Open Government Links of the Week – September 2, 2011
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Flashback: Government Teaches About Fireworks Safety Online
- Speaking of practical ways that the government can provide useful information to citizens online… there are various government webpages that help citizens become informed on being safe around fireworks. Here’s a sampling of them…
Baltimore empowers citizens to act as sensors with new mobile apps, open 311
The White House and E-Petitions:
- With ‘We The People,’ White House Promises to Go E-to-the-People
- White House offers “We the People” online petitions at WhiteHouse.gov
Public Technology Institute (PTI) seeks citizen-engaged communities
Also, I had a guest post over on the American Society for Public Administration’s (ASPA) blog: “How Local Governments Benefit from Social Media“
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Open Government Links of the Week – July 15, 2011
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“[CIO] Vivek Kundra’s Tips for Smarter Government”
- “Federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra delivered [these] during testimony before a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee [on Thursday]“
“Tips on Improving Government Websites”
- On Tuesday, the White House held a video Q & A about Improving Federal Websites. BUT, there are takeaways and ideas that LOCAL governments and state agencies can gain from this discussion – see the notes below the archived video in the post…
Open Government on a Global Level:
“As part of the Open Government Partnership, Transparency & Accountability Initiative recently published a new report on current best practices and the practical steps for opening government.”
- “Transparency & Accountability Initiative welcomes launch of Open Government Partnership” (HT Alex Howard)
“The Transparency & Accountability Initiative welcomes the launch of Open Government Partnership (OGP), a new multilateral initiative that aims to promote more open and accountable government, with the ultimate goals of empowering citizens, countering corruption, promoting economic efficiencies, harnessing innovation, and improving the delivery of services”
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Tips on Improving Government Websites
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On Tuesday, the White House held a Q & A about Improving Federal Websites. BUT, there are takeaways and ideas that local governments and state agencies can gain from this discussion (see below the video).
According to the White House Blog:
“For the first time, the federal government has published the list of all .gov domains managed by federal executive branch agencies– all 1759 of them!
Before today, no one – except for the few folks who manage the .gov registry – has had a clear picture of what our federal web space looks like. Now, anyone can see how many different domains and websites agencies manage, what topics they cover, which sites may duplicate or overlap with others, and which sites are no longer being actively maintained. As part of President Obama’s Executive Order on Customer Service and Campaign to Cut Waste, we can identify and consolidate unnecessary websites, saving money and providing better service to the American public.” (source: from the blog post, “Campaign to Cut Waste: .gov Effort to Improve Federal Websites” by Sheila Campbell)
“White House Director of Digital Strategy Macon Phillips, Federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra and Director of the GSA’s Center for Excellence in Digital Government Sheila Campbell discuss ways to improve the online experience with Federal websites and the campaign to reduce the number of excess and duplicative government websites.”
(if you can’t see the video for some reason, try it directly on the White House’s website)
Some ideas and takeaways for local governments to consider:
- Be prepared for making your site mobile-ready
- Include search capability for the site (have a search-bar).
- Check website analytics… don’t pour money into pages that don’t get visits.
- Multiple domain names from one government mean that you’re competing with yourself for search engine results.
- Make sure that top tasks are featured prominently on the homepage.
- Find (and delete) duplicated content.
- Collaborate with content creators (those who will be contributing to the government website).
- HowTo.gov shares best practices with federal, state, and local web managers.
According to their website, “HowTo.gov is for anyone who manages or supports (directly or indirectly) a government customer service channel. This includes anyone who manages a government website or call center; communicates with the public via social media; manages or supports their agency’s IT operations; writes or edits content for web or print publication; or manages customer service operations in any program area.”
Also, “HowTo.gov is a website to help government workers deliver a better customer experience to citizens. It’s about sharing new ideas, common challenges, lessons learned, and successes across government. HowTo.gov can help you work smarter, whether you’re on the “front lines” of government customer service; you manage a customer service channel; or you support customers through new media, open government, cloud computing, communications, innovation, or in some other way. HowTo.gov provides the tools and ideas you need to effectively serve, engage, and support your customers, no matter how they choose to interact with you.”
They also offer “practices, training, and guidance on:
- Strategic planning and coordinating customer service channels;
- Federal web requirements and policies;
- Cloud computing, apps, data and web infrastructure tools;
- Online citizen engagement through social media and open government;
- Web content management, usability, and design; and
- Contact center services.”
Have any other ideas? Add them to the comments below!
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Open Government Links of the Past Week – April 15, 2011
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CA cities having hard time dealing w/ FOIA requests.
- “Now, IT officials working in California cities are saying that they are overwhelmed by the complexity of the public archived information being sought.”
- “Although responding to record requests has traditionally been a function of a city clerk’s office, in recent years IT departments have become heavily involved in the process as federal and state laws have included electronic documents under the public records umbrella.”
- Article: “Transparency Bill Ups E-Discovery Pressure on California Cities” (GovTech.com, HT)
“comScore Releases March 2011 U.S. Online Video Rankings”
- “comScore, Inc. … released data from the comScore Video Metrix service showing that 174 million U.S. Internet users watched online video content in March for an average of 14.8 hours per viewer. The total U.S. Internet audience engaged in more than 5.7 billion viewing sessions during the course of the month.”
- More stats in the release…
“Mobile Decisions | To App or Not to App, That is the Question“
- “as mobile development in the federal government continues to ramp up, tools to help agencies and individuals assess how (and when) to intelligently proceed are increasingly important. Recognizing that every situation is unique, an understanding of a few critical questions should provide some clarity for those making the decision on how best to proceed with mobile development.”
Sunshine Review’s Post: “Open government and data resources“
- “Through FOIAchat, a weekly live chat Sunshine Review hosts on Twitter, we’ve run into a lot of really great resources for those of you hoping to learn more about your government. Usually, it takes some investigation to get data and documents from governments, but these resources host searchable information online for you to utilize.”
How can social media help government reach Hispanics (a growing population)?
- The U.S. Hispanic population is on the rise. How can Gov 2.0 help local governments serve this population of citizens?
So there you have it! Any more ideas? Let us know in the comments!
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Open Gov Links of the Week – March 25
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“After the Quake: Mobile Internet Use Soars in Wake of Japan Crisis”
- How important is having emergency information readily available to citizens via the Internet? Well…
“National Archives hosts Open Government R&D Summit”
- O’Reilly Media’s Alex Howard live blogged during the event.
Oregon Launched an “Open Government” Website
“Our goal is to enable state government to interact more directly with the citizens of Oregon, and this new site is a powerful way to help make that happen,” said Kris Kautz, acting-director of the state Department of Administrative Services.
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