Status report on Welcome to the White House

Statistical summary:

• Total hits on homepage since inception (15 May): 1,968,170
• Median daily accesses: 13,000
• Number of days to reach lst million hits (19 February): 122
• Number of days to reach 2nd million hits (17 May): 87

• Total file transfers: 27,286,560
• File transfers from users of commercial orline services: 363,233

• Vistors from 69 countries, or 41 % of countries with access to Internet
• Most active foreign visitors: Japan, Canada, Germany, Sweden, Denmark

• Total Guest Book messages: 71,122

Summary of accomplishments:

• We help people find government information and services: Become the virtual Federal NIC, giving directions and providing one-on-one help, lots of immigration requests, other agency actions, job opportunities, revenge. Examples: people looking for their congressional representative's e-mail address, how to comment on public policies.

• We have become a conduit for ideas and suggestions for new services, i.e. Forest Mgmt plan, errors in govt servers. Examples:

  As a retired federal employee, I have an account with the Thrift Savings Plan. I was wondering if there are any plans to have the monthly interest rates accessible by e-mail or on the WEB.

• Significantly raises the standard of government online services: We have raised expectations and had a huge impact upon handicapped accessible HTML and services for people with text-only browsers. Examples:

  We caused creation of Treasury server which led to tax forms online. Gotten the Federal Information Center to use and help audit and improve public information resources instead of exclusively building their own database. Led to creation of govt-wide index.

  I want to commend you for making this service available to text-oriented users as well as those graphics users (NetScape, Mosaic and others) Now all that remains is that a larger number of Americans have some kind of access to this system, those people whom the President mentions when he refers to those who work hard and play by the rules.

• Provide a level of detail not available anywhere else: 200K people/day get our publications.

  Examples:

  Although I feel I follow the news and read the paper, many of the items already I had not heard of, like the Clean Car action that is being taken. I was quite impressed by the information given in regards to this effort.

  I just want to express my appreciation for the time and effort which has been put into creating and maintaining this service. I was quite impressed with the amount of textual information you've assembled here. I enjoyed reading the Presidents Radio Address firsthand, instead of listening to a TV political pundit "analyze" selected portions of it on the evening newscast, and look forward to review material here. Again, thanks for putting all this together!

• The Web invites and enables citizen participation in ways agencies can handle: More virtual visitors than actual White House visitors (1.5M/year) already; forms-based e-mail improves handling of incoming public comments; all services available 24 hours/day. Examples:

  Thanks for the very promt reply. That is truly different and new. My experiences with Gov't have never been anywhere near as fast. You have restored my faith.

  Mr President: I just want to take a moment to tell you how great the on-line Whitehouse tour is. To be able to see information like this is wonderful and share it with my family was a great experience.

• Changes the relationship between the remote, complex Federal apparatus and the citizens it was built to serve. Hypertext is the best thing to happen to the management of the government enterprise since the invention of taxpaying through payroll deductions. Makes government more open, accessible, and understandable. Turns the online medium into the de facto directory of government services. Examples:

  I would just like to say that this is an excellent first step for the "average joe" to access the vast database the US Government has to offer. Please keep up the good work and efforts.

  This is an excellent idea. Finally, people can actually get into the true spirit the founding fathers envisioned in the Constitution. An interaction between people and the White House. Although as a very conservative individual I rarely agree with anything the White House does, I am all in favor of this. Nice job.

  I am setting here with my nine year old daughter and taking her through a tour of the White House, showing her picture and letting her her actual sounds. I believe this service will be a fantastic educational reosurce for our youth who are fortunate enough to have access to it. It would be wonderful if we could expose all school age children, especially in the educational setting, to this type of instant communication. At last I can say I have found something I think my tax dollars were intelligently spent on.

  I am very new to the intemet. and so have been doing a lot of exploring. This is one of the most attractive and easily used sites I have seen so far. I feel that it conveys dignity and open warmth in a way that makes me feel very proud of the executive branch of the government. I am something of a sagebrush rebellion Westerner, and this makes up for the fact that all of the national museums and galleries are so far away. Thank you.

  Thank you so much for supporting technology in our schools and giving us the opportunity to show our students the some of the advantages. The amazement in their eyes was worth a million dollars as they viewed the First Family on-line!

• Making the most of our high visibility to lead by example both within the US and internationally: Many visits by foreign governments trying to emulate our success and virtual visits by foreign citizens. Users from every country. Gratitude expressed in French, Spanish, Polish, Norwegian, etc. Shown on television and included in books, CD-ROMS, and training videos. Examples:

  My compliments for the service. Here in Italy we can only dream a thing like this.

  You have oviously put a great deal of time into the development of this server. It looks great. I have been asked by my employer to develop a www server, so am always looking for good ideas. Yours would be hard to top. Nice job.

  What can I say but thanks for being here. I think this is the best thing that has come along in a few years. I hope this service will be here for many long years.

  This is Great!!!!! Does Congress have a WWW site? If so, where? This is EXCELLENT - First time to visit. OUTSTANDING IS NOT GOOD ENOUGHT TO EXPRESS THE JOB THAT WAS DONE TO PUT THIS TOGETHER.