ABOUT THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND COMMUNITY INITIATIVE

CyberMichigan has conducted four years of local government Web site assessments¹. We have evaluated the official local government Web sites for Michigan’s counties, townships, cities and villages, using a binary, 45-point analysis for each site. Of the 1,859 local government units, 547 are currently online (29%)².

For CyberMichigan's research, all Michigan local government Web sites are assessed using the Website Attribute Evaluation System (WAES,)³ developed by the Cyberspace Policy Research Group (CyPRG), http://www.cyprg.arizona.edu/ [opens in new window]. CyPRG is based at the University of Arizona, Tucson with associated investigators at the University of Roskilde, Denmark, George Mason University, Washington, D.C. and the Delft University of Technology, Netherlands and conducts research on the openness and transparency of national government websites across the globe. The National Science Foundation’s Social Behavior and Economic Research, and Computer Information Science Divisions have funded their work since 1996. CyberMichigan made minor adjustments to the criteria so that it would better fit assessing local government units rather than its original intent, assessing national government Web sites. Applying our previous experience in using the WAES tool, we structured the assessments in ways that would provide meaningful guidance to local governments and help them to periodically carry out their own assessments.

Summary of 2004 Findings:

Of Michigan’s 1,859 local government units (counties, townships, cities and villages), 547 (29%) have a Web presence.

The average growth of Michigan local governments online per year is 9% from the previous assessment. The percentage of yearly change has been consistent since the inception of CyberMichigan's eGovernment Initiative.

Projects that are helping to foster intergovermental cooperation and information sharing are making major strides in increasing the number of local governments online. This year's assesment showed the following total percentages of governments online by county: Leelanau - 100%, Van Buren - 100%, Hillsdale - 93%, Charlevoix - 89%, Oakland - 77%, Wayne - 68 %, Washtenaw - 64%, Kent - 62 %, Macomb - 59%, and Ottawa - 58%.

A majority of Michigan local government Web sites do not provide intuitive navigation tools for the information listed on their website. Only 15% contain a site-index and 30% provide a search engine for the website.

76% of the websites provide some form of contact for the Webmaster and/or person responsible for content for the website, while 58% of websites provide an email link to the senior official at that government agency.

¹ First WAES assessments for Michigan local governments were conducted in 1999 and continued through 2001 on a quarterly basis. 2001-2002, began the bi-annual assessments to include enhancements to the data, a final report, personal consultations and on-site visits. Beginning January - June 2004 the assessments and report was created

² Michigan local government Web presence last validated June 2004. Due to the dynamic nature of the Internet, it may be that more local governments are now online than those noted in this report.