Victoria Online: Seek and ye shall find: 26 May 2010

Victoria Online: Seek and ye shall find Vanessa Scott Content Manager Information Victoria Dept of Innovation, Industry & Regional Development 26 May 2010

Victoria Online – 4 new features
Got a Question?
Use of Google CSE
VisualPlace – proof of concept
Contacts & Services Directory – COMING SOON

Victoria Online – www.vic.gov.au
Provides Victorians with a single entry point to online Federal, Victorian State and Local Government information and services
Key project of the State Government’s eGovernment policy Putting People at the Centre
Launched September 2003

Victoria Online – Before
Typical portal – one-stop shop for government information
Over 3,000 links to state, federal & local websites
Browse/search options
Metadata informed browse/search
Use of thesaurus

Victoria Online – Now
Increase engagement with users:
Events Calendar – Suggest an event
RSS feeds, Twitter
Info Vic Newsletter – subscription
Aggregation of social media
Steady increase in visitors

Got a Question?
Launched September 2009
Citizens can ask questions using their own words
Immediate answer in most cases
New questions get added to the knowledge repository
Repository of knowledge – built up over time
Used in our state government call centre

Got a Question?
Questions increasing each month
Reporting
Total questions asked
New answers created
Answers taught
Top match answers given
Email responses
# Questions Month 1,111 Apr 10 1,356 Mar 10 863 Feb 10 771 Jan 10 467 Dec 09 751 Nov 09 456 Oct 09 191 Sep 09

Got a Question?
Technology used – aQtual - http://www.pacsis.com.au/
Ongoing training
Email notification of new questions

Victoria Online – search history
September 2003 – used proprietary application integrated with Funnelback. Search results a combination of +3,000 links and a HCL of these links. Preference given to metadata records.
September 2007 – proprietary application discontinued. Open source product used. Only searched +3,000 links that were catalogued – limited result set

Victoria Online – search options
Purchase new proprietary software – expensive
Replace search with Google CSE – no fees
Use other free search tools available

Search – Google CSE
Introduced December 2009
No licence or support fees, no bandwidth cost
Configurable under Google account
Unlimited number of sites can be included
Easy implementation

Google CSE – Pros & Cons
Pros:
Better search result
Google search interface familiar to end user
Additional features eg. Promotions, autocompletion of queries, etc
Custom Search Blog - http://googlecustomsearch.blogspot.com/
Cons:
Need to add new domains for inclusion in search
Dead links
Not using thesaurus for search

Google CSE – other Vic Govt websites
www.health.vic.gov.au
www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au
www.consumer.vic.gov.au
www.parkweb.vic.gov.au
www.skills.vic.gov.au
www.rbg.vic.gov.au
www.invest.vic.gov.au
WoVG workshop with web managers from above sites to discuss use of Google CSE – 2 June

Search – some quick stats
8.9 % of total visitors use site search (Pre Dec 2009, ~ 11.7%) – Possibly dropped due to ‘Got a Question?’
Average 35,000 unique searches per month ( ~ 333,000 unique visits to site per month)
Unique searches steadily increased since Dec 2009
Search exits steadily increased
Popular search terms have not changed much
Ongoing evaluation required – at least 12 months

Search – some quick stats
8.9 % of total visitors use site search (Pre Dec 2009, ~ 11.7%)
Does ‘Got a Question?’ feature have impact on searching
Average 35,000 unique searches per month ( ~ 333,000 unique visits to site per month)
Unique searches steadily increased since Dec 2009
Search exits steadily increased
Popular search terms have not changed much
Ongoing evaluation required – at least 12 months

VisualPlace
A Proof of Concept mapping tool (January 10 – July 10)
Demonstrates how mapping applications can support and develop improved access to government information and services
Delivery of a GIS enabled tool to allow users of VO to map and visualise government data
Provide a user-friendly functionality to non-GIS experts to easily create, analyse and visualise location-based government information, services and data.

VisualPlace PoC – Primary outcomes
The delivery of a GIS enabled tool to allow users of VO to map and visualise government data
To test the appetite for online GIS tool to visualise govt data
To evaluate user feedback to inform potential future releases of GIS enabled tools
To demonstrate the value of GIS enabled tools to both government and users of government information
To recommend the development of full production model

VisualPlace PoC – Secondary outcomes
• To test, develop and identify the priority datasets for any future production versions of a service locator type functionality
• To develop awareness of the value of GIS-enabled, public facing tools to data owners within government
• To encourage data owners within government to release datasets for users of such tools
• To encourage VO users to access and manipulate Government information and services.

VisualPlace – data used
ABS census data – demographics includes education, transport, households, employment, health
Services
Health – hospitals,
Education – schools,
Transport – trams, train stations, train lines
Emergency – police, ambulance, fire
Administration
Supplied from various govt departments

VisualPlace - Evaluation
Currently seeking feedback from users
VisualPlace blog - collects user experiences from a range of perspectives such as usability, dataset requirements, functionality etc.

VisualPlace – user feedback
“ I believe that gaming (gambling) and liquor data could and should be made available.
These are two areas that have a major impact on the amenity of communities and have a number of effects in other areas.
The data can be used by researchers, the public and even the industry themselves.”
“ Brilliant. Love to see school zone boundaries on there and perhaps rolling in data from land.vic.gov.au too.”
Would expect to be able to forward a URL to someone so they can view the map as “configured”

VisualPlace - analysis
Technology used – utilises Microsoft Silverlight
Surveys
General – available from VisualPlace
Detailed – highlighted dozen people
Feedback from overseas providers who provide similar service
Going forward? Expansion of data sets?
Further information: Simon de Sousa, Project Officer - [email_address]

Contacts & Services Directory
New online directory (similar to gold.gov.au)
4 key areas:
Departments and Other Bodies
Parliament of Victoria
Governor of Victoria
Courts & Tribunals
Includes key contacts (eg. MPs, Secretaries, Ombudsmen, etc)
Includes services
Browse and search (including advanced search)

Contacts & Services Directory
Technology used is View DS - www.viewds.com
Approximate matching in directory
Algorithms developed for View500
Coming soon!

Contact info
Vanessa Scott
Content Manager
eServices, Information Victoria
Department of Innovation, Industry & Regional Development
e: [email_address]
p: (03) 9938 0517
Follow InfoVic on Twitter: twitter.com/InfoVic

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Victoria Online: Seek and ye shall find: 26 May 2010

by eGovernment Resource Centre on Jun 08, 2010

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Victoria Online: Seek and ye shall find: 26 May 2010 — Presentation Transcript