The site is clearly a work in progress: while it publishes new articles each day, they come from only a few contributors. It began with some documents that set the tone: a list of union leaders who were met in 2009 by the secretary of labor, Hilda Solis, and the production costs for an advertisement for Medicare featuring Andy Griffith ($404,000).

When it is working as envisioned, Mr. Law said, Wikicountability will have a community “of several dozen groups or participants,” who will either post material they have obtained from their own requests or analyze what others have put up.

Unlike Wikipedia, users must apply for editing privileges. “We would do some vetting” of applicants to become editors, he said, “a balance between complete openness and some management to ensure that the larger purposes don’t get frustrated by those who don’t wish the project well.”

“We have a point of view,” Mr. Law said.

Wikicountability is taking pains to distinguish itself from WikiLeaks, explaining that its policy is “not to solicit or knowingly accept for publication documents which disclose information that is classified, legally privileged or subject to the established statutory exceptions under FOIA.”

For now, Mr. Law said, the site has focused on educating potential contributors about requests made under the federal Freedom of Information Act.

“The first hurdle we are spending time overcoming is a lack of understanding of the FOIA process,” he said. “People automatically assume only journalists can file FOIA requests.”

Image Karl Rove helped conceive the political group Crossroads. Credit... Matt York/Associated Press

Mr. Law said he hoped the site could draw attention to what he described as the poor record of compliance by the Obama administration; many of the articles on Wikicountability concern as yet unanswered requests for information from the government.