Robin Naughton, PhD

Government Shutdown 2013 – Website Announcements

Updated 10/17/13: After 16 days, the Congress has stopped the shutdown before the country goes into default on the 17th day.  Shutdown: October 1 – 16, 2013.


The Congress of the United States shut down the government on October 1, 2013 over the new Health Care law.   On that day , I took a picture of the sign in front of the Smithsonian’s Native American Museum at Bowling Green.

IMG_1957

I decided to take a look at the website representations of the shutdown.  How are they using language to describe the shutdown?  What are the variations in the terminology?  What were the design choices?  What were the functionality choices?  Did they close the website completely (no content but the shutdown information) or did they simply provided an announcement?  These questions and more lead me to take screenshots of how governmental organizations are communicating the shutdown on their websites.

Below is an active list of screenshots in no particular order.

White House

White House (http://www.whitehouse.gov/)

US House of Representatives

US House of Representatives (http://www.house.gov/)

United States Senate

United States Senate (http://www.senate.gov/)

US Department of State

US Department of State (http://www.state.gov/)

Department of Health & Human Services

Department of Health & Human Services (http://www.hhs.gov/)

Smithsonian

Smithsonian (http://www.si.edu/)

US Botanic Garden

US Botanic Garden (http://www.usbg.gov/)

Department of Education

Department of Education (http://www.ed.gov/)

 Institute of Education Sciences

Institute of Education Sciences (http://ies.ed.gov/)

Department of Labor

Department of Labor (http://www.dol.gov/)

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Bureau of Labor Statistics (http://www.bls.gov/)

Library of Congress

Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/index.html)

 National Institutes of Health

National Institutes of Health (http://www.nih.gov/)

National Endowment for the Arts

National Endowment for the Arts (http://arts.gov/)

National Endowment for the Humanities

National Endowment for the Humanities (http://www.neh.gov/)

National Science Foundation

National Science Foundation (http://www.nsf.gov/outage.html)

Department of Interior

Department of Interior (http://www.doi.gov/index.cfm)

National Park Service

National Park Service (http://www.nps.gov/shutdown/index.html)

Department of Transportation

Department of Transportation (http://www.dot.gov/)

Architect of the Capitol

Architect of the Capitol (http://www.aoc.gov/)

Department of Commerce

Department of Commerce (http://www.commerce.gov/)

 National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (http://www.nasa.gov)

USA

USA (http://www.usa.gov/)

US Government Accountability Office

US Government Accountability Office (http://www.gao.gov/)

US Copyright Office

US Copyright Office (http://www.copyright.gov/)

US Supreme Court

US Supreme Court (http://www.supremecourt.gov)

National Archives

National Archives (http://www.archives.gov/)

US Department of Energy

US Department of Energy (http://energy.gov/)

US Department of Agriculture

US Department of Agriculture (http://www.usda.gov/fundinglapse.htm)

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US Department of Defense (http://www.defense.gov)

 

US Department of Homeland Security

US Department of Homeland Security (http://www.dhs.gov/)

US Department of Housing and Urban Development

US Department of Housing and Urban Development (http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD)

US Department of Justice

US Department of Justice (http://www.justice.gov/)

US Department of the Treasury

US Department of the Treasury (http://www.treasury.gov)

Department of Veterans Affairs

Department of Veterans Affairs (http://www.va.gov/)

US General Service Administration

US General Service Administration (http://www.gsa.gov/)

US Institute of Peace

US Institute of Peace (http://www.usip.org/)

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