21st Century Government Latest News

Nearly 1.7 Million White House Visitor Records Released

In September 2009, the President announced that – for the first time in history – White House visitor records would be made available to the public on an ongoing basis.  Today, the White House releases visitor records that were generated in June 2011.  Today’s release also includes several visitor records generated prior to September 16, 2009 that were requested by members of the public in August 2011 pursuant to the White House voluntary disclosure policy.  This release brings the total number of records made public by this White House to nearly 1.7 million records—all of which can be viewed in our Disclosures section.

Ed. Note: For more information, check out Ethics.gov.

How Do You Think Federal Websites Can Improve?

If you've ever been on a .gov site and thought, "Hey, this site could be a lot better," we want to hear from you. As part of President Obama's Campaign to Cut Waste and the Administration's overall commitment to improving customer service, we're taking a fresh look at how government information and services are delivered on the Internet.

Head over now to get started.   

Here are some of the specific discussion topics:

1.  Improving content to make it more readable, engaging, and useful
2. Improving how services and transactions are delivered
3. Providing universal access to government content online, regardless of device or technology
4. Optimizing the way the public is able to search for federal content, via federal websites and commercial search engines
5. Ensuring content on federal websites is integrated with social media and other third-party websites
6. Improving how federal websites protect privacy and security
7. Reaching global audiences and people with limited English proficiency access federal websites

To help facilitate the conversation, a number of people from outside of government have agreed to serve as "catalysts" for the discussion and engage others on their comments to flesh out the best ideas.  Here's what a few of them have to say about the project:

”Okay, the deal is that Fed workers are seriously interested in better customer service, etc, via their web ops. I've worked with these folks for years, they're the real deal, and are really listening.” –Craig Newmark, Founder & customer service rep craigslist.org and craigconnects.org

"Of course, diversity improves all things, especially ideas. Those of us who work on Internet-related things all practice differently. We all do things in ways that we have found better for one reason or another. That’s what they want to learn. Upload your wisdom so that we can all learn.” –Ed Mullen, Principal Edward Mullen Studio; Founder MixTrail

“Come one – come all!  This is your chance to help the U.S. government figure out how to serve better, online.  I told you a few weeks ago about the ground-breaking .Gov Reform initiative the White House and the General Services Administration have underway.  In a nutshell, they’re taking a hard look at U.S. government websites and looking for ways to make them easier to use and more efficient and effective.  And here’s the thing:  they want you to be part of this discussion!”—Candi Harrison, Former Co-Chair, Federal Web Managers Council

“The .gov Reform Task Force is hip to the wisdom of crowds.  Its leaders have invited citizen Catalysts – including Annetta Cheek, Craig Newmark, Steve Krug, Vanessa Fox, Lee Vann, Ed Mullen, Candi Harrison and others – to “spur and deepen the discussion.” In other words, they want all of us to encourage peers from specific communities of online practice to contribute to open, honest dialogue.  Discussions will lead to improvements in the usefulness of web sites and web based services of US Federal government agencies.   The Task Force really wants to hear from citizens – ALL citizens, including those with disabilities – about what we need and what we want from dot gov domains.”–Sharron Rush, Co-founder and Executive Director of Knowbility

“We know there is a goldmine of good ideas from this community, so we hope — and expect — that you’ll actively participate in the discussion and share your expertise and knowledge.  We want to hear what’s working well, what can be improved, innovative ways to rethink the federal web, and specific examples you have from your industry or organization.” –Center for Plain Language

 So join the discussion today and change the way our government does business online.