Posts By Ines Mergel

National Archives & FourSquare use: Walk in the Footsteps of the Presidents

I recently attended a webinar hosted by GSA’s Web Manager University who is hosting a series of New Media Talks. I attended a talk by Charles Birnbaum, who is responsible for Business Development and Partnerships at FourSquare.com. on the use of FourSquare in government. He was accompanied by Jill James, social media lead at theRead… Read more »

Dancing for Diplomas

At this year’s convocation, our Maxwell MPA students had to dance before they got their diplomas. In one of our joint Public Organizations & Management sessions some RAs had accidentially hit the disco music button in all classrooms. Rosemary was the only one dancing, so that she gave them all bad grades for their classRead… Read more »

Using social media for non-traditional forms of scholarship

During the last year I was a frequent guest speaker at different University-wide lecture series to talk about my research findings but also my personal use of social media applications as a scholar. I reported about the diverse social media applications I have tested (and abandoned) in the classroom, but also provided insights into howRead… Read more »

TooManyWebsites.gov

This week the White House blog posted a message from Macon Phillips, the White House Director of New Media, titled “TooManyWebsites.gov”. This initiate is part of the Campaign to Cut Waste that the White House launched this week, quoting the President: “As President Obama has said, we can’t win the future with a government ofRead… Read more »

White House crowdsourcing effort to understand their audiences’ social media needs

The White House has recently asked its Facebook fans and Twitter followers to provide feedback on their social media activities. As an example, Twitter users were asked to fill out a short survey (see article in InformationWeek). Follow @whitehouse@whitehouseThe White House We want your feedback. Take a short survey & tell us what you thinkRead… Read more »

IBM report: Using Wikis in Government: A Guide for Public Managers

IBM The Center for Business in Government has just published my first research report on “Using Wikis in Government: A Guide for Public Managers” in their Using Technology section. You can download a pdf version of the report here. Here is a short description of the report from the IBM website: Public leaders face theRead… Read more »

Data.gov in the classroom: Government 2.0 syllabus

Data.gov in the classroom features resources for K-12, Universities, and Education in the World. Among them is Karim Lakhani’s Data.gov case study developed at Harvard Business School, Beth Noveck’s Democracy Design Workshop Do Tank, and now also my Government 2.0 syllabus. I have been teaching this class for the last three years and the onlineRead… Read more »

The Future of Public Administration around the World: The Minnowbrook Perspective

Professors O’Leary, Kim and Van Slyke have just published “The Future of Public Administration around the World: The Minnowbrook Perspective” book. My chapter in the book is title: “The use of social media to dissolve knowledge silos in government”. I argue that public managers are facing the dilemma of ever increasing, changing and complex mandatesRead… Read more »

My “Government 2.0 Revisited” article wins 2010 H. George Frederickson Best Article Award

My “Gov 2.0 Revisited: Social Media Strategies in the Public Sector” article won the PA Times’ 2010 H. George Frederickson Best Article Award. Here is what I submitted as the acceptance note for the January/February 2011 PA Times issue: “I am very honored to accept the PA TIMES Best Article Award for 2010, and wouldRead… Read more »