Designing public government web sites

ABSTRACT

Public government web sites offer a promise of quick, convenient, and easy access to information and services. This has led many governments to push for an unprecedented move of publications, forms, and other information and services to this medium. There are many design challenges in developing public government web sites. In this SIG we aim to identify these challenges and discuss lessons learned. We will concentrate in two areas: supporting safety and communities, and user-centered design. In our discussion, we plan to touch on issues such as trust, information transparency, information relevance, community support, user-centered design techniques, stakeholders, legal requirements, and universal access. We expect attendees will be either involved in the design of government web sites or interested in a discussion of these issues. The SIG's activities will be organized to maximize input from all attendees.

REFERENCES

• 1: Europe's Information Society. (2004). About eGovernment. Retrieved December 28, 2004 from http://europa.eu.int/information_society/activities/egovernment_research/about_us/index_en.htm
• 2: Kristiina Karvonen, The beauty of simplicity, Proceedings on the 2000 conference on Universal Usability, p.85-90, November 16-17, 2000, Arlington, Virginia, United States [doi>10.1145/355460.355478]
• 3: Locke, J., Dunn, J., Grant R.W., & Shapiro, I. (2003). Two Treatises of Government and A Letter Concerning Toleration. Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut, 2003.
• 4: National Geographic (2004). Roper Geographic Survey 2002. Retrieved December 27, 2004 from http://www.nationalgeographic.com/geosurvey/
• 5: People's Daily Online (2001). Beijing to Set Up E-Government to Realize On-line Office Work. Retrieved December 28, 2004 from http://www.china.org.cn/english/CAS-e/6279.htm
• 6: The President's eGov Initiative. (2004). About E-Gov. Retrieved December 28, 2004 from http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/egov/about_backgrnd.htm

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)
          Subjects: Screen design (e.g., text, graphics, color)

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.3 INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL
      H.3.5 On-line Information Services
          Subjects: Web-based services
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)
          Subjects: User-centered design

  J. Computer Applications
  J.1 ADMINISTRATIVE DATA PROCESSING
      Subjects: Government

General Terms:
Design, Human Factors

Keywords:
communities, safety, usability, web sites