About the Simulation
How can I participate?
The Simulation is a big job, and we’re always looking for help. There are three main ways you can participate:
Shadow Players (Expert Players)
Students in the Simulation are often starved for accurate, relevant information, and they need to get this info from reliable sources. Shadow players are expert role-players that work behind the scenes, often becoming ad-hoc government officials, expert consultants, law enforcement agents — the list goes on. Each year, we look for experts in counter-terrorism, political science, law, law enforcement, and experts in a variety of other area depending on the situation to lend their expertise to the students and manipulate the storyline as it progresses. If you are interested in becoming an expert player please contact us.
“UNN” Crew
The Simulation’s fake news network, “UNN”, is a large part of what makes it so realistic and successful. The UNN team consists of a real newsroom staffed by journalism students and led by real-life news reporters. The network serves up real-time, breaking news about simulated events and the students’ responses to them in both written news stories and a simulated television broadcast. Journalism students from the 2010 simulation said their involvement was one of the most fun and most educational experiences of their lives. If you would like to participate in the news room, please contact us. We are also looking for people with technical experience to set up and run equipment.
Viewers
The Simulation is streamed live across the internet. Through this website you can watch the Simulation, switch between the different cities, chat with the shadow players and experts, and watch the UNN team in action. Additionally, coming in 2011, you will be able to comment on the student’s decisions and discuss what other choices the students could have made.
What is the Simulation?
The Simulation is an annual created by Professor Amos Guiora as part of his class on counter-terrorism. Students in the class study terrorism and counter-terrorism throughout the semester. The class culminates in a a half-day simulation exercise where the students have to use the discussions in class to respond to multiple terrorist attacks. During the Simulation the students are confronted with dilemmas faced by actual policy and decision makers in the real world.
Student enrolled in the course are assigned critical positions in the United States government like President of the United States, CIA Director, Secretary of State, Attorney General, local police chiefs, or local mayors. Moreover, the Simulation incorporates experts from around the world to participate in the exercise, including law enforcement officials, attorneys from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and leading news reporters. In the 2010 Simulation, a student playing the role of a U.S. District Attorney in Baltimore argued against an expert U.S. Attorney from the U.S. Attorney’s Office to attempt to obtain a wiretap on an alleged terrorist.
The Simulation is written by students who participated in the previous year’s simulation and the situation varies based on new threats that the United States experiences every year.
Who Puts it Together?
The Simulation is collaborative exercise combining the efforts of the University of Utah, the S.J. Quinney College of Law, the Technology Department at the College of Law, the local and international community, and students.
Who Creates the Simulation?
The Simulation is written each year by students who participated in the previous simulation. These students look at current terrorism threats and create a new situation each year for the counter-terrorism course by Professor Amos Guiora. The 2011 Simulation Team is Erin Byrington, Felicity Murphy, Harini Venkatesan, and Katee Tyler.
Who Produces the Simulation?
The Simulation is produced and broadcast live by the indomitable Technology Department at the University of Utah. The Technology Department creates and designs the Simulation website, figures out the technology used during the simulation, runs the internet broadcast of the Simulation, and makes sure that everything runs smoothly for the viewers and the participants.
Who Participates in the Simulation?
The Simulation includes a wide variety of participants. The featured players are the students, who over the semester have been discussing and researching counter-terrorism policy. During the Simulation they are the stars of the show, making the decisions and choosing the outcome of the situation.
Supporting the students is the media. The media is lead by leading news reporters and incorporates journalism students from local universities and colleges who act as news and television journalists. The media social pressure similar to the real world.
Behind the scenes are the shadow players, the people that direct the students through the Simulation. Shadow players include the writers of the simulation, former simulation students, and expert players from the larger community. The shadow players guide the students through the simulation providing information and guiding the players to make decisions.