Supporting Variability in Criminal Intelligence Analysis: From Expert Intuition to Critical and Rigorous Analysis

Abstract

Intelligence analysts frequently find themselves in situations of high uncertainty and ambiguity. The characteristics of those situations force the analyst to rely on creative generation of plausible explanations – ‘storytelling’. We argue that current interaction design approaches obstruct the storytelling process and impede analysts to perform well in their analytical reasoning process. Our Fluidity and Rigour Model combines storytelling with the interaction methods that are needed to support the variety of reasoning and thinking involved in the analytical process. We further contribute with an outline of how the model has informed our designs in the VALCRI project.