The Evolution of Web Governance in the Federal Government

Over the last 10 years, federal agencies have undergone a major transformation in the way they manage programs and internal administration, in their relations with Congress, and in their dealings with clients and citizens. Agencies now work in electronic BLOCKINenvironments BLOCKINof BLOCKINe-mail, BLOCKINelectronic BLOCKINdocuments BLOCKINand BLOCKINfilings, BLOCKINintranets, BLOCKINand the Internet. This article seeks to describe and to account for the emergence of what is now being termed Web governance. BLOCKINBriefly, BLOCKINWeb BLOCKINgovernance BLOCKINis BLOCKINconcerned BLOCKINwith the control of content and design for agency Web sites. We explore the evolution of the process by which Web governance decisions are being made government-wide and at individual federal agencies. We look to changing patterns of administrative process BLOCKINin BLOCKINorder BLOCKINto BLOCKINhelp BLOCKINaccount BLOCKINfor BLOCKINthe BLOCKINemergence BLOCKINof BLOCKINcontrols, BLOCKINand BLOCKINwe BLOCKINfind BLOCKINevidence of the importance of networking and of disbursed, self-designing processes.