Aaron Schroeder

Network organizational development in the public sector: a case study of the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA)

Research findings from the organizational theory tend to support the position that management uses Information Technology (IT) to maintain existing organizational hierachy and control. Another body of research from information technology advocates suggests that Information Technologys inherent capabilities transform organization hierarchy and control outside of managements control. In addition, advocates from governmental change toward a more responsive type of government advocate adoption of IT as a form of change mechanism. This aritcle explores these conflicting positions. The authors examines one instance of the development of a form of network organization within the federal government, and the processes of IT change that have occurred over the past 20 years. The agency selected for study is the Federal Emergency Mangagement Administration.

To Politicize is not to Control: The Pathologies of Control in Federal Emergency Management

One of the most significant problems of bureaucracy in a democratic polity is how to achieve a tolerable coexistence between political and managerial control. When these aspects of control get out of balance, certain pathologies occur. This paper seeks to draw lessons from a study of the Federal Emergency Management Agency that show that the politicization of the administrative mechanisms of government, in the name of controlling bureaucracy and policy, has some effects that erode rather than enhance the capacity of democratic governance. These effects are in every way as serious as any threats posed to a democracy and the institutions of governance by a nonresponsive bureaucracy or a bureaucracy that plays more than a role of mere implementation of policy made by others.

Pad and Chaff: secure approximate string matching in private record linkage

The promise of high-quality, integrated data sets for policy analysis is great. However, significant impediments remain that make the creation of such data sets very difficult. The identification of processes and algorithms for carrying out approximate string matching on personal-level information while at the same time keeping that information unknown (private linkage) is quickly growing in importance. Without these processes and algorithms, the creation of high-quality data sets integrated from multiple public agencies remains difficult. In this paper, a method for carrying out secure, private string-matching between data sets using standard string similarity measures is presented.

Estimating individualized exposure impacts from ambient ozone levels: A synthetic information approach

Abstract There is ample evidence that short-term ozone exposure is associated with increased respiratory symptoms. Many studies, however, aggregate the population, activities, or concentration levels of the pollutant across space and/or time, failing to capture critical variations in the exposure levels. We couple spatiotemporal air quality estimates of ozone with a synthetic information model of the Houston Metropolitan Area, allowing us to attach exposure levels to individuals based on exact times, geo-locations, and microenvironments of activities. Several scenarios of the model are run at different levels of resolution. When we maintain the spatiotemporal resolution of the data, the proportion of the population that experiences sharp increases in short-term exposure increases substantially. This can be particularly important if experienced by sensitive populations given the increased risk for adverse health effects. We find that individuals in the same zip code, neighborhood, and even household have varying levels of exposure.