Critics Say Recovery Website Reveals Little

From Sunshine Review

October 22, 2009 The Recovery website was created by the federal government earlier this year in order to provide a way for the government to inform the public of information relating to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). The website aims to make the ARRA fully transparent. But critics say that the website does not disclose enough information^[1].

Contents 1 Recovery.gov 2 Criticism 3 Response 4 External Links 5 References

[edit] Recovery.gov

The Recovery website, Recovery.gov, discloses information such as the amount of ARRA money awarded to each state, the amount of ARRA money spent so far in each state, the number of jobs created by the ARRA in each state, the contracts that are funded by ARRA money, and the government agencies receiving ARRA money. The website discloses a wealth of information but critics say, however, that it is not enough^[2].

[edit] Criticism

Critics note that the website fails to disclose any information about the types of jobs that have been created as a result of the ARRA. It does not say whether a job created by the ARRA is a manufacturing job or IT job. This lack of information, critics say, is a problem because understanding the implications and effectiveness of the ARRA requires not only knowing the number of jobs created, but also of the number of different types of jobs ^[3].

The website has also been criticized for failing to offer a feature whereby recipients of ARRA money can be searched for by name. The omission of this feature, critics say, contributes to the overall poor usability of the website ^[4].

[edit] Response

Website officials have said that although the website currently lacks any information about the types of jobs created, it remains a possibility that, at a future date, this information will be added to the website ^[5].

[edit] External Links

• Computer World
• [1] Recovery.gov]

[edit] References

1. ↑ Computer World, Is the federal stimulus creating tech jobs? The government isn't saying
2. ↑ Computer World, Is the federal stimulus creating tech jobs? The government isn't saying
3. ↑ Computer World, Is the federal stimulus creating tech jobs? The government isn't saying
4. ↑ Computer World, Is the federal stimulus creating tech jobs? The government isn't saying
5. ↑ Computer World, Is the federal stimulus creating tech jobs? The government isn't saying