Government bureaucracy, as the old saying goes, is forever caught in a public relations snare: you rarely notice bureaucracy when it performs its job well, but only when it fails. In a similar fashion, government bureaucracy may not be the first idea that springs to mind when considering how the Internet might enhance American civic life. But few aspects of government have more potential to be so radically transformed by new technology.
In older days, simple acts like registering to vote, or applying for a car sticker or a permit, could involve a time-consuming, in-person visit to a local bureaucratic office. Today, numerous services can be streamlined through e-mails, online forms, and quicker, more efficient computer databases. Federal agencies, when considering the impact of new regulations that implement congressional laws, solicit feedback both in public hearings and through e-mailed comments. Video-streaming technology allows concerned citizens to watch previously distant public hearings.
As public officials use the Internet to try and make themselves more accessible, so too do public bureaucracies. Just as bureaucracy quietly touches many corners of our public life, so too the Internet has been quietly transforming many features of bureaucracy.
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Use the Internet to find out more about those who work for the federal bureaucracy. Information is constantly posted online by news organizations and government watchdogs.
Since 1995, the White House has been required to report to Congress on the salaries of all White House Office employees. The Obama administration made the 2010 report on White House salaries available online at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/disclosures/annual-records/2010
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| 1a. What were the top two salary levels in the 2010 Obama White House? Name five individuals who were paid at one of the top two salary levels. |
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| 1b. Research one of these officials using the Washington Post publication http://www.whorunsgov.com/. Describe the duties of the person’s official job during the Obama presidency.
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| 1c. Were you surprised by the salary amounts listed in the above website? Why or why not? |
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Citizens can use the Internet to examine some of the different federal bureaucratic websites and what online services they offer.
The Environmental Protection Agency, located at http://www.epa.gov/
The Federal Communications Commission, located at http://www.fcc.gov
The Internal Revenue Service, located at http://www.irs.gov |
| 2a. Visit one of the above websites. Describe one way that these federal bureaucracies attempt to use the Internet to make their public functions more efficient. |
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| 2b. Your textbook classifies the agencies of the executive branch into three main groups according to the services they provide the American public. What are those three categories? To which of those three categories does the agency whose website you visited belong? Why?
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| Executive agencies are aware of the ongoing potential for executive and legislative oversight. Consider the example of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
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| 3a. What does NASA do? |
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3b. NASA has several major sections of its website. One is a page “for policymakers.”
What information does NASA make available on this page? How does it differ from the public version of the website? |
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| 3c. Judging from the NASA Office of Legislative Affairs website, what Congressional committees have jurisdiction over NASA?
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