My research focuses on scholarly and applied work in the areas of institutional perspectives on technology and governance; government organizations, primarily cross-boundary arrangements for public problem solving; and, more broadly, science, technology and public policy. Selected articles, chapters, and other writing are on this page. Books and monographs may be found here.

Institutional Perspectives on Technology and Governance and Digital Government

Digital technologies and media are in recursive relationship with governance as emergent arrangements are developed by policy entrepreneurs. Existing power relationships and institutions, from micro to macro, influence technology enactment as much as new technologies shape organizations and behavior.

The Algorithmic State? Challenges to Democracy in an Era of Digitalization (pdf). Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review, Spring 2023, No. 445. Special issue, Ireland 2030: Thinking Ahead.

The moon, the ghetto and artificial intelligence: Reducing systemic racism in computational algorithms (pdf). Government Information Quarterly, 39(2), April 2022. Special issue, Digital Government Transformation in Turbulent Times: Responses, Challenges, and Future Directions.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2021.101645

Data Privacy and Security: An Agenda for 2021. Costis Toregas, Jane Fountain, Nick Hart, James Hendler, Mark Reger, Priscilla Regan, Peter Winokur. Washington, DC: National Academy of Public Administration, Election 2020 Project. 2020. 20 pages.

The Wicked Nature of Digital Transformation: A Policy Perspective. Dubai Policy Review. January 2020.

Organizing for Results: Fostering cross-agency collaboration and networked governance. In Government with the People: A New Formula for Creating Public Value. With Olli-Pekka Heinonen, Yasar Jarrar, Gregory Curtain, Helen Margetts, and Anne-Marie Slaughter. Geneva: World Economic Forum, 2017.

Disjointed Innovation: The Political Economy of Digital Government Development. Proceedings of the First National Symposium on Innovation in the Public Sector. Belo Horizonte, Brazil: Editores Arraes, 2016. (Portuguese translation)

Digital Government (pdf), in William S. Bainbridge and Mihail C. Roco, eds., Handbook of Science and Technology Convergence. Springer, 2016.

Connecting Technologies to Citizenship (pdf), in M. Pagano, ed., Technology and the Resilience of Metropolitan Regions, University of Illinois Press, 2015.

On the Effects of E-Government on Political Institutions (pdf), in D. Kleinman and K. Moore, eds., Handbook of Science, Technology and Society, Routledge, 2014.

The Future of Government Smart Toolbox. (coauthor). Geneva: World Economic Forum, 2014.

— The Role of Technology in Political Representation, in Global Agenda Council on the Future of Governments, eds., Future of Government Smart Toolbox, Geneva: World Economic Forum, 2014.

The Future of Government: Fast and Curious. with Global Agenda Council on the Future of Government. Geneva: World Economic Forum, 2012. (Abbreviated version of the Future of Government: Lessons Learned from around the World, 2011.)

The Office for Harmonization of the Internal Market: Creating a 21^st Century Public Agency (pdf), with R. Galindo-Dorado and J. Rothschild. University of Massachusetts Amherst, National Center for Digital Government, May 19, 2010.

—- Spanish translation, Oficina de Armonización del Mercado Interior: La creación de un organismo público para el siglo XXI, trans. Raquel Galindo-Dorado, June 2010.

The Transformational Effect of Web 2.0 Technologies on Government (pdf), I. Mergel, C. Schweik, and J. Fountain, 2009. SSRN:  https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1412796

Bureaucratic Reform and E-Government in the United States: An Institutional Perspective(pdf) in The Handbook of Internet Politics, ed. Andrew Chadwick and Philip N. Howard. Routledge, 2008.

Notes on the Impact of Research on the Development of eGovernment. European Review of Political Technologies, vol. 5, Towards a Common eGovernment Research Agenda in Europe, February 2008.

Challenges to Organizational Change: Multi-Level Integrated Information Structures (MIIS) (pdf). In Governance and Information Technology: From Electronic Government to Information Government, ed. David Lazer and Viktor Mayer- Schoenberger. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2007.

Central Issues in the Political Development of the Virtual State (pdf). In The Network Society: From Knowledge to Policy, ed. Manuel Castells and Gustavo Cardoso. Washington, D.C.: Johns Hopkins Center for Transatlantic Relations, 2006.

Digital government and public health. Commentary. Preventing Chronic Disease 1, no. 4 (October).

Electronic Government and Electronic Democracy (pdf). In Encyclopedia of Community: From the Village to the Virtual World, ed. Karen Christenson and David Levinson, 436-441. Sage, 2003.

Prospects for Improving the Regulatory Process using E-Rulemaking (pdf). Communications of the ACM, ed. L. E. Brandt, G. Marchionini, and H. Samet, 46, no. 1, January 2003. https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/602421.602445

Building a Deeper Understanding of E-Government (pdf). PA Times, the American Society for Public Administration, 25, no. 10, 2002. Comment.

The Virtual State: Transforming American Government? National Civic Review 90, no. 4 (2001): 241- 252.

Public Sector: Early Stage of a Deep Transformation (pdf), with Carlos A. Osorio-Urzua. In The Economic Payoff from the Internet Revolution, eds. Robert Litan and Alice Rivlin. Brookings Institution Press, 2001.

Government Organizations, Cross-Boundary Networks and Bureaucratic Change

Networked arrangements across organizational boundaries in public, private and nonprofit sectors increasingly form the spaces for governance and policy making. These interstitial networks do not replace, but work alongside, bureaucratic organizations producing challenges for accountability, transparency, oversight and other dimensions of governance. These networks require digital and human coordination. Selected research monographs and papers are here.

The Human and the Digital: Building Cross-Boundary Capacity to Solve Wicked Problems. Monthly Public Finance Information. Vol 55:7 (2021), pp. 11-17. Korea Public Finance Information Service, Ministry of Strategy and Finance, Korea. In Korean and English.

2016. “Cross-Agency Collaboration: Building the Ecosystem to Support Cross-Agency Capacity.” In Memos to National Leaders, edited by P. L. Posner et al. Washington, D.C. National Academy of Public Administration; American Society for Public Administration; and George Mason University.

Implementing Cross-Agency Collaboration: A Guide for Federal Managers (pdf). IBM Center for the Business of Government. (The most downloaded report for the IBM Center for the Business of Government in 2013.) 2013.

The Administrative Conference of the United States: Recommendations to Advance Cross-Agency Collaboration under the GPRA Modernization Act, Public Administration Review, 2014. Paul Verkuil and Jane Fountain.

Toward a Theory of Federal Bureaucracy in the 21st Century. In Governance.com: Democracy in the Information Age, eds. E. Kamarck and J. S. Nye, Jr. Brookings Institution Press. 2001.

Paradoxes of Public Sector Customer Service. Governance: An International Journal of Policy and Administration 14, no. 1, 2001.

Social Capital: Its Relationship to Innovation in Science and Technology. Science and Public Policy 25, no. 2, 1998.

Social Capital: A Key Enabler of Innovation. In Investing in Innovation: Toward A Consensus Strategy for Federal Technology Policy, eds. Lewis Branscomb and James Keller. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1998.

Innovation, Social Capital, and the New Economy: New Federal Policies to Support Collaborative Research. With Robert D. Atkinson. Washington, D.C., Progressive Policy Institute, 1998.

Science, Technology and Public Policy

Governance arrangements, including public policies, that constitute the innovative capacity of countries influence emerging scientific discoveries and technologies and their applications. Policies are developed to spur innovation while maintaining democratic values and managing societal risk, but these dimensions are rarely in equilibrium.

Managing Space Traffic in an Increasingly Congested Orbit. Michael Dominguez, Martin Faga, Jane Fountain, Patrick Kennedy and Sean O’Keefe. Government Executive. August 20, 2020.

Space Traffic Management: Assessment of the Feasibility, Expected Effectiveness, and Funding Implications of a Transfer of Space Traffic Management Functions. Report by a Panel of the National Academy of Public Administration for the Office of Space Commerce, U.S. Department of Commerce. Michael Dominguez, chair, Martin Faga, Jane Fountain, Patrick Kennedy, and Sean O’Keefe. Washington, D.C. National Academy of Public Administration. August 2020. 144 pages.

Increasing Benefits and Reducing Social Costs of Technological Innovations (pdf). Andrew Van de Ven, Ron Adner, Stephen Barley, Deborah Dougherty, Jane Fountain, Andrew Hargadon, Mark Kamlet, Beth Karlin, and Melissa Schilling. Behavioral Science & Policy. 3(1): 93-103.

Nanotechnology and Society: Emerging Organizations, Oversight, and Public Policy Systems. Sarah Keister, Michelle Goncalves, Jane Fountain. Report from the National Workshop on Nanoscience & Society; Science, Technology and Society Initiative, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2011.

Ethics in Science and Engineering: Redefining Tools and Resources. Michelle S. Goncalves, Jane Fountain, Jessica Adamick and Marilyn Billings. Report of national workshop. University of Massachusetts Amherst: Science, Technology and Society Initiative, 2010.

UMass Nanoscience and Society Research Group (NanoSRG). J. Geertsma, J. Fountain. Encyclopedia of Nanoscience and Society, ed. David H. Guston. Sage Publications. 2009. Brief.

Nanotechnology and Society: The Organization and Policy of Innovation. Report of the May 2007 International Workshop on Nanotechnology and Society. Science, Technology and Society Initiative, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2007.

Searching for the Keys to Unlock the Clubhouse. Review essay on Unlocking the Clubhouse: Women in Computing by J. Margolis and A. Fisher. IEEE Technology and Society, summer.

Constructing the Information Society: Women, Information Technology and Design. Technology in Society 22:45-62. 2000.

Commentary

How Government Gets it Right on Privacy: We need to take additional steps to protect privacy and data security, while also allowing data to be used as a strategic asset. Washington, DC: Government Executive. With Nick Hart. January 27, 2020.

Building the Future of Government through Public Service. Washington, DC: National Academy of Public Administration. May 10, 2017.

Why networked governments are key to better societies. Geneva: World Economic Forum. February 13, 2017.

Idea to retire: Technology alone fosters collaboration and networks. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution. TechTank – Improving Technology Policy. April 15, 2016.

The difficulties of Healthcare.gov need to be seen in the context of an acrimonious political climate and the poor record of large and complex IT projects. London School of Economics. US American Politics and Policy blog. October 28, 2013.

Investing in Broadband Evaluation: Guiding Policy & Innovation for the Future. Research Roundtable on Broadband Evaluation (member). John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. 2013.

Disciplining Public Management Research. Comment on “Public Management Research: The Triumph of Art over Science,” by Laurence E. Lynn, Jr. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Spring 1994: 269-277.