Many Americans Use Web For Government Info
April 27, 2010
| 4:50 PM
A new survey released Tuesday found that 40 percent of adults who use the Internet are surfing for data about the business of government, a proportion that shocked researchers, Nextgov.com reported. "People want to know what's going on in government," said the report's author Aaron Smith, a researcher at the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project. "I think the number of people doing that was extremely surprising to us."
For years, surveys by Pew, the American Customer Satisfaction Index and other researchers have indicated an upward trend in the use of the Internet to access government services, including the latest ACSI quarterly report, which also was issued on Tuesday. But the Pew survey is the only one that indicates people also are going online for raw government data, such as spending statistics, policy statements and campaign contributions.
Pew's last detailed assessment of online government was conducted in 2003. "There was no YouTube. There were no social networking sites. There was very little text-messaging," Smith said. "It's effectively the first report of its kind."
He attributed the large number of Americans seeking data to the government's outreach efforts and the public's interest in the information. "This is a fairly recent trend on the government's side to push for openness and transparency in government data," Smith said.
Pew surveyed via telephone 1,676 Internet users age 18 and older and conducted its research between Nov. 30 and Dec. 27, 2009, during the debate over health care reform. The error rate was plus or minus 2.4 percentage points. The survey found that in the last year 23 percent of adults looked online to see how money from the 2009 economic stimulus package was being spent; 22 percent downloaded or read the text of bills; and 16 percent visited a site that provides access to government data, such as Data.gov, Recovery.gov or USAspending.gov. To read more, click here.
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