Summarizing Military Information: An Application of Schema Theory

Abstract

This study was conducted to support the development of guidelines for summarizing tactical intelligence data. Sixteen staff officers were asked to read a description of a tactical scenario and to examine 30 enemy situation data (ESD) messages describing the beginning of an enemy border crossing and attack. Each officer summarized the intelligence in preparation for a briefing, and these summaries were evaluated by five knowledgeable military analysts. Collectively, the evaluators favored summaries presented in conversational style, with hard facts and an interpretation of what the intelligence implied. A more specific two-dimensional outline for summarizing was derived by applying recently refined principles of schema theory to the contents of the summaries judged “good” by the evaluators. It was suggested that these prescriptive norms provide the basis for the development of guidelines for staff officers to enable them to produce more useful and effective intelligence-message summaries.