Research Summaries

Back Virtual World DNA: Virtual World Dynamic Network Analysis

Fiscal Year 2009
Division Graduate School of Operational & Information Sciences
Department Computer Science
Investigator(s) Singh, Gurminder
Sponsor Space & Naval Warfare Systems Command (Navy)
Summary In the last decade, social network analysis (SNA) tools have gained considerable interest in the intelligence and military communities as terrorist networks have become more global, decentralized, and flexible. Additionally, recent concerns have been voiced that social networking websites and virtual worlds provide likely breeding grounds for terrorist recruitment, communication, and coordination activities. This Innovation Project will research and develop necessary tools and techniques for dynamic network analysis (DNA) of terrorist activities in virtual worlds such as Second Life. Research will be conducted into applying network theoretic tools to understanding if and how terrorist networks can take advantage of virtual worlds, and furthermore, how strategies can be developed to disrupt these networks. First, techniques for personal and automated data mining for intelligence information will be investigated. Next, tools will be designed capable of graphically depicting network topological structures from such mined intelligence. Finally, dynamic network tools will be investigated and developed to provide information about (1) the structural composition of a given network, (2) how networks can be dynamically updated with new information, and (3) how networks can be maximally influenced or disrupted. It is expected that this Innovation Project will provide technologies and capabilities that will be beneficial to military operations and will advance SSC-Atlantic's role in Science and Technology (S&T) efforts.
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Publications Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal
Data Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal