07/02/2026
Today's a bit of a travel story and a toot of the horn in celebration.
Ey, Cairns-Lee, and I submitted a paper, Metaphor as Cognitive Infrastructure: Surfacing Mental Models in Naturalistic Decision Making, for presentation at the 2026 Naturalistic Decision Making Association (NDM) conference.
Paper Highlights:
Our 2026 submission was nominated for the Gary Klein Award that honors best contributions to NDM Theory. 🎉 We didn't take first place, but this year's paper has been referred to an outside journal. More soon on where this paper goes next.
This is our second conference submission and our second nomination. We must be doing something right! In 2024, Pam Ey and I submitted a paper, Cognitive Task Analysis Using Clean Question, introducing clean questions and Clean Language interviewing to the NDM community. This was nominated for the Robert Hoffman Award recognizing a best contribution to NDM methodology.
I live in Oregon and while traveling to Charlottesville VA I worried about thunderstorms and thick humidity. What I found is practically perfect weather and a city remarkable for its history that smelled like water and fresh foliage with lingering hints of BBQ.
At this conference I got to meet Pamela Ey Ey, in person for the first time in the five-plus years we've been talking, generating ideas, and writing together. It was a delight. I met new people in the NDM community, and, unsurprisingly learned more than I expected.
Food highlights: Acadian redfish (ocean perch), the best cheesy grits of my life, and thick crispy southern bacon.
What stands out most isn't the nomination itself, though that brings a deep satisfaction. It's the relationships that came together, the new friends made, the curiosity shared, and the conversations sparked.
The NDM Community is ever curious and open armed about new ideas and contributions to the field.
*A note of recognition to Pamela Ey for being on the Gary Klein Award nomination list twice!
