Ines Anja Mergel

Publications

• Networks, Hierarchies, and Markets: Aggregating Collective Problem Solving in Social Systems

  David Lazer, Ines Mergel, Curt Ziniel, Kevin Esterling, Michael Neblo

  Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Working Paper Series. 01/2009;

  How do decentralized systems collectively solve problems? Here we explore the interplay among three canonical forms of collective organization--markets, networks, and hierarchies--in aggregating decentralized problem solving. We examine these constructs in the context of how the offices of members o... [more] How do decentralized systems collectively solve problems? Here we explore the interplay among three canonical forms of collective organization--markets, networks, and hierarchies--in aggregating decentralized problem solving. We examine these constructs in the context of how the offices of members of Congress individually and collectively wrestle with the Internet, and, in particular, their use of official websites. Each office is simultaneously making decisions about how to utilize their website. These decisions are only partially independent, where offices are looking at each other for lessons, following the same directives from above about what to do with the websites, and confront the same array of potential vendors to produce their website. Here we present the initial results from interviews with 99 Congressional offices and related survey of 100 offices about their decisions regarding how to use official Member websites. Strikingly, we find that there are relatively few efforts by offices to evaluate what constituents want or like on their websites. Further, we find that diffusion occurs at the "tip of the iceberg": offices often look at each others' websites (which are publicly visible), but rarely talk to each other about their experiences or how they manage what is on their websites (which are not publicly visible). We also find that there are important market drivers of what is on websites, with the emergence of a small industry of companies seeking to serve the 440 Members. Hierarchical influences--through the House and through the party conferences--also constrain and subsidize certain practices.

  Download

• Lending a Helping Hand: Voluntary Engagement in Knowledge Sharing

  Ines Mergel, David Lazer, Maria Binz-Scharf

  11/2008;

  Knowledge is essential for the functioning of every social system, especially for professionals in knowledge-intensive organizations. Since individuals do not possess all the work-related knowledge that they require, they turn to others in search for that knowledge. While prior research has mainly f... [more] Knowledge is essential for the functioning of every social system, especially for professionals in knowledge-intensive organizations. Since individuals do not possess all the work-related knowledge that they require, they turn to others in search for that knowledge. While prior research has mainly focused on antecedents and consequences of knowledge sharing and understanding why people do not share knowledge, less is known why people provide knowledge, and what conditions trigger voluntary engagement in knowledge sharing. Our paper addresses this gap by proposing a multi-level framework for voluntary engagement in knowledge sharing: individual, relational, group, and informational. We provide illustrations from a particular knowledge-intensive community, DNA forensic scientists who work at public laboratories.

  Download

• Searching for Answers: Networks of Practice among Public Administrators

  David Lazer, Maria Binz-Schaft, Ines Mergel

  Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Working Paper Series. 01/2008;

  The obstacles to innovation in government have been the subject of much academic scrutiny. Far less studied, however, has been the sharing of innovation among public administrators. How does a lesson learned, for example, in one agency provide insights that other agencies might borrow? Such sharing ... [more] The obstacles to innovation in government have been the subject of much academic scrutiny. Far less studied, however, has been the sharing of innovation among public administrators. How does a lesson learned, for example, in one agency provide insights that other agencies might borrow? Such sharing of experiences across agency boundaries, while at times potentially offering enormous value to the system as a whole, faces substantial challenges. In the US, one fundamental challenge is the natural dispersion of government across the country, within state and local government. We examine the alternative mechanisms that evolve within the public sector to compensate for this dispersion of expertise. In particular, we argue that the knowledge sharing practices of DNA forensic scientists working in government crime labs constitute such an alternative mechanism. Findings from an in-depth case study of this community suggest that concerns around trust, reliability, and cost, interacting with context specific features, result in the emergence of a network of practice that is fairly parochial, with a few dominant hubs, and a reliance on different channels depending on the needs for security in communication. We conclude by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.

  Download

• Members of congress websites: diffusion at the tip of the iceberg.

  David Lazer, Ines Mergel, Curt Ziniel, Kevin Esterling, Michael Neblo

  Proceedings of the 8th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research, Bridging Disciplines & Domains, DG.O 2007, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, May 20-23, 2007; 01/2007

• Connecting to Congress.

  David Lazer, Kevin Esterling, Michael Neblo, Jane E. Fountain, Ines Mergel, Curt Ziniel

  Proceedings of the 7th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research, DG.O 2006, San Diego, California, USA, May 21-24, 2006; 01/2006

• Electronic communication in a geographically dispersed community of forensic scientists.

  Ines Mergel, David Lazer, Maria Christina Binz-Scharf

  Proceedings of the 2005 National Conference on Digital Government Research, DG.O 2005, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, May 15-18, 2005; 01/2005

• Connecting to congress: project highlights.

  David Lazer, Kevin Esterling, Michael Neblo, Jane E. Fountain, Ines Mergel, Curt Ziniel

  Proceedings of the 2005 National Conference on Digital Government Research, DG.O 2005, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, May 15-18, 2005; 01/2005

• The National Center for Digital Government: Integrating Information and Institutions.

  Jane E. Fountain, David Lazer, Robin McKinnon, Ines Mergel

  01/2004

• Text und Kontext. Integration von eLearning-Elementen in angloamerikanischen Lehrbüchern.

  Dieter Euler, Ines Mergel

  University of St.Gallen.

• Dialogplattform Knowledge Management der Deutschen Bank AG (Internal Paper)

  Oliver Bendel, Daniel Stoller-Schai, Ines Mergel, Andrea Back

  http://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/Publikationen/66966.

• Government 2.0 Revisited: Social Media Strategies in the Public Sector

  Ines Mergel

  Public Administration.

  Government 2.0–or the use of social media in the public sector–has become a hot topic. Agencies and departments on all levels of government are adding Facebook, Twitter or YouTube buttons to their otherwise static–infrequently updated–websites. It is still not clear how successful and useful social ... [more] Government 2.0–or the use of social media in the public sector–has become a hot topic. Agencies and departments on all levels of government are adding Facebook, Twitter or YouTube buttons to their otherwise static–infrequently updated–websites. It is still not clear how successful and useful social media is in the public sector and how agencies can design their own social media strategies.

• Networks, Hierarchies, and Markets: Aggregating Collective Problem Solving in Social Systems

  David M. Lazer, Ines Mergel, Curt Ziniel, Michael Neblo

  How do decentralized systems collectively solve problems? Here we explore the interplay among three canonical forms of collective organization—markets, networks, and hierarchies—in aggregating decentralized problem solving. We examine these constructs in the context of how the offices of members of ... [more] How do decentralized systems collectively solve problems? Here we explore the interplay among three canonical forms of collective organization—markets, networks, and hierarchies—in aggregating decentralized problem solving. We examine these constructs in the context of how the offices of members of Congress individually and collectively wrestle with the Internet, and, in particular, their use of official websites. Each office is simultaneously making decisions about how to utilize their website. These decisions are only partially independent, where offices are looking at each other for lessons, following the same directives from above about what to do with the websites, and confront the same array of potential vendors to produce their website. Here we present the initial results from interviews with 99 Congressional offices and related survey of 100 offices about their decisions regarding how to use official Member websites. Strikingly, we find that there are relatively few efforts by offices to evaluate what constituents want or like on their websites. Further, we find that diffusion occurs at the “tip of the iceberg”: offices often look at each others’ websites (which are publicly visible), but rarely talk to each other about their experiences or how they manage what is on their websites (which are not publicly visible). We also find that there are important market drivers of what is on websites, with the emergence of a small industry of companies seeking to serve the 440 Members. Hierarchical influences—through the House and through the party conferences—also constrain and subsidize certain practices.

• Interorganizational attention network in the diffusion of innovative e-Government practices

  Ines Mergel, Alexandra Collm

  http://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/Publikationen/68149.

  The diffusion of innovative e-Government practices in times of economic crisis and shrinking budgets is especially challenging on the local government level. Agencies are forced to accomplish more tasks with fewer resources and are therefore hesitant to innovate without knowing the consequences. Our... [more] The diffusion of innovative e-Government practices in times of economic crisis and shrinking budgets is especially challenging on the local government level. Agencies are forced to accomplish more tasks with fewer resources and are therefore hesitant to innovate without knowing the consequences. Our assumption is that diffusion of innovative e-Government practices takes place incrementally through a complex network of formal and informal relationships across agencies. Public managers use a variety of information sources for decision-making (Kraemer and Danziger, 1993). This is especially true for the local level where many different actors have an impact on the decision to implement e-Government innovations (Gil-Garcia and Martinez-Moyano, 2007). As a result, studies have shown that the diffusion of e-Government practices in the public sector spreads incrementally on the local level (West, 2005). Individual municipal governments often lack the infrastructure and resources needed in order to realize e-Government innovations and our hypothesis is that they turn to their peers for informal advice. So far, there is little evidence on how ICT is diffusing from innovators to late adopters within the complex system of federal, state and local government. To understand how these diffusion processes occur, we are using a social network approach to understand the informal information-sharing network among municipal CIOs in Switzerland that might help public managers to learn about best practices of their neighboring municipalities. In our initial data collection, we included 85 municipalities of one Swiss canton. We administered an online questionnaire, asking the municipal CIOs to indicate their informal information sharing approaches when it comes to ICT and best practices of e-Government solutions. In addition, we also collected information about the inter-agency interactions between the municipalities and the cantonal (state) agencies, to understand how formal, top-down information is spread through the system and might effect the municipal decision making when it comes to e-Government practices. The first results show a tight-knit - although sporadically used - network of information sharing between municipal CIOs to exchange best practices information, as well as a hubspoke network highlighting a hierarchy of attention towards those agencies considered as high performers.