Analysing C4i Activity: A Review of the Event Analysis of Systemic Teamwork (EAST) Methodology
Abstract
This report describes a review of the Event Analysis of Systemic Teamwork (EAST) methodology (Baber and Stanton 2004) that was used to analyse C4i activity in the rail, air traffic control, energy distribution, military, police, fire service and naval domains. The EAST methodology and its component methods were analysed using a set of human factors (HF) methods and criteria designed to analyse the performance of the methods. The analysis was based upon the EAST applications undertaken as part of the Human Factors Integration Defence Technology Centre (HFI DTC) work programme (see application domains above).
The methods review indicated that the EAST methodology is an exhaustive technique that is particularly suited to the analysis of C4i, team based and collaborative activity. The methods review also indicated that the outputs from the EAST methodology are extremely useful, offering a number of different analyses of, and perspectives on the scenario in question. Further, it was concluded that the EAST methodology is relatively simple to learn and apply. In terms of flaws in the EAST methodology, the review indicated that the method can be overly time consuming (although this reflects the complexity of C4i domains) in some instances (i.e. for larger, more complex tasks) and also that there may be issues with the reliability of the method in some instances.
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