Building Better Web for Citizens. Ot Overview of the Toolbox

Transcription

1 Building Better Web for Citizens Ot Overview of the Toolbox

2 Contents Introduction... Toolbox Modules... How to Use the Toolbox... What this Toolbox is Not... For More Help

3 Introduction As a government we are taking a new approach to our web presence. We are challenging ourselves to shift to a more integrated approach to web management; to put our services and citizens needs before our organizational structures, to make it easier and faster for our citizens to find the services and information they need, and to create a unified user experience across all our ministry sites. As part of this new approach, the Ministry of Citizens Services and Open Government (CITZ) has been given strategic responsibility for government s web presence and is responsible for creating policy, governance and tools to support sectors and ministries through this change. You ve read the Centre 1 and you get that, as an organization, government has made a commitment to this new approach. Now it s time to implement your sector or ministry Transformation Plan to improve and update your organization s web presence, but you re not sure where to start. You ve come to the right place. The UX Toolbox is intended to give you a full picture of government s new approach to web as described in the Centre and how to apply it to create better web in government. So now what? Start with this toolbox it contains 10 modules to help you understand what s involved in improving your web content and your online services. After reading the modules, you ll have a better understanding of how to organize yourself, your work and your organization to deliver quality services and information on the web. Depending on the resources available in your organization, you may need more than just the guidance and advice provided in this toolbox. The Strategic Initiatives Division of CITZ is responsible for this toolbox and is available for consultation and guidance with a number of resources and contracts that are available to sectors and ministries on a cost recovery basis gov20.pdf 3

4 If you have questions about the corporate approach, this or any of the other modules in the toolbox, or how to move forward on your sector or ministry approach please contact the User Experience Design Team (UXBC) 2 within the Strategic Initiatives Division of CITZ. 2. User Experience Design Team (UXBC): uxbc@gov.bc.ca 4

5 Toolbox Modules The toolbox modules are organized into three categories - Plan, Build and Run. Plan 1. The Introduction to Online Service Delivery module helps to paint a picture of online service delivery in the public service, our new corporate approach to web, and how we need to rethink our positioning so that citizens can access more of our services online more easily. 2. The Design Research module explains why research is so important and why you should conduct user research before diving into strategy, development and implementation. It explains when to conduct research and describes several design research methods and tools. 3. The Web Strategy module helps you create both ministry- and project-level online strategies based on evidence from design research, providing best practice tools, guidelines and exercises for developing a good vision. 4. The Citizen Engagement and Social Media module teaches you how to harness the power of social media to engage with citizens and get the results you need to make an informed decision. It highlights the ways that your team can build your citizen engagement capacity through training and consultation with experts. Build 1. The Information Architecture (IA) module will help you make sense of the new gov.bc.ca site structure by describing its information architecture. After reading this module, you ll have a better understanding of where your content fits within the eight major themes of new gov.bc.ca site. 5

6 2. The Content module discusses the importance of web content and how it can shape a user s experience both positively and negatively. It will give you a better understanding of how to plan for content and write for your intended audiences on the web and provides tips and best practice guidelines. 3. The Metadata module assists ministries and agencies to understand and meet their responsibilities to produce descriptions of their online content. Implementing the guidelines in this component will ensure a consistent approach to describing provincial government online content and will better help citizens find, retrieve and understand the information and resources they need. 4. The Design module provides a design pattern library and available page types for standard reference points and guidelines for both experienced and non-experienced user interface designers. It also communicates standards to increase consistency, predictability and usability across gov.bc.ca. 5. The Technology and Tools module describes the technologies and tools available at an enterprise level and how they can be used to enable ministry and sector web strategies to help you better understand and connect with your users, the citizens of B.C., improve online service delivery, and create a user experience that is consistent with the rest of government. Run 1. The Governance module outlines an approach for governance that will help ministries adopt the principles outlined in the Centre and make their online service delivery more citizen-centric. It includes principles, models, examples and recommendations for governance that lay the foudation for successful online service delivery. 2. The Web Standards & Guidelines module provides B.C. Government standards and guidelines for the design and development of browser-delivered online content. 6

7 How to Use the Toolbox Each module is self-contained but we recommend that you read the entire toolbox before proceeding with any activities, and engage with CITZ if you have questions. Starting from the beginning will give you a better understanding of the entire process, and will help you chart an efficient and effective course forward. For a complete picture of how to rethink your web content, start with the modules that fall under Plan, then move to the modules under Build, followed by the modules under Run. Plan Introduction to Online Service Delivery Design Research Web Strategy Citizen Engagement and Social Media Build > > Information Architecture Content Metadata Design Technology and Tools Run Governance Web Standards and Guidelines 7

8 Jump Right In Scenario 1: You want to do design research for a project and would like to learn about different methods. Plan Introduction to Online Service Delivery Design Research Web Strategy Citizen Engagement and Social Media Jump Right In Scenario 2: You re interested in finding out where your services and program information might live on the new gov.bc.ca. Build Information Architecture Content Metadata Design Technology and Tools Jump Right In Scenario 3: You d like to know what kinds of roles and responsibilities you should consider for your governance model and which operational areas you need in place for better online service delivery. Run Governance Web Standards and Guidelines Jumping into modules to learn more about a topic is fine but there are certain paths that are strongly recommended for particular deliverables. Example: you shouldn t create your web strategy without doing design research. Do design research > Create your strategy Example: you can t tackle your content without research, strategy or understanding your IA. Do design research Understand where > Create your strategy > you fit in gov.bc.ca > Create your content All 10 modules are intertwined and support one another; as long as you understand their interdependencies, you can use them however you choose to meet your business objectives. 8

9 What this Toolbox is Not This toolbox will not give you Dreamweaver or FrontPage templates. In the past, government provided templates so that ministries, agencies and program areas would align with the approved look and feel (e.g., the right colours and fonts). Over the last 15 years, we have focused on getting everything and anything online quickly, thinking this was the best way to serve citizens and stakeholders. We worked as individual program areas to deal with issues and provide the specific information and services we thought people needed and wanted. We rarely asked people what they actually needed and wanted and we didn t give too much thought to what other ministries and areas were doing or how people would find these things online. This has resulted in the province owning over 275,000 web pages within about 600 distinct websites. All of these sites and pages are arranged and interlinked based on government s ever-changing organizational structure and naming. In an effort to stand out of these web properties, program areas and initiatives started branding themselves with unique names, logos, graphics and writing styles by getting exemptions from the templates. This has made it very difficult for people to find what they need from us online. In order to navigate through these sites, they have to understand our structure and language, and then they have to struggle through these pages and sites that all look different. It has also made it challenging for us to provide modern, intuitive access to government services online. By changing our approach to web and developing integrated strategies at the enterprise, sector and ministry levels, we can focus on the quality of service, design, and findability. We can reduce our content by removing duplicated and misaligned content. We can make more efficient use of our resources. We can stop working in silos in what we create, how we organize information, and how we expect citizens to use our services. This is why you won t find templates. The toolbox is intended to help you understand, from the ground up, how to adopt this new approach and truly build better, more sustainable and service-focused web in government. 9

10 Intro to Online Service Delivery Design Research Strategy Citizen Engagement and Social Media Content Metadata Design Information Architecture Technology and Tools Governance Web Standards and Guidelines 10

11 For More Help Depending on the resources available in your organization, you may need more than just the guidance and advice provided in this toolbox. The team responsible for this toolbox is available for consultation and guidance and has a number of resources and contracts that are available to ministries on a cost recovery basis. If you have questions about the corporate approach, this or any of the other modules in the toolbox, or how to move forward on your ministry approach please contact the User Experience Design Team (UXBC) within the Strategic Initiatives Division of the Ministry of Citizens Services and Open Government. uxbc@gov.bc.ca 11

12