Congressional Management Foundation | 2007 Gold Mouse Report

summary of key findings

General

Congress needs to recognize that the Internet is an essential information and communications medium. Citizens are online, and it is up to Congress to catch up with them. Studies and data gathered about the Internet, technology use, and politics since our last report have only strengthened the validity of this assertion. (Page 5)
Despite some bright spots, overall the quality of congressional Web sites continues to be disappointing. The most common letter grade earned by congressional Web sites in 2007 was a "D"-the same as in 2006. A full 41.6% of sites were substandard (D) or failing (F). (Page 13) The complete grade breakdown is:

The underperforming Web sites remain stagnant. Half of the sites that earned "F"s last year received the same grade in 2007, and 63% of Member sites that received a "D" in 2006 received the same grade or slipped to an "F" in 2007. Of the Member sites that earned a "C" in 2006, 42% scored lower in 2007. (Page 15)
The top performing Web sites continue to improve and innovate. Of the Member Web sites that received "B"s last year, 61% of them either maintained their quality or improved to become award-winners. Additionally, a surprising number of the 2006 freshmen started their term with an excellent site right out of the gate-16% of the class received "A"s, garnering them a Gold, Silver, or Bronze Mouse Award. (Page 16)
It is possible for any office, regardless of the state of its current Web site, to become an award winner. In 2007, 63% of Member Mouse Award winners won an award for the first time. Freshman Members of Congress and every 2006 letter grade, from "A" through "F", are represented among the 2007 Mouse Award winners. (Page 19)
If you distill the best Member Web sites down to their major recurring elements, what emerges are the basic elements of any good Member Web site. (Page 38) Those elements are:

The management of a site and the support structure behind it are just as important as what is on it-if not more so. According to the award-winning freshman offices and offices that have won Mouse Awards at least three out of the four times they have been handed out, the keys to managing an excellent site are: getting buy-in from the top levels of management, making the Web site a priority, formulating a strategic plan, allocating the necessary resources, creating a team-oriented approach, and meeting the needs of constituents on their terms. (Page 53)

Chamber and Party* Trends

The Senate continues to outperform the House of Representatives on the Web. The most common letter grade earned in the Senate was a "B" compared to a "D" in the House. In the Senate, 33% fewer sites received a failing grade in 2007 than in 2006, whereas in the House, the percentage of failing sites jumped from 12% to 21%-an increase of 75% since our 2006 evaluations. (Page 22)
No single category of Web sites improved more than Member sites in the Senate, regardless of party. Both parties have seen a significant drop in the number of failing Senate Member sites, with 33% fewer Democratic sites and 69% fewer Republican sites receiving an "F," and a significant rise in the number of above-average sites. (Page 29)
Democratic Web sites performed slightly better than Republican Web sites in 2007. Sixty-one percent of Democratic sites obtained "C"s or better, compared to 55% of Republican sites. While Republican Web sites have 2% more "B"s, they have 4% more sites scoring "D"s and "F"s. (Page 27)

* For the purposes of analysis, Independents were counted with the party with which they caucused

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