To order raw e-government data, visit http://www.InsidePolitics.org/egovtdata.html

 

Fourth Annual Urban E-Government Study

 

Denver and San Diego are Best Cities for E-Government in the United States

 

A study of the 70 largest metropolitan government websites shows cities vary enormously in the extent to which they are placing electronic information and services online, and maintaining basic protections for privacy, security, and disability access.

 

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Denver and San Diego are the best cites for electronic government in the United States, according to the fourth annual urban e-government study by researchers at Brown University.

 

The study was conducted by Darrell M. West, director of the Taubman Center for Public Policy at Brown University, and a team of researchers which analyzed 1,873 sites maintained by the 70 largest city governments in the country.  The researchers examined an average 26.8 websites in each urban area, including webpages for the Mayor, City Council and major departments and agencies in each city.  Research was completed during June, July, and August, 2004.  Previous urban e-government studies were released in 2001, 2002, and 2003. 

 

The study evaluated urban e-government performance based on a number of different dimensions, including the availability of information, the number of online services, privacy and security policies, disability access, foreign language translation, readability, and means of communication between citizens and government. 

 

Among the improvements found is progress in placing privacy and security policies online.  This year’s study found that 53 percent of city government sites show privacy policies, up from 41 percent in 2003.  In addition, 32 percent have security policies, an increase from 28 percent the preceding year. 

 

However, little progress has been made in disability accessibility.  Using automated Bobby software created by Watchfire, Inc., researchers found that only 21 percent of sites are compliant with the World Wide Web Consortium standard of disability access.  This is about the same as the 20 percent found last year.  City government accessibility this year is below the 42 percent compliance level of federal government sites and the 37 percent level in state government.

 

Furthermore, this year’s study found that 40 percent of websites offer services that are fully executable online, down from 48 percent last year.  Seventeen percent of city government websites have foreign language translation features, similar to the 16 percent last year.  Seventy-one percent of city government sites read at the 12th grade level, which is higher than the reading comprehension of many city residents according to national literacy statistics.

 

This year’s highest ranked e-government cities are Denver, San Diego, New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Virginia Beach, Boston, Charlotte, Houston, and Seattle.  The lowest ranked cities include Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Greenville, Syracuse, and West Palm Beach.

 

The table below shows the ranking for each city in 2004, followed by their ranking last year in parentheses and their rating out of 100 points with last year’s ratings in parentheses. 

 

Rank

City

Rating Out of 100 Pts.

Rank

City

Rating Out of 100 Pts.

1.(1)

Denver

54.6(64.8)

2.(18)

San Diego

52.7(40.0)

3.(38)

New York City

48.8(33.0)

4.(15)

Washington, DC

44.8(41.2)

5.(36)

Los Angeles

42.5(33.4)

6.(14)

Virginia Beach

41.6(43.0)

7.(3)

Boston

40.0(55.6)

8.(2)

Charlotte

39.4(57.4)

9.(6)

Houston

39.1(49.3)

10.(27)

Seattle

36.8(36.0)

11.(28)

Albuquerque

35.3(35.7)

12.(7)

Salt Lake City

35.1(48.7)

13.(16)

Phoenix

34.7(40.8)

14.(53)

Long Beach

34.7(28.6)

15.(37)

El Paso

34.7(33.0)

16.(13)

Austin

34.6(44.1)

17.(40)

Columbus

34.0(32.1)

18.(17)

Memphis

33.6(40.0)

19.(23)

San Francisco

33.5(38.0)

20.(22)

New Orleans

33.3(38.2)

21.(21)

Tampa

33.0(38.4)

22.(20)

Richmond

32.2(38.8)

23.(5)

Nashville

32.3(53.0)

24.(41)

Orlando

32.0(31.8)

25.(34)

Indianapolis

31.9(34.3)

26.(30)

Cincinnati

31.6(35.5)

27.(29)

Honolulu

31.3(35.6)

28.(11)

Jacksonville

31.2(45.5)

29.(33)

Tulsa

30.8(34.6)

30.(44)

San Jose

30.5(30.0)

31.(8)

Dallas

30.4(48.5)

32.(31)

Minneapolis

30.3(35.2)

33.(35)

Portland

30.1(33.7)

34.(10)

Tucson

29.3(46.8)

35.(4)

Louisville

29.0(53.5)

36.(48)

Norfolk

28.5(29.5)

37.(39)

San Antonio

28.4(32.5)

38.(56)

Grand Rapids

28.3(28.3)

39.(47)

Fort Worth

28.2(29.6)

40.(68)

Tacoma

28.1(23.9)

41.(59)

Baltimore

27.7(27.6)

42.(55)

Detroit

27.6(28.4)

43.(32)

Rochester

27.6(34.8)

44.(45)

Chicago

27.4(29.9)

45.(12)

Kansas City

27.1(44.3)

46.(26)

Fresno

26.8(36.2)

47.(63)

Raleigh

26.1(26.7)

48.(42)

Las Vegas

26.0(31.4)

49.(60)

Philadelphia

25.9(27.3)

50.(67)

Miami

25.8(25.1)

51.(69)

Atlanta

25.7(22.5)

52.(46)

St. Louis

25.5(29.7)

53.(65)

Oakland

25.3(25.6)

54.(51)

Sacramento

25.2(28.9)

55.(57)

Greensboro

25.1(28.0)

56.(24)

Buffalo

24.7(37.4)

57.(19)

Milwaukee

24.2(39.8)

58.(54)

Omaha

23.8(28.5)

59.(49)

Knoxville

23.6(29.4)

60.(68)

Dayton

22.8(25.3)

61.(43)

Birmingham

22.8(30.1)

62.(62)

Albany

22.7(27.0)

63.(64)

Hartford

21.7(26.1)

64.(9)

Oklahoma City

21.5(47.4)

65.(50)

Providence

21.5(29.4)

66.(61)

West Palm Beach

21.1(27.0)

67.(25)

Syracuse

20.8(36.5)

68.(70)

Greenville

18.7(22.2)

69.(52)

Pittsburgh

18.3(28.6)

70.(58)

Cleveland

17.1(27.8)

 

After looking at numerous city websites, West and his research team make several suggestions for improvement.  City sites that attempted to put everything on one page sometimes were cluttered, daunting and overwhelming.  Providing services and different forms to the public is helpful, but not when everything is just thrown on a page and PDF files are mixed in with actual online services.  When constructing a website, it is important to remember that clear and simple is helpful to citizens. 

 

In addition, it is easier to use websites when there is a list of all the online services they provide.  It reduces the amount of time citizens have to invest in searching for a specific service and is therefore a success on the part of the website.  On a separate note, when developing each site one should take into consideration that the appearance of the site has a huge impact on how much an individual can do on that particular site.  If a site is hard to read (i.e. black background with blue printing or when cursor is over a particular paragraph and that paragraph changes font, color and size) it diminishes the efficiency of the site.  Citizens will be concentrating more on clarifying what the site says rather than looking for the service or information they need. 

 

For more information about the results of this study, please contact Darrell West at (401) 863-1163 or see the full report online at www.InsidePolitics.org.  The Appendix of that report provides e-government profiles for each of the 70 cities.