CongressLink: A Whole New Look!

From: "Cindy Koeppel" <[email protected]>

There's a whole new look to CongressLink - http:// 
www.congresslink.org...

To celebrate the 15th anniversary of CongressLink, The Dirksen  
Congressional
Center is proud to introduce a new edition of the site. Our interface  
has a
brand new appearance, and we’ve streamlined the site to make it  
faster, easier,
more intuitive - and a whole lot nicer to look at. Inspired and guided  
by
suggestions and feedback from our users, we've re-designed it from the  
ground
up and loaded it with new features. We didn't stop at making it look  
better and
work more efficiently. We've expanded the content. The site now hosts:

·  81 lesson plans

·  Links to 18 of the best lessons about Congress on the Web

·  12 special projects

·  184 editorial cartoons

·  7   WebQuests

·  Links to 27 of the best Web sites about Congress · Links to 2 online
textbooks

·  Glossary

·  Historical Notes

·  Up-to-date information about the current Congress: the senators and
representatives (and how to contact them), their leaders, the  
congressional
schedule, pending legislation, campaigns and elections, and more

·  Contemporary and historical information about Congress as an  
institution,
the lawmaking process, the nature of leadership in Congress, and the
characteristics and duties of Congress members

·  27 Expert Views

·  118 Resources

What today we call CongressLink was originally titled "The Dirksen
Congressional Studies Resource Network." We changed the cumbersome  
title, but
the purpose of the site remains essentially the same as first proposed  
in March
1996:

·  To take advantage of emerging information technologies to create a  
vehicle
for ongoing education about and discussion of Congress and how it works

·  To promote the development of a community of learners who will  
develop an
awareness and appreciation of Congress and its capabilities

·  To expand the use of The Center’s archives through the development  
of "a
World Wide Web page"

·  To identify, annotate, and link the site to related World Wide Web- 
based
resources

We define success for the site in terms of the people who use it. Does  
it
satisfy their needs? Is it easy to use? Does it deliver something  
unique? We
hope the new version, and the four additional sites in our Web Suite  
inspired
by CongressLink, answers with a "yes."

As one reviewer put it,"CongressLink is a model Web site for  
information on how
the U.S. Congress works.  It is designed primarily for grade school  
and high
school level government and civics teachers and students, but its
sophistication and range of information make it useful to anyone  
interested in
exploring Congress. . . . This is a mature, well-designed, and  
intuitive site
that has gone through a decade of revisions and improvements since it  
first
went online in 1996. . . . The strength of this site lies in its  
original
content and more in its ease of use and solid integration with many of  
the best
and most useful Web sites on Congress."

We would enjoy reading your comments about the site. If you have any  
feedback,
click on the"Questions and Feedback" link located at the bottom of  
every page
throughout the site and complete the online form.

Welcome to CongressLink 6.0 - http://www.congresslink.org!