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Central Government, E-Government, Local Government, Policy
Hong Kong revamps govt portal
After 10 months of planning, the Hong Kong Government has revamped its portal, GovHK, giving the site a new layout and enhanced functionality.
Bassanio So, Deputy Government Chief Information Officer said that although the satisfaction level of GovHK was high, there were user comments which said the site lacked lively element and was difficult to search.
Two user surveys were conducted since May last year for the government to better understand users’ needs. “The comments received helped improve and ascertain our revamp direction,” said So.
So added that web sites of major Hong Kong organisations and government web sites of other countries/regions were referenced to design the new look of GovHK.
Research also shows that many users visited the GovHK portal with a specific purpose; therefore the revamped site is designed to be goal-oriented to boost its usability. Such elements include a new “I Want To …” section embedded in the main and cluster pagers such that users are able to reach popular information and services easily.
“We will obtain statistics from web analytic tools and identify the most popular information and services pages. Then we will place those hyperlinks in the I Want To… section and update it regularly or when necessary,” So commented.
A list of commonly used government forms and e-options have also been assembled on the revamped portal, such that users can locate them easily. Forms can be found either by topic, like ‘employment’ and ‘taxes’, or by life events such as ‘moving home’ and ‘buying a property’. Users can also fill out and submit frequently used forms to corresponding government departments online.
To provide a ‘lively and close-to-market’ user experience, revamped GovHK has six colour options available for users to choose, while warmer and earth-toned colours are used to create a welcoming feel for the site.
The new mobile version of GovHK will offer the web site’s full contents optimised in size and format for users to look up information via mobile devices. Before the revamp, only frequently used information was available on the mobile version.
Accessibility tests were conducts with local blind groups to address their special needs, and the simple new design allow them to use a screen reader to access the information easily.
Moreover, a new sharing feature now allows users to share information on social networking sites, including Facebook, Twitter, Delicous and Xanga.
“We believe it will attract new users to the portal, particularly youngsters,” So commented, adding that social media is a good platform to deliver government information, as well as for youngsters to voice out.
A “My GovHK” page will be introduced by year’s-end to boost customer service. Each user will be allowed to register for a personal account and use it to browse or use government information and services.
During the revamp process, Jeremy Godfrey, Hong Kong’s Government CIO, had been posting updates on his blog. “By letting people know how it is going does no harm to the government at all; in the contrary, it does lots of good to us,” he said at the recent FutureGov Forum Hong Kong. “People know what we have been doing and support that; otherwise they would stand aside and criticise how awful the government site is.”
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