Back stage on the front lines

While tactical command. control and communication environments might appear to be entirely instrumental in nature, they nevertheless provide a setting for social interaction. This paper describes how such interaction occurs in a particular naval tactical command and control system, focusing on the shared perspectives created by the organizational, administrative and professional aspects of the environment and on issues of self-presentation. It is argued that the complexity and multiplicity of interactional regions in this environment lead to problematic situations for key actors, and that these problems may have relevance to future computing environments.