Command and control

From eg

A command and control system is one in which commit/command/control relationships are relatively fixed. That is, a single early commitment tends to determine the command, and the commanders tend to design the controls. This made some sense in a world where controls required specific instrumentation or language to be designed, and where commitments were extremely hard to get while actually performing operations. Today neither of these constraints tends to be true, opening up the possibility of models like the smart mob or wisdom of crowds or mass peer review or peer consensus which rely on just-in-time commit and general purpose accountability mechanisms, e.g. versions and event logs and digital surveillance systems. Given these, most command and control systems are now suited only for emergency response, vehicles or closely coordinated fleets of vehicles or personnel.

A more political perspective would emphasize the implications of the command and control system for the society which authorizes and funds it, which tends to take on some of its attributes, e.g. a political party would tend to be run more like an army or a navy.

A military perspective, from which the term originally arose usually emphasizes also communications and an information warfare perspective in which to keep secrets is essential.

See also bunkohedron.