Rules and a rubric could be used to assess the openness of a homeland security enterprise social network

Abstract

The Homeland Security Enterprise (HSE) lacks a process to create a body of knowledge to unify its stakeholders. This thesis asked if a set of rules and an assessment methodology could be applied to three wikis to illustrate how the rules can improve the quality of information-sharing across the HSE. The research for this thesis applied a set of rules and an assessment methodology to case studies testing the hypothesis that wikis are a good example of an enterprise social network (ESN) and could serve to meet the information needs of the HSE. The methodology will apply Bloom's Taxonomy to a rubric and establish a current status, as well as plan a path ahead for development. This thesis investigated the demand for improved information sharing and some existing platforms, and developed an assessment rule set and rubric. It then discovered the openness strengths and weaknesses of three case studies using the rules and rubric. Our conclusions are that the rules and rubric are adequate to develop paths to improvement for existing platforms, as well as to aid in the planning of future ESNs with the intention of developing a wiki-based homeland security-centric ESN designed to create an HSE body of knowledge.