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F E A T U R E

Sea Change

September 18, 2003
By David Joachim

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Career Builder

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	In this article
	Introduction
	Career Builder
	Private Lessons
	Bigger Plans
	On Location, Series 4
	Vital Stats
	Army-Navy Game
	Lt. Eric Morris
	Capt. Fred S. Bertsch III (ret)
	Chris Piereman

As you would expect from a Web portal, NKO organizes a variety of data stores that existed in one form or another. Sailors can access training materials, a white pages directory of military personnel and third-party research tools. But the portal also provides new services, including instant messaging, discussion boards and scheduled chats that are replayable. Collaborative whiteboarding and workflow controls are on the way.

Interactive career management is a highlight of NKO. Using a visual map called the 5 Vector Model--a career matrix that shows education and training qualifications--a sailor can compare his skills with the job requirements of a more senior position, and then sign up for the appropriate training. Supervisors can use the graphs to gauge the readiness of their squads in aggregate. Morris calls it "a Dow Jones for the work force, a human capital index."

Unlike a similar portal operated by the Army, the Navy rank and file aren't ordered to use NKO (see Army-Navy Game). They're motivated to do so to help their careers. On NKO, sailors can find experts to answer a single question or to tutor them for long periods, even if either or both party is at sea. It's a new concept for sailors, who effectively compete with their peers for promotions.

As a cold start, Morris tapped the coordinators of NPDC's 14 centers of training, covering combat systems, nuclear engineering, submarine operations, leadership and other topics. They were tasked with starting discussion boards and inviting people to join. Word of mouth quickly spread, and by June, five months after launch, 100,000 sailors were registered.

Navy, Uncensored

NKO's developers made a conscious effort to keep the portal open and unregulated at the beginning, so as not to scare people off. Of course, some military discussions will inevitably set off security alarms. One time a user asked a public discussion board for a password to a tactical combat system. No one answered, and users flamed the author for asking.

Morris describes the discussion boards as self-correcting in this way, but he says he also thinks it's important for administrators who police the boards to provide an explanation. As soon as this user's message was deleted, Morris posted a message that explained why and directed the discussion to the Secure Internet Protocol Network, a version of NKO and devoted to classified information. It's accessible only by sailors with high security clearance and from terminals in restricted sections of a naval bases or ships. A few thousand Navy personnel began using it early this summer.

Even everyday conversations that don't involve classified material are self-policing, thanks to a system that prohibits anonymous postings. When a user registers, his or her identity is validated against the Defense Department's personnel directory, and every posting includes a name and a link to the poster's contact information, says Myles Weber, an Appian program manager who works on site with the NKO team.

"It's amazing when you assign an identity, a valid identity, not an alias," Piereman says. "Now I'm Seaman Johnny talking to Capt. Smith, and Capt. Smith is going to know that it's coming from Seaman Johnny. Therefore, I'm going to start my letter with 'Sir.'"

Dissent from the ranks isn't invited, but it also isn't censored, and many officers say they can gain valuable insight from online debates.

"I don't think it topples the chain of command. It reinforces it," says Lt. Mark Preissler, who runs the area of the portal devoted to IT personnel. "Officers can see what is really going on. What are the issues that sailors on the deck plates are really talking about? And sailors come to realize they aren't the only ones with a particular concern. If you see a thread that has 50 people on it, maybe it's something to address."

Besides, the junior enlisted personnel are the ones driving adoption of NKO, Bertsch says. They are young, computer-savvy and comfortable in chat rooms and discussion boards. Before they even reach boot camp, recruits are given an NKO account so they can log on from home.

Morris and Piereman do see most postings in preproduction, not so much to police content but to test for broken links and other quality problems. They also monitor usage patterns to see which sections of the site are getting the most hits and which user groups are most active.

In addition, Morris and Piereman make sure that questions, particularly from enlisted men and women, are answered quickly. If no one answers initially, they will pose the question directly to someone who ought to know the answer. All new pages are pushed out at 1800 hours every day, though there is a further delay when a new community is formed because new menus and links must be generated.