Government Answers on USA.gov
We’re getting wonderful comments! Please keep them coming.
In order to facilitate discussions about specific topics, we’ll create separate posts on some of the major themes that emerge from the dialog. Here are just a few of the topics that have emerged so far:
• De-cluttering the pages (both content and design)
• Improving the Search visibility and functionality
• Answering government questions directly on USA.gov, or on whichever USA.gov forum visitors happen to be on (e.g., Facebook, Twitter)
Let’s start with the topic of getting government answers on USA.gov.
At present, the majority of the USA.gov website is comprised of links to other government resources, so visitors often have to leave the website to find the information and services they’re seeking. Should USA.gov provide more government content and fewer off-site links?
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Where is the comment that i left, what is the feed back on it?
Who do we contact for consideration of receiving money back from the government towards penalties incurred when withdrawing money from 401K or IRA early? The government is bailing out major corporations and financial institutions…why not the individuals???
“Should USA.gov provide more government content and fewer off-site links?”
The short answer is Yes.
Now, the subtext to this question is the assumption that USA.gov is *the* portal for all government information. And you, the Office of Citizen Services, find it difficult to be that portal when all you can do is send your users to other sites, each of which has its own unique web design and way of dispersing data. In other words, it’s not a good idea to leave it up to all the different parts of the government to concern themselves with being properly accessible via the web. The next logical step is to start gobbling up these other sites, at least by way of answering your user’s questions. Sounds good to me.
Whenever I want to find out about something, I always check out the wikipedia page. I know I’ll get unbiased, boiled-down content in a consistent and readable format. It would be nice to see that kind of thing on USA.gov. For instance, I could look up my senator on USA.gov, but the only information I find is his picture, his address for sending my letters-from-a-concerned-citizen, and a link to his .gov website. 99.9% of the time, that’s all I need.
Certainly the “index of all .gov sites” shouldn’t go away, but I bet there’s other clever ways of visualizing everything that’s out there besides a list of sites. For instance, on this page, there’s “most viewed questions”. There’s no reason you couldn’t be analyzing these other sites for “most popular/useful pages”. That way, even if the site has poor design or confusing navigation or missing data, you can still control how that site is represented (especially if the user has a USA.gov account that tells you what they might be interested in). Kind of like a mini-portal just for that site. You’d always have the link to their main page, but you’d also get links to pages within the site, giving your users an idea of what’s on that site before they actually visit it. And if there’s related information from other sites or blogs, you can include that information on the mini-portal as well. It doesn’t have to be anything more complex than what google does for the very popular sites (try a google search for CNN) when it includes sub-links (which are controlled by the site through metadata files).
Just to echo comments that have already been posted: standardized data streams (“modular” data) can help with disseminating content across sites and through different formats (RSS, html, etc) as well as keeping the information up to date. Examples of these data streams for each department include announcements, events, news, reminder of X service provided, related blog posts across government sites, and of course, data that’s tied to specific pages (like “who’s my senator”). The bonus is that once departments get the hang of standardizing how their data is accessed and what kinds of data is normally generated, the processes and systems you develop can be laterally consumed by other departments and even state governments.
I’ve read a lot of comments saying this site should only be in English. I’d like it to be translated into every language out there. Even if it’s just the content that never changes (and thus requiring very little maintenance), like “how a bill becomes a law”. I’m proud of our government and would like the peoples of the world to learn more about it.
I suppose your most important audience is person-with-a-problem or person-with-a-question. I’m just someone who likes to follow what’s happening, so what I would really love to see is RSS feeds because that’s how I personally consume the web. For me, the entire Internet is boiled down to a readable format, and I’m able to consume a lot more because there’s multiple steps of “see more” (title->description->link to page/video/audio) It’s not a waist of time to target people like me though, because if we’re hyper-informed of government services (“reminder of X service provided”), then we can help people who could never navigate a website to find what they need (or discover that there’s a government service meant for them). Also, being a programmer, I’d love to get a feed that announces new APIs or site functionality.
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Keep up the good work.
Thank you, Ken
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Estimado Gobierno de Estados Unidos de Amèrica.
Primero que nada gracias por la oportunidad de poder acceder a este lugar,perdonen si no me expreso en inglès.
Quisiera expresar una opiniòn y preocupaciòn, creo deben de abrir dos canales de recepciòn cuando alguien hace un alerta a un embajada de manera de que exista un respaldo al documento ,o otra persona al tanto o agencia que verifique la misma informaciòn por seguridad y pueda proceder. No procede bien dejar solo el destino a un canal receptivo, este puede fallar.
Tambièn considero que deben de abrir un canal de comunicaciòn de seguridad en lînea por cualquier eventualidad.
El portal es excelente y muy amplio.
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Should USA.GOV provide more government content? Is tht a trick question? Isnt tht wht this site is suppose to be about?
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I need a Job
Or a Low Interest Rate Loan Just like the Illegal Aliens :O}
Faithful Tax Payer Mike Anthony
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the language in this country should definitely be ENGLISH –
when I came to this country I had to learn the english language why can’t others do the same. I find it insulting that some people from other countries don’t want to speak the language spoken here why didn’t they stay home if they want to speak their language.
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First of all, the discussion is Should USA.gov provide more government content and fewer off-site links?.
FYI The US does not have an official language, so your racist comment has no basis. Congress has never declared an “official” language for the United States. However, attempts have been made to declare English the official language of the United States. In addition, some states list English as their official language. If you would like the United States or your state to adopt an official language, you should contact your elected officials.
The federal government is currently required to provide access to federal programs and federally-assisted programs for people with limited English proficiency under Executive Order 13166, Title VI, and the Title VI regulations regarding language access. To access more information about this topic, please visit the LEP.gov website.
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Some documents are already created in Spanish as many Federal Government entities are stationed in Spanish (or other) language places. For example, Puerto Rico is a USA Territory which its main language is Spanish and many documents are generated in that language. Also, there are many Federal Agencies posted internationally or their employees are so diverse. It does not incur in more expenses, since the employees from the agency are the ones doing the translations. Many Europeans do learn more than one language and it doesn’t diminish their own culture. There is nothing wrong with providing broad options to keep people informed; after all many of these people can vote and you would prefer that they do an informed vote.
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I think you should provide more government content instead of us having to sift through other external websites.
Also, providing information via online informational videos or tutorials for those of us audio visual learners.
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I think you should make the website easier to navigate for those of us that grew up without computers. Maybe you could put things in plain text also, and keep it in ENGLISH. That would make more room on the website.
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I’ve been waiting to address this question to someone who will listen and give me an honest answer:
I’m 100 % totaly disabled, OK, now I can’t go out and get a job to try to help ends meet, BUT, someone who is retired can. now, my question is this why don’t we get more money or help? I’m divorced and I live alone, if I had a family it would be different according to welfare, etc. and I’m in pain 24/7, no help of any kind, I get around but I could use more money. if I was retired I could go to Wal-Mart and greet people and have a part time or full time job. I have a 12 year old and my ex wife moved to California to get welfare and now she is trying to get half of my Disability and she won’t stop trying. if they take part of my Disability I don’t know what I’m going to do. life just gets worse and worse. I’m about to give up. I’m 64 and I think when I’m 65 I am removed from Disability and put on regular SSA, I think it’s 65 or 66 I’m not sure.
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Peace. Your home page should have some questions we can answer there–and your software can tell if we are revoting. Or post the questions you wish answers Y,N, or comments that we post once we are registered and IN.
Best wishes, AJ
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NO AMNESTY
DON’T REWARD THE CRIMINAL ACTIONS OF MILLIONS OF ILLEGAL ALIENS
FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD BY GIVING THEM CITIZENSHIP
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SECURE OUR BORDERS
STOP THE INVASION OF OUR COUNTRY BY MEXICAN DRUG GANG MEMBERS
AND MILLIONS OF OTHER ILLEGAL ALIENS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD
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Having a well known central place, usa.gov as a central starting place for informationis helpful for everyone. The public just needs to know about it over and over again.
I agree the main page has to be very easy to navigate, for not only does everyone not speak English, not everyone is computer savvy.
Is it possible to have a translation button?
If usa.gov play the “hub of the wheel” role, then it is incumbent on each agency, to keep up their end, by providing up-to-date information. Each agency site has to be able to handle questions, provide a deeper level of response, invite participation for real and be accountable. Who is holds the agencies accountable for being relevant and up to date?
In the quest for information, it might be useful to have a list of key outside resources. For example Sunlight Labs is working on data.gov, library of congress indexing, etc.
Is it possible to have links to some of these key resources? Code for America, CityCamp and other OpenGov initiatives come to mind as examples of parallel endeavors.
Interacting and participating with our government is more than finding information. I want to know where to go with a good idea. Unless someone is very connected, it’s hard to know how to get past “go”. Perhaps you could have a place/forms for submitting ideas for further consideration. That would increase on-going interaction and participation, just as you are doing here.
Moving forward we need ways to have on-going conversations with you. I think it needs to be a government site for it to be credible.
So, wherever possible, simplify the complex, it is easy to become overwhelmed with information. Where you can connect information, do it. If you can synthesize even better. Staying open and responsive matters. You might consider keeping a line open all the time (like this).
Let us know you have heard us. You don’t need to answer everyone, but if you do use ideas, or find a way to keep us involved, that’s good.
If you have good data, both qualitative or quantitative please share it.
andrea
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Hi USA.gov,
I’m an Iranian. I heard that the President of the US announced that the homeland security policy was not successful. We saw in press that US and world economy are in crisis. We see that some countries have good economic growing without having strict policies. And ….
I like USA and my home also. Iranians like to develop their relations and strengthen economic and cultural ties with the US, but there are many barriers. This conditions is exist with a lot of countries and nations.
I think the strict conditions for entering to the US, is favorite for the competitor countries and also the US enemies.
I think it is better to change the policy. My suggestions are very easy;
1- Allow people to come to the US easily but investigate about them at the airport out side and inside the US very strictly.
2- Tourists and travelers to the US making a lot of jobs and opportunities for Americans and also other nations. Develop tourist industry by facilitating traveling to the US.
3- In my opinion very controlled conditions for foreigners limiting innovation, entrepreneurship and development. Use new technologies to control the threats.
Happy new year for all and wish success for all of you.
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Although we appreciate your interest in improving the U.S. Federal Government, our role with this dialog website is only to help improve the public’s access to government information through USA.gov. Your comment is not on topic for the purpose of this site. Feel free to review USA.gov, see how well it can, or cannot, meet your needs and to comment again on how we can improve it. Thank you.
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All right. TQVM
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Why not do both? Provide the basic info but link off to the site that carries the answers. Take a look at GetSatisfaction.com or UserVoice.com they do a great job of providing Q&A for products and services. Why not build something like that but for the government?
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First, please consider only one place to leave information instead of having to search through social networking. Secondly, please communicate in this country’s English language. It is too expensive to offer multiple languages. Since we are in an economic downturn, it would save money. It seems that we are so open and disclosure is to be the goal, we need to close the loopholes in the laws, not have so many links to get to an answer.
I am an old person with limited keyboarding skills due to arthritis. I live at 1/3 the poverty level and I cannot afford to be jumping around websites and using a mouse is difficult. Going to other sites outside of USA.gov is not effective.
I would like to compliment the fact that this is a starting point. I do have a question, please. Does anyone know how much of the budget goes to managing the websites for all of the departments? It should be part of the open government.
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First of all, this country doesn’t have one language. Depending on who you ask, the United States is the 2nd or 3rd largest Spanish speaking country IN THE WORLD. It is grossly unfair to exclude the millions of taxpayers who cannot understand English.
Otherwise, I largely agree with you, and am glad for the consideration for expenses, particularly as we spend so much money maintaining duplicative information across countless government websites.
I would also love to see how much money is spent managing websites for all departments.
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I’m very surprised that this comment got hidden. They prefer ignorant people than informed ones, and these are the people that provide the services that most North Americans are indisposed to do. People sure are very discriminatory, and they do FORGET HISTORY very fast. Where are the good intentions of which the American country was built on after invading other people’s land and kept expanding its territory by taking more land? Mmm… this is very interesting.
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If you have arthritis it would be good to learn to use the TAB key, as it does a wonderful job in replacing the mouse. Is not faster, but does the job. Well, blind persons can’t use the mouse and this is their method of navigation.
I believe that it would be nice to have short summaries with a link to other web sites. If we put broad summaries it would not be effective, as someone already mentioned, because the information would not be as updated as the agency’s webpage and it would be doubling the work.
I left a comment about the English language as a reply to “gee clark”. Please, see above. In addition, sometimes there are volunteers providing translations. Again, why should it be wrong to keep people informed? If you ever travel to another country it would be nice to find some sort of summaries in English, right? Of course, if you were to move it would be ideal to try to learn their language, but not everyone has the ability to learn new languages (I’m bilingual, hard of hearing and sure I’m unable to learn a 3rd language even if I want despite I’m a young person). And, for example, if you are traveling abroad you will find that many announcements and directions are in English. It will be easier for you as a visitor over there, but when people visit the USA they want to have the same ease as you in their countries.
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I would like to see powerful searches which return relevant information. I also read a comment which stated it should be like ask. com. That’s a good idea because it feels like you are getting useful information instead of time being sucked away as often happens with social media.
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Keep it simple. Links are the best way to serve both the need for a central starting point and information. Being able to search across other agency sites would also be very helpful.
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Be very cautious about replicating content also found on other sites. You would be signing up for a maintenance and interpretatation nightmare. I would vastly prefer to be redirected to the authoritative source of up-to-date information than to be sidetracked by someone else’s summary that is perhaps not well maintained.
Instead, a longterm goal might be to develop a consistent modular format for certain kinds of information across federal sites such that an initial summary could also be fed to USA.gov with a “read more” link taking the user to the full information on the orginating agency’s site. Sort of like an rss feed as generated by blog software, minus the inflammatory/political content connotations that have come to be associated with the word “blog”.
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I think we’re already living in a maintenance and interpretation nightmare—no one even knows for sure how many .gov URLs are out there, let alone if they’re all up to date and accurate?
And what makes USA.gov any less authoritative than another government site?
Why couldn’t subject matter experts from across government contribute authoritative information to USA.gov—or some centralized domain? It’s very feasible. Wikipedia, being managed by anonymous strangers, maintains an enourmous catalog of information that been proven to be as accurate as Encyclopedia Britannica.
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“Should USA.gov provide more government content and fewer off-site links?”
No, this is the only site that has lists of all Gov Doc websites. The subject clusters are very helpful. This is a great beginning/general resource to finding Government information! The fact that “…the majority of the USA.gov website is comprised of links to other government resources” – is one of the best/key features! This is a great general resource to find the other sites that are available.
The current search is helpful in finding the key words and links to them in the off-site links already.
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It’s worth pointing out that the choices presented in the question aren’t mutually exclusive, but my opinion is YES. As you mention, USA.gov’s search tool is very powerful (search engines do, after all, create lists of links), and I think it could be emphasized more.
USA.gov is indeed valuable because of some of its lists—the A-Z list of agency websites is a great resource. However, many of its other lists are too broad (http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Graphics.shtml) or esoteric (http://www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics/History_Family.shtml). Maintaining these lists is expensive, and it’s difficult to tell if people find them useful.
Additionally, the lists are hard for users to navigate. Unlike search engine results that are ranked based on relevance to my keywords, they’re not ranked in any particular order. The links provide few clues to help me tell if they’ll take me where I want to go.
I think USA.gov should continue to maintain lists of links, but focus on lists that don’t change often and be sorted in some meaningful way (wherever possible).
One cool thing worth mentioning: USAsearch.gov does a really good job of presenting curated lists of links along with its search results. E.g. look at the results of a search for “wildfires” http://usasearch.gov/search?v:project=firstgov-web&query=wildfires
This is a very savvy hybrid approach that combines the efficiency of a search engine with the expertise of USA.gov’s staff.
I’ve shared my thoughts on content elsewhere…
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Re: FAQs. Sometimes agency websites have different info than that on the central (larger, referring) site; eg, on the USDA employee website, if the link to “Mentoring” is clicked, it gives a link to a PDF for a mentor meeting from 2003.
So, perhaps no. Expanding QnA databases on USA.gov is only going to be as good as the upkeep. Unless it’s a threaded, monitored community-based FAQ project, it’s probably best to leave it to agencies to do their own FAQs, and keep USA.gov general.
An indexing system that allows a search of agency sites would be very useful. That is, if agency-run sites only have limited search capabilities, then USA.gov might distinguish itself as having a superior search function?
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Thank you for your comment, cibacher. FAQs certainly do need to be kept up-to-date in order to be useful. I’ve rephrased the question in the post since realizing that it seemed to focus on FAQs as the means of providing answers. USA.gov does have a great database of more than 2,500 FAQs (http://answers.usa.gov/cgi-bin/gsa_ict.cfg/php/enduser/std_alp.php?p_sid=KTOOiSBh), but there may be other ways for USA.gov to help the public get information and services.
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