Government Technology - October 2008 - (Page 16)

AUSTR ALIA B Y H I LT O N C O L L I N S | S TA F F W R I T E R Australia’s national portal links citizens to an array of services and information, but the government plans even more comprehensive enhancements. in the E-Government Survey 2008 — just four places behind the United States. The U.N. designed the survey to gauge how nations deliver e-services to citizens. Australia.gov .au impressed surveyors with its comprehensiveness, information, links to government resources and how it serves as the gateway to other integrated portals, such as the national job search site, jobsearch.gov.au, and the Centrelink citizen information and services portal, www.centrelink.gov.au. Although the Australian portal is ranked slightly behind the United States, the Aussies have an edge in the user-input department. The portal’s userfeedback mechanism, the 60 Second Survey, is more comprehensive and a tad easier to find than a similar U.S. application. The link, “60 Second Survey,” is located on the front page below the heading “Have Your Say,” and takes users to a questionnaire loaded with buttons, dropdown menus and two input boxes. Users of USA.gov must click on the “e-mail usa.gov” link that takes them to a smaller feedback form with fewer input opportunities. E-Connection W HEN A COUNTRY is as large as Australia, it’s a big job to connect the nation’s estimated 21 million people with public services. To inform its citizens about how their country can help them, the government created Australia.gov.au, a national Web site linking users to services and information to aid them at home, work and elsewhere. As the go-to site for a nation of six states and 10 territories, Australia.gov.au has much ground to cover — literally and figuratively. It’s a repository of Web links to services and information that all levels of governments — state, federal, territory and city — have to offer. The portal features: an internal search engine; more than 800 links to public sites; separate directories of federal, state, territory and city sites and departments; travel information; weather updates; current and historical country information; an alphabetical list of government contact numbers by subject; an e-mail subscription service for news and media releases; and a really simple syndication (RSS) delivery option for news and podcasts. RSS enables people to receive news articles, headlines and other data via XML technology. The United Nations (U.N.) ranked Australia No. 8 out of the top 35 countries on e-government readiness because of its national portal Australian The OCT_08 16 http://Australia.gov.au http://Australia.gov.au http://jobsearch.gov.au http://www.USA.gov http://www.centrelink.gov.au http://Australia.gov.au http://Australia.gov.au http://www.govtech.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Government Technology - October 2008

Government Technology - October 2008 Contents Point of View On the Scene Big Picture Four Questions for... Letters Cover Stories: Border Crossing The Australian E-Connection Easy Rider Northern Exposure Technology on the Cheap Ditching the Desktop Heightening the Experience Pipe Dream Falling Between the Cracks Come Together, Right Now... It's a ... Car? Digital State of the Art Spectrum Products Two Cents signal:noise

Government Technology - October 2008

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