FatCratz

Government Websites

There are a lot of good people working really hard to make e-gov work. Surely, this movement will pick up steam (or at least funding) in the Obama administration, which has committed itself to making government more technically savvy.

But a recent survey (original results here, large file) shows that government websites lag far behind the private sector, especially e-commerce sites.

"Government Web sites have gotten better, but the private sector sites have gotten better at a much faster pace," said Darrell West of the Brookings Institution, a Washington D.C. think tank. "The gap is still substantial." ... "There's no common navigational scheme. Every site looks different, so you always have to spend a minute or two seeing how that particular site works," West said. "And most of them don't have good search engines, so it's really hard to find what you need."

This is no surprise. The government isn't selling anything, so it isn't really all that crucial to their survival that you find the product you are looking for or get the information you need.

Assurbanipal's Library Finally Online!

It seems Google is digitizing a bunch of books and putting them online. A number of libraries at major research universities have agreed to give them access to their stacks. 

For some odd reason, though, they haven't yet gotten around to the library of King Assurbanipal of Assyria (668-630 BC).

Fortunately, Uncle Sam is stepping into the breach. The National Endowment for the Humanities is ponying up $254,000* for a grant to get those cuneiform tablets digitized and online:

Digitization of lexical texts (bilingual Sumerian-Akkadian dictionaries, synonym lists, and sign lists) found in the library of the Assyrian king Assurbanipal (668-630 B.C.). The project would make available cataloging information and images of all cuneiform tablets coupled with transliterations and translations of the texts.

There is a compelling argument to be made that government needs to step in and support the private sector when the marketplace fails to provide crucial goods and services. This isn't it.

*Link opens PDF of recent grant announcements covering the states Alabama to Maryland. The grant in question is on the bottom of the first page.

Neither Snow, Nor Rain, Nor Lack of a Date

A recent GAO report shows some questionable expenses on a government charge card by a postal employee:

A postmaster used a government credit card to subscribe to two Internet dating sites, the study said, and the employee also used a government computer to access pornographic sites. The postmaster racked up $1,100 in charges for the dating services, it said, and "the activity went unnoticed" by U.S. Postal Service for a full year. After an investigation, the employee paid back the $1,100, the study said. He was also removed from his position.

As for me, I think getting a Postmaster a date may be a legitimate expense.

Shockingly, the study found that nearly half of charges to government cards in 2006 were improper. Nearly half.

The article lists a number of colorful examples, but another group of USPS employees take the cake (and the appetizers, and the wine, and the cocktails):

In another case, USPS spent $13,500 on a dinner at Ruth Chris Steakhouse for employees who were attending a national postal forum in Orlando, Florida. The dinner included more than 200 appetizers and the agency paid for about $3,000 of alcoholic drinks, including more than 40 bottles of wine and top-shelf liquor, the study said.

But I'm sure the rest of the expenditures for the "postal forum" was money well spent.