*** Democracies Online Newswire - http://www.e-democracy.org/do *** * Future of E-Democracy - http://publicus.net/articles/future.html *
The report's <http://www.congressonlineproject.org/webstudy2002.html> table of contents and a few clips are below. The folks at <http://www.gop.gov/item-news.asp?N=20020128084904> were celebrating before the report's release. They were already linked to <http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A46591-2002Jan27> which has a story on the report. I met with the GOP.Gov folks in late 2000. I was impressed. In the U.S. Congress it seems clear that political competition will be the main motivation for advancing the online services members provide to the public and not the creation of a more uniform "online constituent office" that all members would/could use. This will result in a selection of ever improving elite sites and lots of members with inferior sites and little incentive to improve. GOP.gov however points to party-based aggregation of technical services which may bring the overall offerings of member to higher level and provide the party caucus structure a more powerful online command and control operation with external communication. The party-based development contrasts with trends in the Minnesota legislature where the House members directory is evolving into a uniform set of online offerings regardless of party <http://ww3.house.leg.state.mn.us/members/housemembers.asp>. (And I just noticed that all MN House members now have e-mail update subscription options for the public, just click in a bit - this is a big deal!). Although, with our budget shortfall, we are seeing a number of party-based issue sites <http://www.mnbalancedbudget.com> emerge this session. Steven Clift Democracies Online http://www.e-democracy.org/do P.S. I just updated my "secret" http://politicalbs.com site to include quick access to more popular US Congressional content that changes frequently. By tracking click-outs in aggregate I am trying to learn what political information and news is most popular. From: http://www.congressonlineproject.org/webstudy2002.html Congress Online Assessing and Improving Capitol Hill Web Sites HTML by Section: http://www.congressonlineproject.org/webstudy2002.html Printable PDF Version (514 KB) http://www.congressonlineproject.org/congressonline2002.pdf Executive Brief (90 KB) http://www.congressonlineproject.org/executive2002.pdf About This Report The goal of the Congress Online Project is to provide congressional offices guidance to improve the online communications between Members of Congress and the public they serve. This report is the heart of this effort. The purpose of this report is to assist congressional offices in developing effective Web sites. To achieve this end, we discuss the five building blocks that are most critical to building effective Web sites. We then identify and award the specific congressional Web sites that are currently applying these building blocks most effectively - the Congress Online Gold and Silver Mouse Award winners. We hope that by identifying the best Web sites on Capitol Hill and delineating the practices that make them the best, this report will motivate many more offices to improve their Web- based communications. Summary of Key Findings Introduction Methodology Nine Benefits of a Good Web Site The Five Building Blocks of Effective Congressional Web Sites 1. Audience 2. Content 3. Interactivity 4. Usability 5. Innovations Assessing the Performance of Congressional Web Sites Analyzing Grade Distribution Trends Analyzing Trends in Award Winners The Best Web Sites on Capitol Hill Congress Online Gold Mouse Awards Senate Member Offices House Member Offices Standing Committees Leadership Offices Congress Online Silver Mouse Awards Audience Content Interactivity Usability Innovations Mistakes Congressional Offices are Making Change Factors Between 1999 - 2001 Conclusion Appendix A: Research & Findings Constituent Focus Groups Interviews with Congressional Staff Industry Research Survey of Political Reporters Survey of Advocacy Groups Reviews of Non-congressional Web Sites Review of Previous Analysis of Congressional Web Sites Appendix B: Evaluation Methodology Appendix C: Congress Online Project Expert Panel Biographies Acknowledgments About the Congress Online Project From: http://www.congressonlineproject.org/gold2002.html Congress Online Gold Mouse Awards Senate Member Offices Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) House Member Offices Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX) Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA) Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA) Standing Committees Senate Budget Committee (majority) House Committee on Energy and Commerce (majority) House Committee on Energy and Commerce (minority) House Committee on Rules (majority) Leadership Offices Speaker of the House Office of the House Majority Whip House Republican Conference From: http://www.congressonlineproject.org/silver2002.html Congress Online Silver Mouse Awards Audience Senator Fred Thompson (R-TN) Representative Nick Smith (R-MI) Joint Economic Committee House Committee on Resources (majority) House Committee on Small Business (majority) House Democratic Caucus Content Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) Representative Tom Allen (D-ME) Representative Chris Cannon (R-UT) House Committee on the Budget (majority) House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct Interactivity Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) Representative Brad Carson (D-OK) Usability Senator Don Nickles (R-OK) Representative Mark Green (R-WI) Representative John Thune (R-SD) Innovations Senator Bob Graham (D-FL) Representative Heather Wilson (R-NM) House Science Committee (majority) ^ ^ ^ ^ Steven L. 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