From vision to interoperability: an analysis of Department of Defense and service initiatives

This paper is an assessment of Department of Defense (DoD) and service initiatives to ensure joint interoperability of Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (C41) systems. Using a consolidated initiative matrix, visions and actions are reviewed to identify intent, and existing documents used by C41 system planners, designers, and developers are assessed against essential system development criteria, required baseline actions, to achieve interoperability. Findings reveal that interoperability development guidance and tools do not address mission-specific parameters of C4I systems. Not all C4I systems are the same. Mission-specific requirements dictate whether a system is interoperable or not. The current interoperability definition is quite vague for mission-specific systems, and existing DoD and service initiatives only address general guidance to focus system development. Common mission-specific cases are provided and demonstrate that achieving interoperability is more than general guidance and more than the ability to pass data or information through seamless interfaces to ensure that systems are functional. Interoperability must be further defined by analyzing a C41 system's unique mission. Finally, to guide C41 system design, a framework to establish quantifiable thresholds is developed and presented using existing joint doctrinehttp://archive.org/details/fromvisiontointe00maioCaptain, United States ArmyApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Life After Fordism: Detroit Business Practices and Their Impacts on Global Social and Economic Landscapes

Metro Detroit is the clearest articulation of Fordism and Post-Fordism management practices on economic and social landscapes. Urban structures and corporate management practices are not mutually exclusive entities. In contemporary consumerist culture, whole cities are products to be marketed, sold, consumed and eventually thrown out. As this consumerist culture exports itself as globalization, Detroit will be replayed time and time again unless a change in corporate management practices are made – an era after Fordism and Post-Fordism. I will first explain, in greater detail, why Detroit is the best representative of Fordist and Post-Fordist management practices and their effects on the American metropolis. Then I will explain the concept of Fordism, how it morphed into post-Fordism/Globalization/Neoliberalism and why post-Fordism fails to rectify Fordism’s shortcomings. Finally, I will discuss solutions to the current state of the Neoliberal, Post-Fordist conception of capitalism and explain how they are being realized, or unrealized in Detroit