Areas of Research

CIPEG is actively engaged in research, teaching, grant making, and publishing in its areas of expertise. The primary research foci of CIPEG cover four interrelated areas that represent the most significant current and developing issues related to information in public policy and the public sphere. Listed below each major area of research are specific kinds of projects.

Information Policy Publications E-Government Publications Ethics Publications Trust Publications

  1. Information Policy
    Information Law and Policy includes work related to the over-arching goal of creating better understandings of the ways in which law and policy shape information access, use, and exchange in society. Information laws and policies set the parameters for information behaviors in society, the information that governments choose to release or withhold from public access, the actions that public sphere entities are allowed to take in terms of information, the roles and uses of information technologies, and many other aspects of society, from website design to information delivery in libraries. Within information law and policy, there are a range of socially significant issues, such as:

    • Roles of Information in the Homeland Security Era
    • Provision of Technology Access in Public Sphere Entities, such as Libraries, Museums, and Schools
    • Access for Underserved Populations
    • Roles of Information in Emergency Contexts
    • Freedom of Information and Open Source Information
    • Privacy, Surveillance, and Security
    • Secure Sharing of Sensitive Information
    • Electronic Records Management
    • Intellectual Property, Copyright, and Patents

    While hardly exhaustive, this list demonstrates the range of information law and policy topics and the range of information law and policy research and teaching activities at CIPEG.

    View Recent Information Policy Publications

  2. E-Government
    E-government is the delivery of government information and services through and the communication between government and citizens by electronic means. A confluence of policy, technology, and government information, CIPEG emphasizes improving e-government through research about users of e-government and education for future developers and trainers of e-government. As e-government has been quickly implemented with little thought to the needs of citizens or government employees, addressing issues of user access and trust are central to my research in this area. Topics of research and education related to e-government include:

    • E-government and Government Information Provision
    • Usability, Functionality, and Accessibility of E-government
    • Access and Implementation of E-government
    • E-government in Community Response to and Recovery from Emergencies
    • E-government and Public Sphere Entities, such as Libraries, Museums, and Schools
    • Equal Access and Universal Usability
    • Training for E-government

    The E-government Masters Concentration made the University of Maryland the only LIS program, and one of few in any field internationally, gives students the opportunity to focus on learning about e-government. CIPEG also is one of the few research facilities in any field that focuses on issues of e-government, particularly user-centered issues.

    View Recent E-Government Publications

  3. Ethics
    The omnipresence of the Internet and many other new ways for people to communicate, interact, and exchange information have given rise to myriad ethical issues. Ethics encompasses the ways in which people establish social norms and expectations for behaviors. In the online environment, ethical issues, behaviors, and guidelines underpin these new means of social interaction, from digital libraries to virtual worlds. Many ethical issues and policy approaches are closely tied together in the online environment - influencing and being shaped by one another.
    CIPEG research in this area includes topics such as:

    • Values
    • Transparency
    • Boundary Objects
    • Moral Agency
    • Cyborg-cyborg Interaction
    • Society
    • Culture
    • Professional Codes

    As rapidly as technology evolves, new ethical issues are raised and research in this area continues to expand. The ethics area also includes novel approaches to computing and information ethics education to prepare computing and information professionals for the complex ethical challenges that they will face throughout their careers.

    View Recent Information Ethics Publications

  4. Trust
    Trust takes on many new dimensions in the online environment. Without face-to-face interactions, people find new ways to build trust. Simultaneously, online environments like social networks and virtual worlds work to build trust among and between users. Further, providers of online content and even access to the Internet face issues of building and maintaining trust. Of particular interest to research at CIPEG are the ways in which trust carries between members of an online community.
    CIPEG research about trust includes focus on issues of trust in contexts such as:
    • Social Networks
    • Virtual Worlds
    • Providers of Access
    • Social Network Analysis
    • Social Capital
    • Small Worlds
    In many circumstance, the concepts of ethics and policy play a large role in establishing levels of trust.

    View Recent Trust Publications