Message Management

Need

Information Analysts are working to process hundreds of messages a day, geo-locate the information contained in these messages, formulate hypotheses, and share their thoughts throughout the command.

Idea

We added several visualization concepts that could be utilized by analysts. Among others, we presented the idea of message triage that will help analysts work through the large number of messages that come in, we made explicit the information requests that are driving the work the users are doing, and we also provided representations that will allow higher level analytical insights to be drawn (rather than just dots on a map).

Benefit

The added visualizations make it much easier to take advantage of the technological success of the original tool. It will become simpler for analysts to work through the set of messages, draw insights about the information contained in those messages, and collaborate their ideas, ultimately informing decision-makers.