Improving Web-based Civic Information Access: A Case Study of the 50 US States Irina Ceaparu and Ben Shneiderman Department of Computer Science & Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory University of Maryland

Main features Analyze home pages of 50 U. S. states ( Size (source code, gifs, total bytes) Navigation (incoming & outgoing links, style of navigation) Graphics (governor’s picture, state seal, statehouse picture, scenery picture, map, use of tables and frames ) Services (privacy policy, universal usability statement, contact information, online help, search box )

Design goals: Improve E-government Requirements: better delivery of government services to citizens improved interactions with business and industry citizen empowerment through access to information more efficient government management Solution - set of guidelines & metrics: solve architectural and design problems lay out requirements for content improve the users’ experience with the web site minimize time & effort to access information on similarly web sites

Size metrics: Reduce Download Time Methodology: byte count source of the home pages images on the home pages largest image on the home pages Results: smallest total byte count - Vermont (42k) largest total byte count - Washington (274k) largest image - Nevada (84k)

Navigation metrics: incoming & outgoing links Methodology: number of outgoing links for the home page incoming links for the whole web site of each state Results: outgoing links Delaware & Nevada (10)  Vermont (115) incoming links Washington (627)  Tennessee (72138)

Navigation style: Consistency & Rapid Access Methodology: navigate web site Results: 9 states use a navigation bar throughout the entire web site 26 states do not use a navigation bar at all some states have a navigation bar just on the first two-three levels of navigation

Graphic features Methodology: record image categories Results: more than half display governor’s picture more than half display state seal or statehouse half show their map over 70% display a scenery image all states’ websites use tables 4 states’ websites use frames

NC MI IN MT MO

Service features Methodology: record service features Results: 80% provide privacy policy 38% provide universal usability statement 48% offer contact by , 36 offer full contact info and 16% do not offer any contact info 29 states offer online help 40 states offer search features

Recommendations Keep number and size of images small (image bytes < 50K) Use a broad and shallow menu tree (30-80 links on the home page) Use a navigation bar consistently Avoid frames to support universal usability Feature most popular categories: Government (40) Tourism(40) Business(33) Education(27) Employment(26) Legislature(17) Online Services(11) Health(11) Citizens(11) Living (9) Tax (5)

Recommendations (cont’d) Achieve consistency in naming links MD: TX: OH: AR: Present on home page privacy policy universal usability statement contact information for public officials search box/button online help & phone help

Conclusions: For NASCIO Promote best practices Broad trees, privacy policies, universal usability Encourage consistent design Similar structure, common terms Support search Voluntary agreement on tags Work towards shared web site construction tool Simplify, speed construction Facilitate maintenance