Cyberspace Policy Research Group
Mission

The Cyberspace Policy Research Group (CyPRG), based at the University of Arizona, Tucson and George Mason University, conducts research on the diffusion and use of the World Wide Web in national governments worldwide.  Openness and internal effectiveness are of particular interest.

Every year CyPRG 
 

  • scans the web for new agency sites across the globe
  • records agency URLs and other pertinent information
  • organizes comprehensive database of all national level government agencies on the Web

    • In addition, CyPRG analyzes web operations according to a number of criteria of interest to citizens, public managers, and policymakers:
     
  • website transparency
  • website interactivity
    • These data provide a detailed, quantitative look at how governments and public agencies are using the Web in the creation and delivery of public services, and how they are structuring their own internal operations to do so. They also permit comparison across public agencies and across countries on a systematic, empirical foundation.
    		 The detailed evaluation criteria are in their own right an important evaluation instrument for government operations with the public. The instrument, called the Website Attribute Evaluation System (WAES), provides an important tool for managers of public organizations seeking to provide optimum service to the public under resource constraints.

    CyPRG is also conducting a systematic webmaster survey worldwide, using a web-based questionnaire. This survey is producing a more detailed picture of web operations than is possible with the WAES instrument.

    In order to put WAES data in context, CyPRG staff are also conducting extensive, in-depth interviews with webmasters of public agencies to gain insights into how web operations began and have developed, what problems are encountered, and what is expected of them in the future. Summaries of these interviews and the interview instrument are also available to researchers.

    Finally, CyPRG is also using this data in its own research and publications into uses and impacts of new information technologies in public organizations, both in the United States and across cultures and policy domains.

    This work has been funded by the National Science Foundation's Social Behavior and Economic Research, and Computer Information Science Divisions, since 1996.

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