Impactful, full-width banner images of mountains, beaches, and cityscapes highlight South Carolina, and attract visitors from around the world. These sites are usually reliable, but make sure its not a students webpage. 5. The aforementioned CDG survey, however, found that nearly 70 percent of respondents said a consistent user experience across multiple devices and locations is an unmet need. Consult with caution! A large header with the representative’s photo, their name, and what position they hold is a very common practice as well. White House (top) and Santa Monica City Council(bottom) websites When considering the issue of transparency, which is priority #1 for most citizens when looking at a government website, the White House fails miserably. Reliable. Is the information current? Sometimes you have to scroll down to the bottom to find the author. To evaluate the reliability of a piece of writing, you must consider several issues related to the subject and to the person or publisher that presents it. In a 2015 survey by Pew Research Center, 40 percent of respondents reported using a smartphone to look up government services or information (a number that likely is increasing). © 2020 All rights reserved. When schools throughout the country transitioned to online learning in March 2020, they had to quickly address two challenges. Less common are ".gov" sites. This is a good example of where the notion “content is king” holds true as the websites bounce rate hovers around 58% in the past month, which isn’t terrible. In the past three years, GCN has recognized government websites that stood out from the rest of the pack in their uses and adaptations of new technologies. Though the struggle is not new, it is becoming more prevalent. Effective government websites offer improved service, greater transparency and lower costs to better support individuals, communities and businesses. A hack on the Virginia Prescription Monitoring Program in 2009 caused 8 million patient records to be deleted. by Tom Ruff, VP of Public Sector, Akamai Technologies, Illinois State Treasurer’s Office Streamlines Operations and Improves Security, How Embracing the Cloud is Leading to Short and Long-Term Solutions in Education, How a Local Government IT Strategy can Benefit from Managed Services. And to bring it all back together, here's a note on Wikipedia. While Wikipedia articles seek to inform readers, Wikipedia authors are anonymous, and any Wikipedia reader can contribute information to most posted articles. By updating images consistently, the site remains fresh; Video banners on the home page awe and inspire users; there’s no better way to draw people in. Spend some time going through various government websites and ask yourself the following questions. Despite government officials realizing the value of Web access, however, many are struggling to meet these goals, citing security, poor user experience and lack of personalization as their top challenges. It's the website's address on the web. And, after reading a story, you will see a “stories you might also like” section, which is a simple way to encourage readers to continue digging through the site. How about this one? Sponsor: It's published by the Wikimedia Foundation....whoever that is? Their objective for the site is to: “be at the forefront of eGovernment and provide citizens and agencies with state-of-the-art web services and Internet tools to facilitate doing business with government in a secure, convenient and cost-effective way. Does a date of publication appear? Apply to Be a GovLoop Featured Contributor, The Benefits of Virtual Communication Platforms in the Workplace. Are the views of individuals as reliable as those of experts from universities or from the government which cite sources? As a critical reader, you deserve the best, the most current, and the most reliable. Luxembourg Gardens, Paris, FR. Evaluating a website before you use it is important because anybody can put anything on the internet. 10 great public-sector websites. That a source is in print or posted on the Web does not automatically make it trustworthy. Comfort includes perceptions about safety, cleanliness, and the availability of places to sit - the importance of giving people the choice … What do people complain about on the forums or do they have one. A current newspaper report about a recent vehicular accident in your community. These are for government institutions only. Stormfront is a white pride group! Finally you might see ".edu" sites. In general, information published by the government is both current and based on reliable research, even if no one author is listed. NASA’S JPL is the leading U.S. center for robotic exploration of the solar system, and has 19 spacecraft and 10 major instruments carrying out planetary, Earth science and space-based astronomy missions. Can AI and connected tech foster better disaster decision-making? Few advertisements present credible supporting information for the positions they present! A website such as Congressman Ron Paul’s has this mainstream look and feel, so therefore it can be taken seriously. Database postings which publish entries from encyclopedias or articles are also trustworthy, even if no author is listed. When we click on the link, it'll takes us to Stormfront's homepage, so we can see who they are. Instead, it should be a series of organized, objective, matching exercise: This is a very simple, straightforward approach to delivering the information citizens need. When a government official comes to you asking to create a website for them, it’s important that you understand what the mainstream looks and feels like. You may follow along if you like, but please be aware that all Google searches are slightly different and your results will probably vary from mine. Who wrote this essay? When you first arrive to the site, it’s easy to find the last meeting that was held, all of the issues that were discussed, and any resolutions that occurred. It’s important to follow a user-centered design process and make it easy for citizens to find the information they’re looking for. If you consult the Center for Disease Control listing for AIDS (dated and posted with a .gov suffix), what is the purpose of the information? Sites that integrate these elements and features serve their public well. JPL has a rich trove of white papers, newsletters, videos, images, and blog articles that cover every angle of their ventures into the unknown corners of the universe. JPL’s interactive “mission” timeline features current, past, future, and proposed missions. Rick Perry has a nice feature slider, digging deeper it’s actually pretty unorganized. They have categories solely dedicated to outstanding digital government work, and filtering through these ‘.gov’ award-winners, there are several common elements and features that make these sites outstanding (and that would work well for commercial, association, nonprofit, and government websites): Below are two sites that use the elements and features mentioned above. In last year's CDG survey, nearly 60 percent of respondents said that in 2016, they expected to increase their use of cloud-delivered Web applications. But a uniform website helps users recognize legitimate government websites, diminishes the interaction learning curve, and can go a long way toward building trust and shaping public opinion. university name. URL domain: Because the Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit group behind the site, it's a .org site, which means anyone could be behind it. It works well for mobile and desktop, and it allows them to focus their home page on the stunning banner images of our galaxy and beyond. When you scroll down, you see that this essay was written by Claybourne Carson and published in a book: It could be anything from The American Cancer Society to Wikipedia to Bobs Backyard Barbeque Club. They usually provide pretty reliable information. Author of the website John Brown is just a name and we don't know anything about this person. CAUTION: Be careful with ".orgs"! In this case, the .com is an educational company: Pearson Education. But as Government Technology will explore as it digs into the 2016 Best of the Web survey, the results of which will be released Sept. 1, some agencies are getting it right. John Brown, Ph.D. could specialize in anything. Nominations for the 2021 Fed 100 are now being accepted, How the Army’s DORA bot cuts manual work for contracting professionals, How natural language processing can support public health, How digital transformation supports the VA during the pandemic, Threats to election likely to extend for weeks. Try it here. For example, consider material posted on the Web (with a .com suffix) to describe the latest model of a new automobile. Author: It's authored anonymously by anyone. What does the government wanted citizens to know? Multi-lingual translation buttons (e.g., English to German) allow for simple switching to translated sites, which is extremely useful for reaching a multi-cultural audience. This biography of MLK Jr. is on a university's website (Louisiana State Univ.). Check your understanding: Which author has the BEST qualifications to write about philosophy? Let’s start by taking a look at two .gov websites, the White House and the Santa Monica City Council. Census.gov: Measuring America Census.gov contains a treasure trove of information about the changing population of the United States. Certainly, any organization or individual is entitled to a perspective. Ok, but many sites don't have an author. Accordingly, the use of data visualization, mapping and graphics, in addition to high-performance search and uses of social media and video, were strong factor’s in this year’s choices. And thanks to these more effective websites, agencies with shrinking budgets needn't allocate valuable staff and time to processes that can be more efficiently and conveniently carried out online. Last year, we spotlighted innovative Web applications. (, The site is well-integrated with social media. They can even make it look professional and credible! Check your understanding: Which URL domains CANNOT be purchased by just anyone and are therefore more reliable (usually)? Let us know in the comments! Adversely, citizens may get frustrated with the White House because their website makes it increasingly difficult to find important information. Government Web managers are getting the message: Great agency websites must be blazing fast and easy to navigate and offer access to information — including financial data, meeting transcripts and contracting records — not traditionally provided to the public. We use this information to make the website work as well as possible and improve government services. Study what mainstream government websites look and feel like, and you’re almost guaranteed to get repeat customers. Mobile-friendly websites not only help address issues of digital equity, they also provide new ways for government to serve citizens, such as travelers reserving campsites or commuters looking up information about traffic jams. Any confusion in the way the site is setup, its search functions or even the appearance can create large amounts of controversy between citizens and governments; as history has shown.
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