White House Gets Low Tech Grades

Our sister magazine National Journal has completed a poll on how tech experts see President Obama's online efforts, and so far the results aren't good. WhiteHouse.gov earned an average grade of C+ in the poll, while Recovery.gov earned a C. One of the key roadblocks to developing new features and upgrading the presidency's web presence? Staffing:

So what's been lost in the transition from the campaign trail to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue? Lots of staff, for starters. The administration has fewer than 10 full-time new media employees, Macon Phillips, director of new media for the White House, told NationalJournal.com earlier this month. That's down from the roughly 170 techies the Obama campaign's Web team accumulated by Election Day.

"It's a challenge because the team's small, a lot smaller than ours was on the campaign, and there's even a lot more to do," Joe Rospars, the campaign's new media director, said recently.

It also might be a little bit premature to grade Recovery.gov. The National Academy of Public Administration-run dialogue on how to improve the site is ongoing this week.