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This site went live in 2015 and hasn't changed too much since then. Participating agencies have their google analytics data collected by GSA, which is hosting t

This site went live in 2015 and hasn't changed too much since then. Participating agencies have their google analytics data collected by GSA, which is hosting this webpage. It's very useful, and I've referred to this site many times over the years (probably bc a couple sites I've worked on are in the top 50!). For those people wanting other awesome and informative govt sites, take a look at https://www.usaspending.gov/ https://www.usaspending.gov/, which has all government contracts data easily searchable (and bookmarkable). https://18f.gsa.gov/2015/03/19/how-we-built-analytics-usa-gov/ https://18f.gsa.gov/2015/03/19/how-we-built-analytics-usa-go...

eminence32 5y ago
I bet the US government has lots of useful websites that I've never even heard of. But every now and again I randomly stumble across one (like the one from your comment), and it makes me wonder if there is a "discovery problem" here. What other useful govt sites are out there, but are unknown to me.
- kibwen 5y ago
  Here's one I stumbled upon recently: the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) has an interactive sea level rise map where you can see whether a given location in the US will suffer flooding/inundation from sea level rise based on the value the user selects: https://coast.noaa.gov/slr/# https://coast.noaa.gov/slr/#
  - jrwr 5y ago
    Interesting thing with that tool, it doesn't show any rise in the great lakes, I wonder if they would rise at all.
    - EricE 5y ago
      They are higher than the ocean (Niagara Falls!) so no - unless the paths between them and the path to the ocean gets blocked they won't rise.
    - deeg 5y ago
      All else being the same I would expect the great lakes to rise. My guess is that the lake levels are so strongly tied to rainfall patterns that it's pointless to predict their future levels right now.
- shadowgovt 5y ago
  The discovery problem is not only known, it's writ large. There is a vast bureaucracy of benefits available to Americans that most Americans don't know about because the creation of the programs rarely includes advertising in the budget. If you've ever seen the "question mark vest guy" (Matthew Lesko, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Lesko https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Lesko), who offers book on federal programs available and how to take advantage of them... He's been criticized as a charlatan or misleading people, or encouraging people to "freeload," but here's the thing... He's really quite sincere. He believes the US government bureaucracy has failed in its duty of public information and education and is full of under-utilized programs that, as a result, become tools for the informed to siphon resources from those the programs were intended to help. He thinks that's unfair. The "Free Money Now" book covers and TV advertisements are employed because his target audience is assumed to not be savvy enough to do the research themselves, so he's trying to reach them with noise and spectacle where quiet black-and-white announcements buried in the back pages of local newspapers have already failed (and the fact that he started his work in the era where the easiest way to reach his target audience was still books because the sorts of people who didn't know about benefits programs they were eligible for were strongly correlated with lack of Internet access, not surprisingly).
  - EricE 5y ago
    All the information in his book is freely available too: https://pueblo.gpo.gov/Publications/PuebloPubs.php https://pueblo.gpo.gov/Publications/PuebloPubs.php He makes it easier to find since he actively advertised on TV, but still probably isn't worth the fee for that convenience.
    - shadowgovt 5y ago
      Probably not worth it to you and me. For the target audience, the fact that the linked site doesn't have "tangible dimensions" (i.e. I don't know where I am "in" the site) and can't just be read front to back is already daunting. I have relatives who have Lesko's book and just browse through it in the bathroom. It's comforting to them not only how comprehensive it is, but that in some sense it has a beginning and an end; when they finish the book, they have some kind of confidence that the percentage of programs they're aware of is now large. That might be a false confidence, but the sense it's possible keeps them reading. Hard to do that with a searchable index.
- EricE 5y ago
  I was looking at all the domains in .gov for a project at work and there are indeed some fascinating ones out there. Lots of abandoned stuff too. If you want a fascinating rabbit hole: https://18f.gsa.gov/2014/12/18/a-complete-list-of-gov-domains/ https://18f.gsa.gov/2014/12/18/a-complete-list-of-gov-domain...
reaperducer 5y ago
Participating agencies have their google analytics data collected by GSA, which is hosting this webpage. Mostly off-topic, but the GSA is one of those federal agencies that is really under-appreciated. When I was a reporter in the days before the commercial internet (yes, my tools were pencil, typewriter, and teletype), the GSA would publish lists of what government reports were coming out each month, helping you find all kinds of incredibly useful data. If you needed help, you just picked up a phone and they would point you in the right direction. I always looked forward to getting their big blue envelopes in the mail at work because I knew I could find something meaningful in there that I could localize for my audience. And the information was always presented in a manner that was both professional, and easy to understand. The GSA is one of those agencies that is best left alone to do its work in obscurity. Every once in a long while, a politician will stick his nose in there, but usually only to get a name put on a building. See also: The Congressional Budget Office.
jwithington 5y ago
Thanks for sharing that link to USA Spending! Seems like a lot of interesting information is buried there…and they have an API!
- EricE 5y ago
  USA Spending is a summary data set - if you really want to drill down into the details you need SAM/FPDS: https://sam.gov/reports/awards/standard https://sam.gov/reports/awards/standard

eminence32 5y ago

I bet the US government has lots of useful websites that I've never even heard of. But every now and again I randomly stumble across one (like the one from your comment), and it makes me wonder if there is a "discovery problem" here. What other useful govt sites are out there, but are unknown to me.

kibwen 5y ago
Here's one I stumbled upon recently: the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) has an interactive sea level rise map where you can see whether a given location in the US will suffer flooding/inundation from sea level rise based on the value the user selects: https://coast.noaa.gov/slr/# https://coast.noaa.gov/slr/#
- jrwr 5y ago
  Interesting thing with that tool, it doesn't show any rise in the great lakes, I wonder if they would rise at all.
  - EricE 5y ago
    They are higher than the ocean (Niagara Falls!) so no - unless the paths between them and the path to the ocean gets blocked they won't rise.
  - deeg 5y ago
    All else being the same I would expect the great lakes to rise. My guess is that the lake levels are so strongly tied to rainfall patterns that it's pointless to predict their future levels right now.
shadowgovt 5y ago
The discovery problem is not only known, it's writ large. There is a vast bureaucracy of benefits available to Americans that most Americans don't know about because the creation of the programs rarely includes advertising in the budget. If you've ever seen the "question mark vest guy" (Matthew Lesko, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Lesko https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Lesko), who offers book on federal programs available and how to take advantage of them... He's been criticized as a charlatan or misleading people, or encouraging people to "freeload," but here's the thing... He's really quite sincere. He believes the US government bureaucracy has failed in its duty of public information and education and is full of under-utilized programs that, as a result, become tools for the informed to siphon resources from those the programs were intended to help. He thinks that's unfair. The "Free Money Now" book covers and TV advertisements are employed because his target audience is assumed to not be savvy enough to do the research themselves, so he's trying to reach them with noise and spectacle where quiet black-and-white announcements buried in the back pages of local newspapers have already failed (and the fact that he started his work in the era where the easiest way to reach his target audience was still books because the sorts of people who didn't know about benefits programs they were eligible for were strongly correlated with lack of Internet access, not surprisingly).
- EricE 5y ago
  All the information in his book is freely available too: https://pueblo.gpo.gov/Publications/PuebloPubs.php https://pueblo.gpo.gov/Publications/PuebloPubs.php He makes it easier to find since he actively advertised on TV, but still probably isn't worth the fee for that convenience.
  - shadowgovt 5y ago
    Probably not worth it to you and me. For the target audience, the fact that the linked site doesn't have "tangible dimensions" (i.e. I don't know where I am "in" the site) and can't just be read front to back is already daunting. I have relatives who have Lesko's book and just browse through it in the bathroom. It's comforting to them not only how comprehensive it is, but that in some sense it has a beginning and an end; when they finish the book, they have some kind of confidence that the percentage of programs they're aware of is now large. That might be a false confidence, but the sense it's possible keeps them reading. Hard to do that with a searchable index.
EricE 5y ago
I was looking at all the domains in .gov for a project at work and there are indeed some fascinating ones out there. Lots of abandoned stuff too. If you want a fascinating rabbit hole: https://18f.gsa.gov/2014/12/18/a-complete-list-of-gov-domains/ https://18f.gsa.gov/2014/12/18/a-complete-list-of-gov-domain...

reaperducer 5y ago

Participating agencies have their google analytics data collected by GSA, which is hosting this webpage. Mostly off-topic, but the GSA is one of those federal agencies that is really under-appreciated. When I was a reporter in the days before the commercial internet (yes, my tools were pencil, typewriter, and teletype), the GSA would publish lists of what government reports were coming out each month, helping you find all kinds of incredibly useful data. If you needed help, you just picked up a phone and they would point you in the right direction. I always looked forward to getting their big blue envelopes in the mail at work because I knew I could find something meaningful in there that I could localize for my audience. And the information was always presented in a manner that was both professional, and easy to understand. The GSA is one of those agencies that is best left alone to do its work in obscurity. Every once in a long while, a politician will stick his nose in there, but usually only to get a name put on a building. See also: The Congressional Budget Office.

jwithington 5y ago

Thanks for sharing that link to USA Spending! Seems like a lot of interesting information is buried there…and they have an API!

EricE 5y ago
USA Spending is a summary data set - if you really want to drill down into the details you need SAM/FPDS: https://sam.gov/reports/awards/standard https://sam.gov/reports/awards/standard