Visitors Now:
Total Visits:
Total Stories:
Profile image
By Eyes For You (Reporter)
Contributor profile | More stories
Story Views

Now:
Last Hour:
Last 24 Hours:
Total:

To Reach Afghans, Pentagon Drafts Mimes, Storytellers, Wizard of Oz

Friday, June 25, 2010 21:01
% of readers think this story is Fact. Add your two cents.

(Before It's News)

 

The Pentagon’s ultimate team of technologists is looking to looking to bridgethe cultural divide in Afghanistan — with storytelling, pantomime and the Wizard of Oz.

After nine years of conflict, the U.S. military is still having trouble finding common ground with warzone locals. One way to fill that breach, Darpa figures, is through “interactive stories.”

Counterinsurgency, in many ways, is a series of negotiations — over economic development, over security, over political power. And “negotiation,” Darpa explains in a new request for information, “is best served by a culturally-specific narrative that explains why we hold a position, how it relates to other parties, and how it affects all parties both positively and negatively.”

Darpa’s tales are part of a larger Defense Department push to get smarter about the battlefield’s “human terrain.” Teams of social scientists are now embedding with combat units; Pentagon-funded researchers are building computer models of how the societies of Afghanistan and Iraq work; military pollsters are trying to tap public opinion in the conflict zones.

To come up with its storytelling tools, Darpa’s Information Processing Technologies Office is hoping to go beyond its usual cadre of neuroscientists, artificial intelligence specialists, and gadgeteers.  The agency also wants contributions from “art, literature, film, dance, games development, advertising and public relations, advertising, grass roots organizing, collective decision making or any other discipline for which the respondent can make an argument that the approach bears on this task.”

Continue Reading “To Reach Afghans, Pentagon Drafts Mimes, Storytellers, Wizard of Oz” »




Read More LINK`http`www.wired.com/dangerroom/#ixzz0rtuSl5nJ`margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); text-decoration: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; `LINK

Report abuse

Comments

Your Comments
Question   Razz  Sad   Evil  Exclaim  Smile  Redface  Biggrin  Surprised  Eek   Confused   Cool  LOL   Mad   Twisted  Rolleyes   Wink  Idea  Arrow  Neutral  Cry   Mr. Green

Top Stories
Recent Stories

Register

Newsletter

Email this story
Email this story

If you really want to ban this commenter, please write down the reason:

If you really want to disable all recommended stories, click on OK button. After that, you will be redirect to your options page.