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The Role of Social Networks in Organizational Learning During a Cyber-Crisis: Evidence from the LIVEWIRE Simulation

Project Summary

This project will examine changes in the content and structure of the communication networks of key federal agencies during the LIVEWIRE simulation, and to understand the implications of these inter-organizational networks for the managment of the response to threats to the Internet, and more generally, the implications for inter-organizational coordination and learning during crises.

After observing the National Cyber Discovery Event known as Livewire, conducted by ISTS at Dartmouth in 2003, Eleanor Lewis and Denise Anthony analyzed the communication (email) networks that emerged over the course of the simulated crisis.  We presented this analysis at the International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA) Sunbelt Conference, in May 2004 (Slovenia).  We are now analyzing the content of the email communication.  By combining an understanding of the communication networks and the content, we hope to understand how orgaizations learn and adapt the ways they use their inter-organizational networks during crisis situations, and for policy regarding the management and response to crises in privately owned and managed collective resources.

Project Lead: Denise Anthony