Leah Davis, senior research associate with the Center for Digital Inclusion (CDI), will speak at the Information and Communications Technology in Organizations and Society Conference (ICTO2018) on March 23 in Paris. Davis and Alice Robbin (Indiana University) will present their paper, "The Problematic of Governance under Conditions of Catastrophic Disaster: Theoretical Frames for Understanding the Response to the Hurricane Season in the United States, 2005-2017," which has been selected as a finalist for best conference paper.
"In our paper, we explore the relationships between governance, intergovernmental networks, social and ecological systems, and technical systems, and its effect on communities impacted by three catastrophic Hurricanes (Katrina, Sandy, Harvey), including their ability to be more sustainable and resilient," explained Davis. "This paper is a first step in further exploring ICTs and building resilient communities, which includes issues of access and inclusion."
Davis is currently engaged in research analyzing information technology use and knowledge sharing among public sector organizations. Specifically, her research examines communication processes used to carry out federal disaster response policy in public management networks. She received her PhD from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University, where she studied policy analysis and public management. She completed a minor in Information Science from the School of Library and Information Science at Indiana University.