Make Government Web Site Usage Statistics Public

dcastro

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The government should create a standard front-end to allow citizens to see federal government web site usage data. Putting this data online would provide more transparency on public spending. For example, popular websites would likely be more deserving of continued support, whereas unused websites might be properly targeted to cut funds. A good interface to this data might also help citizens find interesting or useful government information. For example, the usage data can be used to created something similar to Digg or Technorati so that popular web pages, government blog posts, or documents can be easily found and tracked over time.

The actual web server logs should not be made available if they contain personally identifiable information, such as IP addresses.

Why Is This Idea Important?

Citizens benefit from having more open government.

Idea # 28Making Data More Accessible, open government, transparency, statistics, analytics

Comments

erick.gonzalez 10 months ago

I disagree, just because a website gets a lot of traffic and another doesn't is not a qualifying factor when deciding which sites to cut off funding for. Popular sites are not always the most useful and and useful sites are always the ones that are hard to find.

dcastro 10 months ago

Certainly the popularity of a website should not be the only factor. But usage (different than popularity) is important. Notice I did not suggest popularity as a reason to eliminate funds, only as a reason to increase support. I said unused websites may be targeted for funding cuts. If nobody is using a website, there is a problem. Either the website is not useful or nobody knows about it. Either way, that is a problem that should be addressed. (If it is simply a website with a small potential audience, that too can be taken into consideration).

Plus, as you point out, useful websites are not always easy to find. But making usage statistics available through a good Web 2.0 interface (that tracks trends, suggestion and the "wisdom of the crowd") can help find useful material.

erick.gonzalez 10 months ago

Taking into consideration the points you have suggested, I agree with you. A design like http://Mixx.com (similar but more advanced than Digg) can used to create a web 2.0 interface site that displays such public site usage statistic readily available.

bharshaw 10 months ago

I suspect in many cases agency management just wants a site, and isn't concerned with how well it operates. Making usage statistics public would be one small step on the road to getting management involved in improving their e-gov work.

Carie Fox and Philip Murphy 9 months ago

I love this posting! It is elegant, inexpensive, effective. We (FoxandMurphy) have posted a related ideas: "Use Well-designed Feedback Systems instead of Central Control to Improve Web Design."

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