Abstract
This paper uses the hyperlink structure of federal web sites within the .gov domain to answer two research questions: to what degree does the online structure of the federal government mirror its offline hierarchy, and to what degree does the .gov web graph mirror the greater WWW graph. Findings of subgraph link analysis and Krackhardt’s graph theoretical dimensions of hierarchy analysis demonstrate clear hierarchy within the .gov domain, but also suggest great discrepancies in the linking patterns of different government departments. Structural analysis suggests that the .gov web graph is indeed a fractal leaf of the greater WWW graph.
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