Integrating and sharing information in multi-organizational government settings involves complex interactions within social and technological contexts. Organizations must establish and maintain collaborative relationships in which knowledge sharing is critical to resolving numerous issues relating to data definitions and structures, diverse database designs, highly variable data quality, and incompatible network infrastructure. These integration processes often involve new work processes and significant organizational change. They are also embedded in larger political and institutional environments which shape their goals and circumscribe their choices. The purpose of this research is to develop and test dynamic models of information integration in these settings.

Interorganizational information integration was chosen as the focus for this research because of its central place in the design and implementation of many advanced information technologies, such as data mining, visualization, and GIS. It also involves phenomena and theoretical frameworks in several disciplines, and is a linchpin of IT use in many critical public policy areas. The research will contribute to the National Science Foundation's Information Technology Research Program objective to "enable research and education in multidisciplinary areas, focusing on emerging opportunities at the interfaces between information technology and other disciplines." The research setting recognizes that governments at all levels are centrally important actors in the social transformations taking place with, and because of, growing computational and information sharing capabilities. This work is intended to improve understanding of how information integration and sharing can be developed and implemented in this and other sectors of society.