Study shows digital divide emerging in Congress, GOP leads with best websites

Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R-Alaska) website ranked
first in the
Senate while Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) beat out fellow lawmakers in the
House,
according to a report released by the non-partisan Congressional
Management
Foundation (CMF) on Wednesday.

The top leadership website belonged to the House
Republican
Conference Chairman Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) and Chairman Rep. Bart
Gordon
(D-Tenn.) had the best committee site with his House Committee on
Science and
Technology.

The so-called fifth annual Gold Mouse Report was
released
Wednesday by CMF. The study assesses the quality of 620 congressional
websites
of members, committees, and leadership offices and attached a letter
grade to
each based on its performance.

The most common grades given were “A’s” and “F’s,”
with 22
percent of offices earning one or the other, signaling that
congressional
websites are either on a fast track of improvement or they are getting
left in
the technological dust with each evolvement of web design.

“Overall, we found the good sites are getting
better and the
bad are getting worse,” said Beverly Bell, executive director of CMF.

“It looks like half of the Congress is racing to
the top
while the other half race to the bottom. 
The outstanding sites follow best practices, leverage the power
of
social media, and serve their constituents well.  Those
offices falling behind are losing a great opportunity
to interact with their constituents in ways the public has grown to
expect.”

The CMF report graded websites based on how
effectively they
combined: knowing their audience, providing timely and targeted content,
ease
of use, fostering interaction both on and offline, and adding value
through
innovation.

Overall, Republicans outdid Democrats, with 62
percent of
Republicans earning a “C” or above, compared to only 54 percent of the
websites
belonging to Democrats.

Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) heralded the
findings
on Wednesday, saying that they are “dominating” Democrats when it comes
to new
media technology.

Pence attributed the GOP’s performance to the “high
quality
work of our members and our staff.”

But the divide between the chambers was even
greater than
that between the parties. The most common letter grade in the Senate was
an “A”
compared to an “F” in the House.

Thirty-four percent of the Senate websites received
“A’s,”
which was a 10 percent increase from 3 years ago. By comparison, only 19
percent of House websites got “A’s.”

Committee Web sites showed the most dramatic
improvement
with 93 percent scoring a “C” or better compared. In 2007, only 65
percent of
committee sites achieved this ranking.

Other factors that the CMF looked at included the
quality
and tone of the information presented on the website, the usability and
navigability of the site, the website’s “look and feel,” and the degree
to which
the information meets visitor’s needs.

“For many of my constituents, my website is their
gateway to
Washington,” said the top House award-winner, Rep. Steve Israel. “That’s
why I
work hard to make sure that it’s transparent, accessible and
informative.”

Overall the report made it clear that there’s still
a long
way to go, as it discovered some significant flaws in the congressional
websites it reviewed.

Two-thirds of the 620 websites, lacked “guidance on
how best
to communicate with their office.” And nearly half of the websites
provided “no
guidance on how citizens can get assistance with issues with federal
agencies”
and lacked “access to a full accounting of the member’s voting record.”

Amazingly, more than 100 congressional websites
still don’t
have a functional search engine.

For the first time, CMF examined the adoption of
social
networking tools onto the websites. The report found that only 21
percent of
member offices had links to their Facebook profiles from their
congressional website,
while 18 percent of member offices linked to a Twitter account.

CMF has studied congressional Web sites since 1998,
producing four previous reports starting in 2002.  Only
Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.), whose district covers much
of the Silicon Valley, has received awards in all five evaluations.