Abstract
Understanding culture is an integral part of international operations in developing countries and conflict zones. Cultural encounters in countries such as Afghanistan might introduce a number of challenges. This article presents the experiences with the CAMO project (Cultural Awareness in Military Operations) seeking to address these challenges. While game-based simulations are to an increasing degree used for military training, most of such systems are expensive to develop. The goal of this project has been to create a low-cost simulation in the 3D virtual world of Second Life for pre-deployment cultural awareness training among Norwegian military personnel preparing for service in Afghanistan. We provide a detailed description of the methodology and training scenarios, based on examples of cultural challenges the participants were expected to face. We also report the results of evaluation of the system with the cadets of the Norwegian Military Academy. Finally, we discuss how the proposed methodology could be extended for non-military use, since due to the gradual withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan training cultural awareness among civilian personnel becomes more important.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Bruner, J.S.: The Culture of Education. Harvard University Press, Cambridge (1996)
Papert, S., Harel, I. (eds.): Constructionism: research reports and essays 1985 - 1990 by the Epistemology and Learning Research Group. Ablex Publishing Corporation, Norwood (1991)
Star, S.L.: The Structure of Ill-Structured Solutions: Boundary Objects and Heterogeneous Distributed Problem Solving. In: Distributed Artificial Intelligence, vol. II. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers Inc., San Mateo (1989)
Fischer, G.: External and shareable artifacts as opportunities for social creativity in communities of interest. In: Gero, J.S., Maher, M.L. (eds.) 5th International Conference on Computational and Cognitive Models of Creative Design, Heron Island, Australia, December 9-13, pp. 67–89. University of Sydney (2001)
Gillespie, A.: Games and the Development of Perspective Taking. Human Development 49(2), 87–92 (2006)
Cannon-Bowers, J.A., Bowers, C.A.: Synthetic learning environments: On developing a science of simulation, games and virtual worlds for training. In: Kozlowski, S.W.J., Salas, E. (eds.) Learning, Training, and Development in Organizations, pp. 229–261. Taylor & Francis, New York (2010)
Sant, T.: Performance in Second Life: some possibilities for learning and teaching. In: Molka-Danielsen, J., Deutschmann, M. (eds.) Learning and Teaching in the Virtual World of Second Life, pp. 145–166. Tapir Academic Press, Trondheim (2009)
Connolly, T.M., Boyle, E.A., MacArthur, E., Hainey, T., Boyle, J.M.: A systematic literature review of empirical evidence on computer games and serious games. Computers & Education 59(2), 661–686 (2012)
Warburton, S.: Second Life in higher education: Assessing the potential for and the barriers to deploying virtual worlds in learning and teaching. British Journal of Educational Technology 40(3), 414–426 (2009)
Johnson, W.L.: A Simulation-Based Approach to training Operational Cultural Competence. In: Anderssen, R.S., Braddock, R.D., Newham, L.T.H. (eds.) International Congress on Modelling and Simulation, MODSIM (2009)
Zielke, M.A.: The First Person Cultural Trainer Whitepaper (2011), http://www.utdallas.edu/~maz031000/res/FPCT_White_Paper.pdf
Surface, E.A., Dierdorff, E.C., Watson, A.M.: Special Operations Language Training Software Measurement of Effectiveness Study: Tactical Iraqi Study Final Report. Special Operations Forces Language Office, Tampa, FL, USA (2007)
Singer, M.J., Knerr, B.W.: Evaluation of a Game-Based Simulation During Distributed Exercises. U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, Research Report 1931 (2010)
Prasolova-Førland, E., Fominykh, M., Darisiro, R., Mørch, A.I.: Training Cultural Awareness in Military Operations in a Virtual Afghan Village: A Methodology for Scenario Development. In: 46th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), Wailea, HI, USA, January 7-10, pp. 903–912. IEEE (2013)
Salmoni, B.A., Holmes-Eber, P.: Operational Culture for the Warfighter: Principles and Applications. Marine Corps University Press, Quantico (2008)
McDonald, D.P., McGuire, G., Johnston, J., Selmeski, B., Abbe, A.: Developing and managing cross-cultural competence within the Department of Defense: Recommendations for learning and assessment. Department of Equal Opportunity Management Institute (2008)
Caird-Daley, A., Dawson, B., Ciereszko, R., Osborne, B., Parker, I.: Training decision making using serious games: Requirements analysis for decision making training. Human Factors Integration Defence Technology Centre, UK, HFIDTC/2/WP4.6.2/1 (2009)
Hartog, C.: Scenario design for serious gaming: guiding principles for the design of scenarios and curricula in military Job Oriented Training. TNO Defense, Security & Safety (2009)
Holo, T., Andreassen, M.D.: Culture astray: A review of Norwegian military’s focus on cultural understanding. Norsk Utenrikspolitisk Institutt (NUPI), Oslo, Norway (2010)
Phillips, J.: Decision-centered MOUT training for small unit leaders. U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, Fort Benning, GA, USA (2001)
Klein, G.: Sources of Power, How People Make Decisions. The MIT Press, Cambridge (1999)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Prasolova-Førland, E., Fominykh, M., Darisiro, R., Mørch, A.I., Hansen, D. (2014). Preparing for International Operations and Developing Scenarios for Inter-cultural Communication in a Cyberworld: A Norwegian Army Example. In: Gavrilova, M.L., Tan, C.J.K., Mao, X., Hong, L. (eds) Transactions on Computational Science XXIII. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 8490. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-43790-2_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-43790-2_7
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-662-43789-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-662-43790-2
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)