The extent to which citizens go online to access data on the business of government (US - The Pew Internet & American Life Project)

Part Four: Online government data and information

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The extent to which citizens go online to access data on the business of government

For many good government advocates, providing citizens with access to vast stores of previously-unavailable government data represents the internet’s greatest promise for improving the relationship between the government and its constituents. To measure the extent to which citizens go online to access data on the business of government, we asked internet users whether they had visited any of four specific types of websites in the last year. Although these services do not necessarily comprise a comprehensive list of government data services, they cover a relatively broad spectrum of the activities considered important by advocates of transparency in government. The activities we asked about include:

• Looking online to see how money from the recent stimulus package is being spent
• Downloading or reading the text of any legislation
• Visiting a site that provides access to government data, such as data.gov, recovery.gov or usaspending.gov
• Looking online for information on who contributes to the campaigns of their elected officials