Government Technology - November 2008 - (Page 16)

Optimizing 2.0 Tools These funding challenges are relevant because new mash-ups and Web 2.0 applications are coming to market with increasing frequency, so governments are expected to offer their services on more and more content channels. To name a few examples, public officials, such as Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, are posting videos to YouTube. The Portland (Ore.) Police Department is logging a page on Twitter with updates on crimes and safety hazards (in no more than 140 characters apiece), and municipalities are finding avenues for two-way communication with citizens (e.g., Fairfax County, Va., is asking the public to go online and suggest solutions for a projected $400 million budget deficit for fiscal 2010). A Web portal can be the gateway to these kinds of content, and fortunately many Web 2.0 applications are inexpensive to build. But is all this stuff actually adding enough value to make it worthwhile to the bottom line? John Miri, a fellow with the Center for Digital Government and a former director of e-government and Web services for Texas, said the next generation of Web portals must first optimize the current Web 2.0 tools before looking to the future. “Most people know they want to use 2.0 technology — they know what YouTube and Flickr are — but they aren’t sure how they’re going to apply it to government because the link between Web 2.0 and government isn’t readily apparent,” Miri said. Therefore, some of the Web 2.0 “bells and whistles” that governments are pursuing for their portals inevitably will be underutilized, Miri said. The key to mining value from Web 2.0 is to tie those tools into core services, he said. That’s because the average visitor to a Web portal only visits five to 10 times each year, according to Miri, for events like getting married, moving to a state, starting a business, obtaining social services or buying a car. Miri cited RSS feeds as one technology that in many cases isn’t being used to its full potential. “The surprising thing has been that many Aneesh Chopra Virginia’s secretary of technology believes applications for mobile devices will be central to the future of Web portals. » www.virginia.gov TexasOnline and has re-bid for the contract. That increased traffic could be driven, at least in part, by offerings like social networking, he said. Other states — namely New York and Georgia — recognize the appeal of Web 2.0, but appear to be focusing more on simplifying business processes. “When you think of being green — the whole green initiative — we want to make it easier for the constituents to not have to leave their home to do simple transactions,” said Sharon CatesWilliams, the New York state deputy CIO for IT delivery services. The state currently offers 450 types of online transactions and hopes to improve forms and documents it makes available to businesses and citizens. The New York redesign bid winner will have to fulfill this mission relatively cheaply; the project is capped by a $500,000 onetime appropriation. Meanwhile, Georgia is similarly looking to improve its Web 2.0 presence and government-tobusiness service through its Georgia Portal Transformation project. The problem is that budget shortfalls are everywhere, according to Steve Nichols, chief technology officer of the Georgia Technology Authority. “A challenge is that it’s a feast-orfamine environment. Our customer base is the rest of state government — they’re all getting appropriation tied back to our revenue. This year, we’re looking at at least 6 percent budget cuts,” Nichols said. and Web tools, like RSS and mash-ups that incorporate online geographic maps. TexasOnline might also expand upon the transactional fees that make the portal selffunded, according to the DIR document. Since its inception, TexasOnline has processed more than $6 billion in state and local revenue via an estimated 80 million financial transactions. “I think the [portal’s] mission has to be redefined to providing services that most state and local governments can provide where a citizen can utilize them every day and every week,” said Gary Miglicco, vice president of public services for BearingPoint, the company that currently operates » www.texasonline.gov 16 http://www.virginia.gov http://www.texasonline.gov http://www.Govtech.com

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

Government Technology - November 2008 Contents Point of View On the Scene Big Picture Four Questions for … Forward Thinkers Taking Tech Home Virtual Frontier Hidden Costs Uncovered Seeing Red For the Record In the Loop Benign Dictatorship Home-Field Advantage A Better Way to Park New Tools for Fighting Crime How It Works Spectrum Products Two Cents signal:noise

Government Technology - November 2008

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