USDA portal ranks as one of the top government sites

Web sites operated by the General Services Administration and the Agriculture Department topped a recent Brown University analysis. The study evaluated more than 1,500 state and federal Web sites based on content, including contact information, comment forms, automatic email notification, publications, databases, audio and video clips, foreign language features, disability services, advertisements, user fees, and security and privacy statements.

Overall, the study found that both state and federal government sites have shown consistent improvements in offering online services, as 77 percent of the portals surveyed have services that are fully executable on the computer, a 4 percent increase from last year. Also, 71 percent of the sites contain privacy policies, a slight boost from 69 percent last year.

"Clearly, both state and federal governments are making significant progress at placing fully executable services online," the report said.
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In the Executive Summary of the seventh annual state and federal e-government study , Brown University 's Taubman Center for Public Policy presents an update on the features that are available online through American state and federal government websites. Using a detailed analysis of 1,564 state and federal government sites, they measure what is online, what variations exist across the country, and what differences appear between state and national government. They compare the 2006 results to 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005.

Coming in at number two this year, The Department of Agriculture website is easy to navigate due to features such as the "I Want To." section on the front page that lists the most popular information and services available on the site. It also has a page that clearly lists all the online services offered, which makes them easy for citizens to access. The site also has a personalization feature called MyUSDA, which enables users to tailor the agency's online resources to their own needs. Also, the site has clear privacy and security statements, which demonstrate concern for the protection of site users. Furthermore, efforts to make the site accessible have been made in a number of respects. The site offers a Spanish version, it passes the software test for accessibility to disabled individuals, and the text on the site is written at a seventh grade reading level, which is much lower than most other federal sites. Lastly, there is an online survey which provides a medium for citizens and other users to share their comments and opinions about the site. To view the e-government study, download the PDF document directly from http://www.insidepolitics.org/egovt06us.pdf.