Modeling Interorganizational Information Integration
Summary
Project started on Dec. 1, 2002 (Completed)
Understanding and supporting information integration is a multidisciplinary undertaking. The project therefore combines perspectives from organizational behavior, computer and information science, and political science. The multi-year research program has concentrated on integration activities in two critical policy areas: justice and public health since they include a full range of functions across all three levels of government. These also are areas in which significant integration initiatives are underway and available for study. Federal, state, and local government agencies are collaborating in the research, as are organizations of government professionals concerned with information technology.
Scope of Work
Current Progress
With the completion of the final data collection phase of the MIII project, CTG is currently analyzing the results from our national survey and continuing to develop various results-oriented academic and practitioner publications. These publications are drawing from this analysis along with the rest of the extensive research data collected throughout this project. Please see Results & Publications below to view existing papers, articles, and other publications and check back periodically for future products.
Project Background
Integrating and sharing information in multi-organizational government settings involves complex interactions within social and technological contexts. It also involves new work processes and significant organizational change. Initiatives to improve the integration and sharing of information in these settings are embedded in larger political and institutional environments that shape their goals and circumscribe their choices. The purpose of this research is to develop and test dynamic models of information integration in these settings.
The research set out to address three basic questions:
- What are the critical factors and processes involved in integrating information across levels and agencies in government? In particular, how do IT and social factors interact to influence the effectiveness of interorganizational information integration?
- How do the factors and processes vary for different types and degrees of integration?
- Can the processes of integration be modeled in ways that improve understanding of information system development and of interorganizational collaboration? Do these models contribute to new theoretical insights for developing and implementing advanced information technology?
The multi-year research program has concentrated on integration activities in two critical policy areas: justice and public health since they include a full range of functions across all three levels of government. These also are areas in which significant integration initiatives are underway and available for study. Federal, state, and local government agencies are collaborating in the research, as are organizations of government professionals concerned with information technology.
Understanding and supporting information integration is a multidisciplinary undertaking. The project therefore combines perspectives from organizational behavior, computer and information science, and political science. Two forms of modeling are being used: system dynamics modeling that emphasizes the temporal and feedback aspects of the process, and social process modeling that emphasizes the way collaboration and shared meanings are developed. These methods build on prior work of the investigators in interorganizational knowledge sharing, collaboration, and government technology innovation. The result will be new models of interorganizational information integration processes that can support system development, and lead to further research and education in the related disciplines.
The research was conducted in three overlapping phases:
- Phase one included two intensive integration projects: one with the leading state-level criminal justice agencies in New York to help them develop a governance structure for statewide criminal justice information sharing initiatives; and one with the New York State Department of Health and related state and local agencies involving a retrospective study of the state’s response to the 1999 West Nile virus outbreak and planning for the reemergence of the virus in 2000. This work was conducted starting in the summer of 2003 and continued through the spring of 2004.
- Phase two included six additional case studies to observe ongoing integration initiatives and to interview key actors; still within the public health and criminal justice policy arenas. This work was conducted in the first half of 2004 and involved the states of Colorado (public health and criminal justice), Connecticut (public health), North Carolina (criminal justice), Oregon (public health), and New York City (criminal justice).
- Phase three included a national survey designed to test the models of integration developed based on the results of phases one and two. The model development work began in summer of 2004 and the final survey was administered in early 2008.
The International Information Sharing Research Network
The first organizing meeting brought together the CTG MIII research team with doctoral students from the University at Albany’s Rockefeller College of Public Administration and Policy and College of Computing and Information.
The first organizing meeting brought together the CTG MIII research team with doctoral students from the University at Albany’s Rockefeller College of Public Administration and Policy and College of Computing and Information. The International Information Sharing Research Network (IISRN), launched in 2007 at the Center for Technology in Government at the University at Albany, State University of New York, is focused on building knowledge about information sharing in an international context and making that new knowledge available to researchers and practitioners around the world. This innovative program brings together doctoral students and faculty in a coordinated research network dedicated to examining key questions of information sharing theory and practice within the domain of government. This innovative network is leveraging present research findings from three U.S. National Science Foundation grants to the Center for Technology in Government by supporting comparative studies of these findings in the form of doctoral research on information sharing conducted in US and non-US contexts. Future plans for IISRN include: creating a repository of culturally sensitive data collection instruments; creating a secure, accessible, and usable data repository; creating a set of resources to inform comparative information sharing research designs, and building a sustainable international research network focused on information sharing in a governmental context.
Dissertation studies are underway in China, Jordan, and Taiwan, with additional studies being planned in Mexico and Saudi Arabia. In their dissertation research, students are drawing on findings from CTG’s Modeling Interorganizational Information Integration (MIII) and Knowledge Networking in the Public Sector (KDI) research studies and working to contribute to the development of new theory in cross-boundary information integration and sharing through testing these findings in an international context. In addition to meeting regularly with IISRN, each student works with his or her dissertation committee at the University at Albany and with academic and practitioner partners in the host country.
IISRN currently involves faculty mentors from the University at Albany, staff from the Center for Technology in Government, and five doctoral students from China, Jordan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and Taiwan who are part of the Public Administration and Policy and Information Science programs at the University as well as one student from the U.S. located at the University of California at Santa Barbara. IISRN meets once a month to discuss network goals, key challenges in comparative information sharing studies, dissertation progress to date, and future opportunities; as well as to share knowledge about relevant topics such as comparative research design and issues related to human subjects.
An overview of key activities of the Network to-date are provided below:
Guest Speakers
Guest speakers have provided IISRN with a series of presentations on design issues in comparative studies and information sharing theory and practice issues. Speakers have included:
- Terry Maxwell: Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Information Studies at the University at Albany
- J. Ramon Gil-Garcia: Assistant Professor and Director of the Data Center for Applied Research in Social Sciences at Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE) in Mexico
- Alan Wagner: Professor and Chair of the Department of Educational Administration and Policy Studies at the University at Albany
- Sharon Dawes: Associate Professor in Public Administration and Policy at the University at Albany, and Senior Fellow at the Center for Technology in Government
Knowledge transfer - Building capability for comparative and internationals studies
Members of the Network have created a wiki to support the sharing of documents such as human subjects applications for studies conducted in a non-US context as well as the related attachments to these applications such as letters of support from academics or practitioners in the country of interest, as well as relevant papers and presentations written by group members.
Invited presentations
IISRN was invited to present at the Third Annual Informatics Spring Research Conference (NTIR) held by the College of Computing and Information at the University at Albany. The Network was also invited to present its most recent efforts in an invited session at the Second International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (ICEGOV) in Cairo, Egypt in December of 2008.
Publications
Mulki, F., Zheng, L., Yang, T., & Pardo, T. A. (2008). International Research Program in Cross-Boundary Information Sharing. In Proceedings of the 2008 International Conference on Digital Government Research (pp. 409-410). Montreal, Canada: Digital Government Society of North America.
Network Founders and Organizing Team
- Theresa A. Pardo: Deputy Director, Center for Technology in Government
- Fawzi Mulki: Research Assistant, Center for Technology in Government and Informatics PhD. Student
- Lei Zheng: Research Assistant, Center for Technology in Government and Public Administration and Policy PhD. Student
- G. Brian Burke: Senior Program Associate, Center for Technology in Government
- Anna Raup-Kounovsky: Program Staff Assistant, Center for Technology in Government
Network Members
- David Andersen: Distinguished Service Professor in Public Administration and Policy, University at Albany
- Sharon Dawes: Associate Professor in Public Administration and Policy, University at Albany, and Senior Fellow at the Center for Technology in Government
- Terry Maxwell: Associate Professor in Information Studies, University at Albany
- Rey Koslowski: Associate Professor in Political Science, University at Albany
- Tung-Mou Yang: PhD. Student, University at Albany, Department of Informatics
- Gabriel Cid: PhD. Student, University at Albany, Department of Public Administration and Policy
- Mohammed Gharawi: PhD. Student, University at Albany, Department of Informatics
- Kimberly Stoltzfus: PhD. Student, University of California Santa Barbara, Department of Communication
Press Releases & News Stories
Press Releases
- UAlbany’s Center for Technology in Government Releases Findings on a National Survey of Cross-Boundary Information Sharing
- UAlbany Center Partners with European Union
- UAlbany's Center for Technology in Government Leads Study of Government Information Integration
CTG In the News
CTG Online News
- Theresa Pardo presents paper on cross-boundary information sharing at ICEG 2009 Conference in Boston
Publications & Results
Issue Brief
Report
Journal Articles & Conference Papers
- Clarity of Roles and Responsibilities in Government Cross-Boundary Information Sharing Initiatives: Identifying the Determinants
- Governance structures in cross-boundary information sharing: Lessons from state and local criminal justice initiatives
- Informal leadership and networks: Lessons from the response to the West Nile Virus outbreak in North America
- Government leadership in multi-sector IT-enabled networks: Lessons from the response to the West Nile Virus outbreak
- Emergence of the governance structure for information integration across governmental agencies: A system dynamics approach
- From Agency to Structure: Analysis of an Episode in a Facilitation Process
- Multi-method approaches to understanding the complexity of e-government
- Building response capacity through cross-boundary information sharing: The critical role of trust
- Multi-Method Approaches to Digital Government Research: Value Lessons and Implementation Challenges
- Understanding the Complexity of E-Government: Multi-method Approaches to Social Phenomena
- Interorganizational Information Integration in the Criminal Justice Enterprise: Preliminary Lessons from State and County Initiatives
- Criminal Justice culture in the United States: A context for understanding aspects of organizational change
- Emergence of the governance structure for information integration across governmental agencies: A system dynamics approach
- Scripts for interrupted group model building: Lessons from modeling the emergence of governance structures for information integration across governmental agencies
- Modeling the social and technical processes of interorganizational information integration
Book Chapters
- Information Sharing and Public Health: A Case-based Look at the ICT Expectations-Reality Gap
- Sustainable cross-boundary information sharing
Partners
Government Partners
- New York State Criminal Justice Information Technology Group
- New York State Department of Health
Academic Partners
- David Andersen, Distinguished Service Professor, Department of Public Administration and Policy, Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy, University at Albany, SUNY
- François Cooren, Associate Professor, Department of Communication, University at Albany, SUNY
- George Richardson, Professor, Department of Public Administration and Policy, Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy, University at Albany, SUNY
- Anna Sidorova, Assistant Professor, Department of Management Science and Information Systems, School of Business, University at Albany, SUNY
- Tomek Strazlkowski, Associate Professor, Computer Science, University at Albany, SUNY
- Giri Tayi, Professor, Department of Management Science and Information Systems, School of Business, University at Albany, SUNY
Center for Technology in Government
- Brian Burke, Research Associate
- Tamas Bodor, Graduate Assistant
- Donna Canestraro, Project Manager
- Anthony Cresswell, Co-Principal Investigator
- Sharon Dawes, Principal Investigator
- Fikret Demircivi, Graduate Assistant
- Theresa Pardo, Co-Principal Investigator
- Fiona Thompson, Co-Principal Investigator
- Yi-jung Wu, Graduate Assistant
Funding Sources
The project is funded in part through a grant from the National Science Foundation, grant number ITR-0205152.