If you haven't navigated around through Recovery.gov since the Recovery Board added the recipient reports on Oct. 30, the truth is it isn't the easiest site to use. Having access to the recipient reports is great (and rather historic), but the data are stored in various disparate sections of the website, and searching the site to find exactly what you're looking for is tedious. The real problem, though, is that the site's help section isn't very helpful, since it only provides general background info on the Recovery Act, and nothing about how to actually use the website.

To help people understand the site, last week ProPublica started answering users' Recovery.gov FAQs, in two installments (Part 1 and Part 2). The posts answer questions such as "Where do I search for recipient?", "What are the different amounts in the reports?", and "Why do different recipients have the same DUNS number?" It isn't earth-shattering stuff, but the posts do make the site easier to understand for beginners. I would definitely recommend these posts to anyone coming to Recovery.gov or the Recovery Act for the first time. Too bad the site needs these FAQs in the first place.

Image by Flickr user Michael Keen used under a Creative Commons license.