Uncle Sam's report card

Uncle Sam
Originally uploaded by Ron and Nancy

There's an interesting report at InsidePolitics.org on the status of E-Gov at the federal and state levels. Here are some highlights.

* Eighty-six percent of state and federal sites have services that are fully executable online, compared to 77 percent last year.
* One percent of government sites are accessible through personal digital assistants, pagers, or mobile phones, the same as last year.
* Twenty-two percent of sites offered some type of foreign language translation, down from 30 percent last year.
* Fifty-six percent of government websites are written at the 12th grade reading level, which is much higher than that of the average American.
* Seventeen percent of sites have user fees, up from 12 percent the past year.
* Seven states have a "Meth" watch.
* Five states offer live chat/help with a professional.
* Two states let you receive AMBER alerts to a wireless device.
* Georgia tells you where the lowest gas prices are in the state.

It seems to me that there are a lot of hidden assumptions in the report; not every government agency's subjects might be appropriate for podcasts, or whatever. But some interesting trends...