Research into what government agencies did in the midst of the World Trade Center crisis, and the role of IT in the events, can provide valuable lessons for improving crisis emergency management and planning. Equally important, the preparedness and interdependencies that this emergency response warranted put in place human, organizational, and technological resources that may well benefit overall government operations in normal times.

This premise is at the heart of a new study by CTG and project partner Urban Logic, Inc. which is funded by a $100,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Digital Government Program.

The research strategy focuses first on those who worked at Pier 92, where New York City's Emergency Operations Center was established after its formal EOC was destroyed by the collapse of the World Trade Center. By starting at the "nerve center" of the response, rescue, and recovery effort, the study expects to be able to follow and document the network of relationships, information flows, and actions that represent a range of government responsibilities, and to identify the partners inside and outside government who played integral roles in the effort.

• National Science Foundation
• Urban Logic, Inc.