by Meg Heinhold and Kelly Garrett

Finding a "Washington D.C. information resource" Website is easy. Finding the one you want is immeasurably more difficult, as there are thousands of them. Non-profit site creators range from a community association to a public television station to art associations. Many of the commercial sites are electronic versions of print-based publications, such as the Washington Post and the Washingtonian. Microsoft Network also has a site, as do other commercial companies that are most likely supported by advertising. Government Web presence includes sites for the Chamber of Commerce, City Government, and the Department of Tourism.

Predictably, the commercial websites are easiest to locate specifically, as they are advertised in other media and are more easily recognizable when browsing through search engine results.

The commercial and non-profit sites offer many of the same services and products, such as commentaries, reviews, calendars of events, and classified ads. Non-profit sites tend to be geared to a smaller geographical locality, rather than the entire city. They also have a more personal feel and more local flavor than the commercial sites, but the commercial sites are more often easily navigable and up-to-date.

All the sites, whether non-profit, commercial, or government, are used primarily for broadcast purposes and connecting people to existing resources. The Web is not being used as a forum to support local activism or discussion. CapAccess does host some forums, but they are barely used. A number of the community-focused sites were just lists of links to other sites. None of the sites showed any indication of involvement from many different community members.

Highlights Strong Local Content: http://www.dcpages.com/ Best Links: http://www.washweb.net/, http://dcregistry.com/ Commercial Sites: http://washington.sidewalk.com/