Given the availability of sophisticated, low-cost publishing tools, it is reasonable to expect better information from all levels of government. In this context, better means: integrated, timely, informative, personalized, interactive, and multi-channel.
- Integrated - it’s costly and ineffective for town departments to have individual websites. Municipal information needs to be available from a central, well-organized website that is easy for residents to use and town staff/volunteers to maintain.
- Timely - municipal websites must deliver valuable content daily and become a comprehensive repository for public information. “News” needs to be new. Meeting notices and minutes must be published promptly. Meaningfully archiving legacy content is vital for the near and distant future.
- Informative - Material posted to municipal websites including meeting minutes, town policies, etc. is often overly long, overly written and uninformative. It often foregrounds process versus progress (e.g.The meeting was called to order at 7:03 p.m. In accordance with chapter XVII, paragraph 6 ...). It’s time to update tradition and provide more concise and substantive info regarding the execution of our public business.
- Personalized - content that matches a resident’s interests should receive prominent placement for those who register on the webiste. A robust search capability is vital to help residents find information they need more quickly.
- Multi-media – text, images, audio and video can be used to communicate the vitality and richness of our community life.
- Interactive - participation is the life-blood of a strong community and the town website should make it easy for residents to bookmark & rate content, post comments and email a friend. The site must efficiently match volunteers with opportunities. Secure ecommerce to enable residents to pay tax bills, order tickets and merchandise, and make donations is also required.
- Multi-channel –
town information needs be available when and how residents want to consume it. Some may want to visit the website and browse. Others may want new content sent via email or to a news reader. Content delivered via micro-blog throughout the day may be just right for a busy resident.
State and local websites generally fall short in these areas. Many rely on municipal website design consultants that have not kept pace with advances in communication technologies and best practices. To compound the problem, many organizations that evaluate government websites are also behind the times and do more to reify the status quo than extend it.
Read full article.
