Study Finds Congressional Web Sites "Disappointing"

STUDY FINDS CONGRESSIONAL WEB SITES "DISAPPOINTING"
[SOURCE: Government Technology 2/26]
A new report card on congressional Web sites from the Congressional Management Foundation (CMF) says the overall quality is "disappointing" with over a third of the congressional Web sites earning a substandard or failing grade. There was also recognition and praise for the best Web sites on Capitol Hill with the announcement of the winners of the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Mouse Awards. Funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation, The 2006 Gold Mouse Report: Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol Hill evaluated 615 Congressional Web sites including those of all Senate and House members and Delegates, committees (both majority and minority sites) and official leadership sites. Key findings include: 1) Senate offices are doing somewhat better than House counterparts; 2) House committees performed better than Senate committees; 3) Republican sites performed better than Democratic sites; 4) Almost half (49.1 percent) of Member sites do not give sufficient information on contacting the office regarding a problem with a federal agency; 5 ) Only 26.4 percent offered guidance on the best ways to communicate with their offices; 6) Only 11.4 percent of House and 5 percent of Senate Web sites posted their office hours; and 7) 32.0 percent do not have links to sponsored or co-sponsored legislation. Of the ones that do, 13.7 percent did not reference the most current session of Congress.
http://www.govtech.net/magazine/channel_story.php?id=104062&utm_source=g...