Report says Congress needs lots of help with Web sites

Although a few congressional Web sites are exemplary, many are "suboptimal," and Congress needs to do more work to improve Web sites and share best practices for Web 2.0 technologies, according to a new report from the Brookings Institution think tank.

Brookings has been reviewing congressional Web sites for quality since 2006. In its most recent review with the Congressional Management Foundation in April, it gave the Platinum Mouse Award top honors for Web site excellence to the House Science & Technology Committee, the House Republican Conference, and the individual sites of Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY) Despite those superior examples, and despite the fact that many lawmakers say their sites are important communication tools, the quality of many of those sites is "suboptimal," according to the Brookings authors Kevin Esterline, David Laser and Michael Nablo in the "Improving Congressional Web Sites" report, dated this August.