Implementing Cross-Agency Collaboration – New IBM Report by Professor Jane Fountain

IBM – Center for the Business of Government just published a new report in their collaborative governance series on “Implementing Cross-Agency Collaboration”. Based on Professor Fountain’s in-depth analysis of collaboration projects in the U.S. federal government, the report provides insights into two main factors that support effective collaboration in government: people skills to develop trust,

New article: Networks in Public Administration in PMR

My co-authors Jesse Lecy (GSU), Hans Peter Schmitz (SU) and I have published an article in Public Management Review: Lecy, J., Mergel, I., Schmitz, H. P. (2013): Networks in Public Administration, published online DOI:10.1080/14719037.2012.743577, in: Public Management Review. [Link to pre-publication version on SSRN] Here is the abstract: Network-focused research in public administration has expanded rapidly

Navy recommends LinkedIn for employees

            I came across this SlideShare presentation today via FedScoop and think it is worth sharing: The Navy recommends to use LinkedIn (I assume as opposed to Facebook) as a way to tell the story of the Navy in an online environment where professionals share information. They recognize that many thousands

New working paper: Tying the network together

David Lazer (Northeastern & Harvard University) and I have just posted a new working paper titled “Tying the network together – Evaluating the Impact of an Intervention into the Advice Network of Public Managers“. It’s up on the Social Science Research Network for comments. We are in the process of making some substantial changes to

Academic networking & social media

I recently presented my ideas on why academics should tweet and blog too at a symposium at Syracuse University called “Tenure Track Dream Team”. A little over 140 students who are currently on the job market attended the day – about 8-10 were actively using Twitter and 2-3 tweeted during the conference. I focused my

Govt 2.0: From Tools to Policy to Convergence (crossposting)

Crossposted from Bill Greeves’ blog: As I think back over the past two years, specifically with my involvement in the world of Government 2.0, I can’t help but think its adoption has coalesced into three phases. Nearly all of us have experienced some aspect of Phase I: Tools. What is Government 2.0? How does Twitter

James Fowler on the Colbert Report

James Fowler talks about the strong influence of social networks and how they affect our lives: The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c <td style='padding:2px 1px 0px 5px;' colspan='2'James Fowler http://www.colbertnation.com Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Economy

It’s not all about Facebook…

The following graphic from Vinco’s blog shows the “World Map of Social Networks” and even though Facebook seems to be dominant, there are a lot of regions around the world where it’s not all about Facebook:

A Call for Papers on Twitter networks at the 2010 Sunbelt Social Networks Conference

At the 2010 International Sunbelt Social Networks Conference, to take place at Riva del Garda, Trento, Italy, from June 29 to July 4, 2010, we intend to organize a session on Twitter networks. We are looking for papers with empirical evidence using the social networking and micro-blogging service Twitter.com. Twitter has become one of the

Book: Influence of social networks on the adoption of eLearning practices

On a personal note: Just designed the cover of a new publication. My dissertation (from 2005) will be available in a print-on-demand version soon. An increasing number of public institutions of higher education are realizing that there is a need to integrate innovative technologies into their curricula in order to enable students to access and