompting and feedback. Some advanced simulators involve user movement through a three dimensional space, interaction through voice recognition and data gloves, as well as customized video and audio feedback.
As its name implies a dynamic computation engine has two components - 1) the simulation of elapsing time and 2) the ability to establish variables and their changing relationships. In most cases, the simulation of elapsing time is done by utilizing the clock (always ticking) on a digital computer. An important aspect of a MFS is that the values of variables may change during each tick of the clock. Additional events may be triggered when variables reach a certain value.
The computational aspect involves both mathematical and logical "reasoning" capability as established by the designer among the variables. Each variable may change it’s value as affected by the other variables during each tick of the clock. When sufficiently sophisticated, the system seems to take on a "life of its own". Complex behavior patterns spring forth. Feedback from the system permits users to discover the effects of their actions while interacting with the system. Frequently unintended consequences of the interacting behaviors emerge. The reasoning involved in a MFS is often complex. It may involve elements of classical inductive or deductive reasoning. Or it may involve elements of a mathematical calculus which guide the changing values of numeric variables over time. MFS’s utilize specific information technology lines such as system dynamics, rule based systems, and cellular automata.
The very essence of simulation is the ability to traverse a virtually unlimited set of paths through the system. This ability sets up a unique learning environment. The user learns through experience, versus rote memorization. Operating a MFS is "Learning by Doing."
A Little History
The MFS is a fairly recent phenomenon. Prior to the introduction of the Apple Macintosh personal computer, MFSs were rare and had to be custom designed and built on expensive computer workstations. Computer based management simulations before the MFS, in both business and the hard sciences, were largely run in a "batch" mode. In this mode variables were programmed in statistical packages or in specific computer programming languages such as Simula or Dynamo. Outputs were the textual or numeric output of the variables listed sequentially over the time period of the simulation. Typically the only other outputs were simple "histograms" which plotted the value of the variables on two dimensional graphs with the x-axis most frequently being time.
Early in their history MFS’s were referred to as Microworlds. The term "microworld" was created by Seymour Papert at MIT to describe a computer-based environment he created for children called "Logo". LOGO continues to have a strong following. In Logo children create computer programs, i.e. automated sequences of instructions, which direct simple objects like turtles. The LOGO commands below
are then acted out through a picture of a turtle on the screen turning left. When multiple, different-colored turtles are programmed and move about the screen the image conjured is very much like a "microworld" of autonomous turtles.
In the 1950’s, even before LOGO, another Professor at MIT, Jay Forrester, created a methodology with pictorial symbols and dynamic system behavior. His symbols represented Levels of entities (Water, Pollution, Morale, etc.) and Rates (how the levels change over time). Forrester’s symbol system is now more often referenced as Stocks and Flows. He termed this symbol system and the engineering behind it System Dynamics. The origins of Forrester’s symbol system lie in Feedback Control Theory. Understanding stocks and flows is essential to an understanding of the System Dynamics technology, now the heart of most MFSs. MFS’ now exist in the general areas of "edutainment" – for fun while learning, in business for analysis & practice, and in the academic realm for the study of dynamic phenomenon.
Tools for Developing Management Flight Simulators
The technology of the MFS made a huge leap with the development of a dynamic, pictorial, stock and flow software package called Stella. Stella was developed by Barry Richmond, a professor at Dartmouth, and a Ph.D. graduate of Jay Forrester’s System Dynamics program at MIT. Stella was originally developed on the Apple Macintosh for the educational community. In the late 1980’s it was utilized primarily for applications in the sciences such as biology and the study of the environment. Since then other "shells" for building system dynamics simulations have emerged, primarily for the IBM PC community. Richmond expanded his product line for both the Mac and the PC to include a package called iThink, which is oriented toward the business community. A company called Ventana Systems created a package called Vensim. And yet another company, Powersim, has released a product called Constructor. Each of these packages permit a modeler to build a user interface with gauges, drag bars, and other multimedia effects.
Building a MFS
Building a MFS is a major effort, especially if additional features such as video and audio are to be coupled with the dynamic computation engine. A typical MFS may have 1,000 stock and flow elements, as well as hundreds of text boxes, video and audio clips. It has been estimated that building a one-hour multimedia presentation takes, on average, 300 hours. Add to this an estimated 6 man months to build an average stock and flow simulation. And this does not include any of the time needed to derive the systems relationships from area experts. Man years of effort are the rule for building MFSs which a user would expect to be utilized by a large audience. HPS, Inc., the makers of software for building MFSs are now in the process of creating templates from which a user interested in building a simulation can start. A template would help to speed up the overall modeling process and provide a modeler with components to plug together.
Figure 2. Internals of a Management Flight Simulator (Partial Map)
When a player completes his MFS experience, a good MFS would provide a rationale for why events proceeded as they did. A well designed system should provide feedback while flying and a map of the route when finished. A purchaser should beware of "Black Box" Management Flight Simulators
Some MFSs in the Information Technology Arena
Dozens of flight simulators have been built within the IT community. Examples exist in project management, security, infrastructure development, manufacturing, maintenance, financial analysis, and telecommunications.
Some examples follow.
The Information Technology Organization Flight Simulator was built by Professor Margaret Johnson of Stanford University to mimic the operation of project management in a small MIS department. It’s primary focus is a computer code development scenario. Players make decisions in areas such as accepting new project work, hiring additional personnel, and investment in technology infrastructure.
Professors S. Sturges and G. Winch of the University of Plymouth, England built a simulator which models tradeoffs in security policy implementation. Users can set parameters relating to investment in security measures. These are later gauged against losses from computer attack.
A model of policy alternatives to Korean Information Infrastructure Support was built by T. Moon and others. The model portrays possible future scenarios relating to government versus private industry leadership in investment in B-ISDN, CATV, and Mobile infrastructure through the year 2010.
Engineers at Silicon Graphics utilized a management flight simulator to educate their employees about delays and cycle fluctuations in their manufacturing processes. The simulator provided a "great deal" of support in initiating revised manufacturing processes.
Clark and Augustine looked at information flows and performance measures in a manufacturing firm to understand and map the value of information in its processes. Their simulator demonstrates how a firm’s overall performance may be affected by different levels of information quality.
Balancing the Corporate Scorecard (BCS) is a flight simulator available from Harvard Business School Publishing. It allows the user to establish their own scorecard for measuring and managing the growth of a software development firm. A wide variety of "levers" are available in areas such as price setting, market focus, hiring and firing, infrastructure buildup, product extensions, and training and service. BCS makes heavy utilization of video and sound to produce a very convincing experience.
The Future of MFSs
With the tools now available for easily creating MFSs, we will likely see a significant increase in the number of simulations built and marketed. At the same time we will likely see MFS builders capitalize upon the strengths of other technologies such as virtual reality and cellular automata. Virtual Reality will be utilized to enhance the user’s experience. Recently a San Francisco company, Simplementation, built a change management system which allows a player to move around in a 3D environment. Artificial intelligence "rules" guide his progress. Simulations from Maxis Corporation of Walnut Creek, CA such as Sim City and Sim Ant already utilize principles of cellular automata or "Artificial Life" to guide the birth and death of simulation elements. Prospering or decaying economies, rising and falling popularity, and population fluctuations are all working at least partially independent of the player to provide some realism to the experience.
While management flight simulators have their drawbacks, they are likely the best method we now have for understanding and dealing with the complexity of large scale strategic level systems. Their acceptance as a management tool is growing, but will likely be hindered somewhat by the impression of them as a "game." When today’s Nintendo generation comes of age, management flight simulations will be the rule of the day.
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Creating Web Pages in Word 97 Quickly and Easily!
Quick Start Directions
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Specific Directions
Title – Web pages have a title that appears on the title bar of the web page. To insert a title, select File, Properties. Choose the Summary tab and enter a Title such as Welcome to (Your Name)’s Web Page.
Background – This is the graphic that is displayed behind the document. To change the current background, select Format, Background. At this point, you can select a color or you can specify a graphic by choosing Fill Effects.
To use one of Word’s built-in graphic backgrounds, choose the Texture and pick a selection.
To use another graphic, choose Picture and specify a particular graphics file (JPG or GIF). The graphic will tile on the screen.
Internal Hyperlinks – When you click on highlighted text, these hyperlinks will move you to a different spot on the same web page. For example, you might want a hyperlink at the bottom of the page which, when clicked, will take you to the top of the page.
First, place your cursor at the target location (e.g., at the top of the page). Next, select Insert, Bookmark, and enter the name of your target (e.g., top). Click the Add button.
Move your cursor to where you want your hyperlink to appear (e.g., at the bottom of the page) and enter the text for your hyperlink (e.g. Go to Top). Highlight the text and choose Insert, Hyperlink (don’t save it yet) and click on the Browse button right of the text box labeled Named location in file. Pick the name of the target you just selected and click OK twice.
External Hyperlinks – When you click on highlighted text, these hyperlinks will allow you to jump to another web page. Before you use this feature, you need the URL of the destination web page. As an example, you might want to include a link to the IRMC home page.
Move your cursor to where you want your hyperlink to appear and enter the text for your hyperlink (e.g., IRMC Home Page). Highlight the text and choose Insert, Hyperlink (don’t save it yet). Right of the text box labeled Link to file or URL, enter the destination URL (e.g., http://WWW.NDU.EDU/irmc/irmchp.html).
Adding Graphics – You may want add a picture to your web page. Place your cursor where you want that picture to appear and select Insert, Picture.
To use one of Microsoft Office’s built-in graphics, choose Clip Art. Alternatively, you can insert an external graphic file (usually JPG or GIF) if you select From File.
Once on screen, you can resize your graphic if needed.
If you want your text to wrap around the graphic, right click the picture and click Show Picture Toolbar. On the toolbar, select the left or right wrapping icon.
(Note: Graphics are not imbedded in your web page but are actually external files that are referenced within your web page.)
How Should Information Security Support Acquisition Reform?
A Perspective and Request for Feedback By Jack Egan
The role of information security in the current acquisition process does not appear to be well understood. The issue goes beyond the mere protection of an information system throughout all phases of its life cycle, rather it also deals with how program business should be conducted and managed in light of new acquisition legislation and within the context of public and private networked environments.
Some of the questions raised deal with:
There are, of course, solutions to some of these problems, but it is not at all clear that the implications have been thoroughly thought through by the acquisition community. I am designing a new lesson in the Continuing Acquisition Reform Course and would appreciate any comments or suggestions on this topic. Do you know of other security issues involving the program/project management process? If so, then I'd be glad to hear from you.
Visit us at
http://www.ndu.edu/irmchpYou can get previous Info Tech Talk issues at http://WWW.NDU.EDU/ndu/irmc/itt-previous.html
Editor Les Pang, e-mail: pangl@ndu.edu, (202) 685-2060, http://members.aol.com/lpang10473/default.htm
Graphics Designer Jim Looney
