Positive and negative impacts of Army Knowledge Online on military users

Military IT: Army Knowledge Online (AKO)

A Brief Reminder Of The Name And Purpose Of Your Chosen Information System

According to the site provided by Army Knowledge Online (AKO), the AKO system is the largest intranet in the world. With more than 2 million users, the AKO is a single portal for active servicemen and women for both operational and personal use. (Rouse, p. 1) The system offers email services and access to mission information as well as various platforms for engagement with others and the sharing of critical military information and data.

Positive and negative impacts your information system has on the users of the system

The positive impacts of the AKO system are considerable. As this system has evolved over the course of two decades, it has become the primary military Information System for the establishment of an internal knowledge economy. Such is to say that the AKO produces a singular destination both for servicemen and civilians to access declassified and public reports, studies and other documents relating to military policy, strategy, history and current or ongoing operations. The AKO offers a greater degree of transparency and information accessibility than has been previously available.

Also, as a system which is mandatory for all enlisted personnel, the AKO is the only intranet system to which every member of the U.S. military is given shared access. This promotes one of the most effectively unified sources of data, information and knowledge on military undertakings and defining policy features in existence.

The positive impact of AKO is also highlighted by the access which it provides to retired military personnel and to families of active servicemen and women. The forum that it provides both for direct communication and for access to more than 300 different military information and operation applications creates a highly intertwined network of personnel. In a sense, the AKO shrinks the bureaucratic obstacles of the military while simultaneously maintaining a network of unparalleled enormity. (Rouse, p. 1)

The negative impacts that may be said to emerge from the AKO largely revolve on its relatively cumbersome nature. Due to the extra precautions which must be taken to protect sensitive information and the steps that are taken toward identity verification, many end-users have complained about the system's technological limitations. According to some servicemen and women, limitations in the system include a slower-than-desirable speed of operation and some problems with universal web browser compatibility. While extra steps must surely be taken to produce the adequate level of security restriction for potentially sensitive information and correspondence, the technological shortcomings of the AKO have led some would-be end-users to favor their own email platforms over the mandatory system. (DDS, p. 1) In fact, the DDS reports that only 10% of active servicemen make use of the system today.