Rep. Hoyer's Congressional Web Site Wins 2007 Silver Mouse Award

Washington, D.C. – The Web site of Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (D-MD) was honored this week by the Congressional Management Foundation (CMF), a non-profit, non-partisan management, consulting and research organization in Washington, D.C., for having one of the best Web sites in Congress. The site, hoyer.house.gov  was one of only 104 Web sites commended in The 2007 Gold Mouse Report: Lessons from the Best Web Sites on Capitol Hill. 

To identify the awards, CMF analyzed 618 congressional Web sites, including those of all Senate and House Members, committees (both majority and minority sites), and official leadership sites.  In 2007, CMF awarded 36 Gold, 34 Silver, and 34 Bronze Mouse Awards.  Hoyer's majority leader Web site, www.democraticwhip.gov, earned a Gold award in 2006 and a Bronze in 2007; unlike the uniform scoring method for Member office and committee sites, only three leadership sites can earn the Gold, Silver and Bronze placements.

"The Internet remains one of the most effective tools at our disposal for dispersing information and communicating with citizens," stated Rep. Hoyer. "I take great pride in having one of the best Web sites in Congress. As new technological innovations emerge to utilize the power of the Internet, I will continue to work to improve and enhance my site in order to maximize its use to my constituents."

The 2007 Gold Mouse Report and Awards are part of the "Connecting to Congress" research project, funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation.  For this project CMF partnered with researchers from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, University of California-Riverside and Ohio State University to study how Members of Congress can use the Internet to improve communications with their constituents and to promote greater participation in the legislative process.

"One of the key reasons for the awards is to highlight best practices so offices can improve their sites by learning from those doing a good job," said Beverly Bell, CMF's Executive Director. "Web sites like Congressman Hoyer's provide a template for other congressional offices to follow."

"Congressman Hoyer's Web site shows that he understands the value of creating a virtual office to reach specific audiences who have come to expect having their needs met online," said Bell.  "The Congressional Management Foundation congratulates Congressman Hoyer for having a Web site that is among the best-of-the-best on Capitol Hill, and we are pleased to present him with the 2007 Silver Mouse Award."

Web sites were graded on how well they incorporate five basic building blocks, which extensive research has identified as critical for effectiveness: audience, content, usability, interactivity, and innovation. Using these building blocks, an evaluation framework was developed by CMF and their research partners at Harvard, Ohio State, and the University of California-Riverside that would be fair and objective while still taking into account important qualitative factors that affect a visitor's experience on a Web site.  

A full copy of the report, the 2007 Gold Mouse Report: Lessons from the Best Web Sites on Capitol Hill, is available on the Congressional Management Foundation's Web site at www.cmfweb.org.

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