A distinctive
feature of the last decade of the twentieth century has been the exponential
growth of
public interest in the World Wide Web. National parliaments have been quick to
catch up with
the general trend. Nearly two-thirds of them were operating their own Web
sites by the
turn of the century. As of 1 April 2000, parliaments in 101 countries have
established their presence on the Web. This represents 57% of the total number
of parliaments. Moreover, parliamentary chambers in bicameral parliaments often
have separate Web sites.
In terms of
geographical distribution of parliamentary Web sites by continent, the
situation is relatively heterogeneous. While Europe leads the way with 87% of
its national parliaments operating Web sites, Africa lags behind with a mere
33% (16 countries out of 48), as does
Oceania with
just 29%. More than half of all national parliaments in Asia and the Americas
are present on the Web.
It should be
noted that the situation is rapidly changing. Over the last two years, the
overall
number of
parliaments with Web sites has nearly tripled and many of the newcomers are
from the continent of Africa. The Inter-Parliamentary Union has been
instrumental in setting up some of these sites through its programme of technical
assistance to parliaments. With well over half the world's parliaments
operating Web sites already, it is a fact of political life that a
parliamentary presence on the Internet is no longer an option but a must.
However,
questions such
as the appropriate content of a parliamentary Web site and whether newcomers
can learn from the experience of their forerunners must still be addressed.
During the
summer of 1998, IPU conducted an in-depth survey of all parliamentary sites
then existing on the Web. The purpose of the exercise was to identify the
prevailing features of such sites in terms of both content and structure, to
evaluate their comparative usefulness and eventually to establish a checklist
of elements that could be systematised and recommended for inclusion in
parliamentary Web sites in the form of general guidelines applicable to all
such sites.
As stipulated
in the decision of the Union's Executive Committee (Windhoek, April 1998) that authorised
the survey, "such guidelines should contain recommendations for
inclusion of various information sections in parliamentary Web sites and
directions with regard to
language
use and implementation of technically advanced features of the site. The guidelines
should be practically oriented so as to facilitate the task of parliaments
embarking upon initial planning or subsequent modification of their Web sites
before the job is passed over to actual Web designers".
The survey was
carried out by the IPU Secretariat with the assistance of external collaborators using standard
Internet-connected computers. Individual Web sites of some 125 parliamentary
chambers in 82 countries were visited in the period from 5 to 18 August 1998 and
scrutinised on the basis of 48 "yes-or-no" criteria. The resulting
data were systemised in table form. This exercise yielded a
"snapshot" of the state of all parliamentary sites on the Web, thus
making it possible to compare their respective content, structure and
functional characteristics in a methodologically correct manner. An analysis of
the data collected in this way confirmed the hypothesis that the content of a typical
parliamentary site is likely to follow a pattern and that most Web sites of
national parliaments share a number of prevailing structural features.
For example,
introductory pages usually comprised a brief overview of the parliament's
history (54% of sites) and information on the parliamentary and/or electoral
system (63%) and on presiding officer(s) of parliament (71%). On the other
hand, a calendar of parliamentary business was included in only 22% of sites,
and only one-third of sites offered the possibility of a "virtual
visit" to the parliamentary premises.
Sumber: GUIDELINES
FOR THE CONTENT AND STRUCTURE OF PARLIAMENTARY WEB SITES
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