>>2004 Webby Awards

The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences

State and Federal e-Government in the United States, 2002, a new survey released September 2002 by researchers at Brown University, ranks Tennessee, New Jersey, California, Connecticut and Pennsylvania as having the best Web sites in overall government performance. Among federal agencies, top-rated websites included the Federal Communications Commission, Department of Labor, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Treasury, Department of State, Social Security Administration, and FirstGov (the national government portal), while U.S. circuit courts and the Supreme Court had the lowest ranking sites.
Criteria used in the study included evaluations of online services, attention to privacy and security, disability access, foreign language translation, and web site personalization. The survey was undertaken by Darrell M. West, director of the Taubman Center for Public Policy at Brown and a team of public policy students who examined 1,265 state and federal sites and evaluated the variety and quality of the electronic services they offered. States with the lowest rankings were Wyoming, Alabama, and Mississippi. The study also found that Web sites and Internet services offered by state and federal government agencies were devoting more attention to security and privacy, but also were creating a larger number of "restricted areas" online that required special passwords or other security tools to access.

The 2002 Webby Awards recognizing achievement in Web Site technology and creativity were announced June 18 by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences at a ceremony in San Francisco. In public affairs categories, the following were Webby winners:

Activism

Tolerance.org Sponsored by the Southern Poverty Law Center, this site provides news and other resources on human rights issues, legislative and court developments.

Other nominees: CorpWatch (opposes corporate globalization); PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) (highlights news on animal abuse); Idealist.org (see below, winner in Community category).

Community

Idealist.org Published by the nonprofit organization Action Without Borders, encourages citizen interest in finding practical solutions to social and environmental problems

Other nominees: beliefnet.com (profiles, news and forums on major world religions); The Burning Man Project (site of annual week-long event in Nevada desert attracting 25,000 people engaging in experimental free expression); Delphi Forums (commercial site (hosts over 100,000 online forums on diverse topics with 4.5 million registered users); Nerve.org (commercial site with blend of upscale adult photography and literature featuring such writers as Norman Mailer and ).

Government and Law

Library of Congress Provides not only information, directories and databases on current activities of the Congress, but also thousands of digital images of historic manuscripts, maps, photographs and other materials from the Library's vast archives.

Other nominees: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (one of most technically sophisticated of federal sites, features multi-media images of space, earth and much more); Copyright Website (commercial Web, not the official federal Office of Copyright and Trademarks, providing practical information on how to protect content through copyright, with special attention to Web content, video, audio, other multi-media); Council on Foreign Relations (prestigious think tank provides online studies, reports, proposals on foreign affairs); United States Geological Survey (another content-rich federal site, with maps, data of geological features and resources)

Politics

opensecrets.org Published by the nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics, 'Your Guide to the money in US elections' offers extensive, easily searchable databases of sources and recipients of political contributions.

Other nominees: Washington Post On Politics (Gateway for political news, links published by the Washington Post.) TheHill.com (online version of weekly print newspaper features nonpartisan news, opinions on Washington developments). FECinfo.com (somewhat more neutral in its take on the influence of money in politics than opensecrets.org, commercial site also provides excellent search tools for finding data on contibutors and recipients, sometimes confused withh official government site at www.fec.gov for Federal Election Commission).

New Jersey is the leading legislative Web, according to a report summarizing a 50-state survey of Webs. The paper, The Politics of State Legislature Websites: An Evaluation of Content and Design published for the August 2002 meeting of the American Political Science Association by three researchers at the Rochester Institute of Technology, used such criteria as the quality of content and how easily users could access its content. Ranking behind New Jersey were Minnesota, Alaska, Hawaii and Connecticut. The lowest rated Web was that of Mississippi, followed by Pennsylvania, Illinois, California and Rhode Island. The New Jersey Web,

which was revamped in January 2002 with the opening of its new 2002-2003 legislative session, is highlighted by a redesigned home page with bill text and member search engines, links to all state newspapers, a clickable legislative calendar with session and committee schedules, and a new "Kid's Page" with games and coloring books of NJ state symbols. New Jersey also is now providing both video and audio Webcasts of sessions and committee meetings.

2002 Best of the State and Local Government Web Contest

The Center for Digital Government and Government Technology magazine 

Virginia and Tampa, Florida, took first-place honors in the 2002 'Best of the Web' contest for states and local governments sponsored by the Center for Digital Government and Government Technology Magazine.States coming in behind Virginia were 2) Maine; 3) (tie) Washington and Pennsylvania; 4) Indiana; and 5) Texas. Local governments ranking below Tampa were 2) Miami-Dade County, Florida; 3) Indianapolis / Marion County, Indiana, 4) City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii, and 5) Dallas, Texas.

In the 2001 competition, the highest ranking state was California and the top local government was New York City. The annual contest is judged on the criteria of innovation and use of Web-based online technology to deliver government services, efficiency and time saved, economy and money saved, and functionality for improved citizen access.

State Web Portals: Delivering and Financing E-Service 

Indiana University-Bloomington

California, North Dakota, Maine, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania are the leading state Web portals providing outstanding e-services to citizens, according to State Web Portals: Delivering and Financing E-Service, a research report by faculty at  Indiana University-Bloomington and sponsored by the PricewaterhouseCoopers Endowment for the Business of Government, released January 2002. The five states were cited for their leadership in making online information, contacts, and services available  to the general public.

The study, presents findings from a survey of the functionality of all 50 state Web portals, evaluating their content and features on four criteria: 1) openness (extent to which governments provide comprehensive information and services on their sites); 2) customization (ability of users to personalize information); 3) usability ( extent of accessibility of information to all users and  ease of navigation); and 4) transparency (extent to which user trusts the content and security of online use and transactions).  The report also includes findings from a survey of 33 states  examining how states are financing the development and maintenance of  Web portals, as well as their pricing strategies for the delivery of e-service to citizens.