improving web-based civic information access a case strongstudystrong of.pptVIP

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  (www.state.md.us) 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