The modern military command center is a hybrid system of computer automated surveillance and human oriented decision making. In these distributed cognition systems, data overload refers simultaneously to the glut of raw data processed by information technology systems and the dearth of actionable knowledge useful to human decision makers. Designing new systems that mitigates this paradox of data availability is a challenge that faces multiple scientific and engineering disciplines. This thesis surveyed the literature from the following fields and disciplines in order to comprehensively evaluate their characterizations and solutions to the problem of data overload: (1) Multi Sensor Data Fusion (2) Cognitive Systems Engineering (3) Human Computer Interaction (4) Decision Making (5) Computer Supported Collaborative Work. The outcome of the literature review is a new taxonomy for describing data overload problems in distributed cognition systems. This new taxonomy synergizes the various unique perspectives offered from the literature to provide an interdisciplinary tool that can be employed to diagnose reported problems of data overload in distributed cognition systems. This dissertation demonstrates the application of the taxonomy to the NeoCITIES simulation. NeoCITIES is a simulated command and control environment designed to mimic the sensemaking and decision making processes of analysts in 9-1-1 dispatch centers. The NeoCITIES task environment was selected for the experimental task in this dissertation. Experimental manipulations were designed to recreate data overload conditions in NeoCITIES and explore the impact of new team user interface elements. New team user interface elements were designed to mitigate communication aspects of data overload as defined by the taxonomy. This dissertation summarizes the results of 28 team experiments conducted with 84 participants in the spring semester of 2009. The results were applied to the main research question investigating the relationship between data overload and team user interface elements as it pertains to the team's task performance, communication behavior, and perception. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]