Government Websites: Realizing Greater Transparency through Improved Website Strategy, Design, and Information Architecture

July 14, 2009 – Ronald Reagan Building & Int'l Trade Center

Workshop Description

Government websites must be more useable, comprehensible, searchable, navigable and architected with the citizen in mind in order to achieve transparency and participation to achieve the President's goals as well as to achieve higher customer satisfaction results. We bring together 9 experts on web technology from industry, government and citizen advocacy backgrounds to help you achieve an understanding of the latest techniques to create a more usable and informative government website with content which is relevant and highly discoverable with both external and internal search tools. Specifically, they'll address how to create a web strategy in a transparent and participatory fashion, improve the content creation process, improve usability through information architecture, understand survey results and their influences, and finally making content more discoverable through internet and website based search tools.

Our keynote speaker Michael Edson, Web and New Media Director at the Smithsonian, has been heralded as a visionary for the future of government websites. He will talk about the Smithsonian's radically transparent strategy process and how they used social media tools consider new ways of thinking about audience, authority, and mission. Michael is then combining the President's goal of improving collaboration and participation with the public while creating a improved website strategy for the Smithsonian.

Vanessa Fox is a leading search expert, currently looking at ways the Federal government can make data more easily accessible to the American people through search engines.  She will discuss how search has changed audience behavior and top ways to evaluate your site and improve its findability in search engines. In particular, she'll focus on how search data can help you understand your visitors and ensure your website provides for their needs.   Vanessa, is known for creating Google Webmaster central and was instrumental in the sitemaps.org alliance of Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft Live Search.  You can find some of her recent articles about this topic at: http://radar.oreilly.com/vanessa/

Meg Peters worked at the Library of Congress in both government website structure and use of social media. She will talk about the emphasis he has placed on information architecture at the library of congress and its contribution to his success.

Greg Elin has spent years at the Sunlight Foundation engaging the public on how to create better government websites and will share his insights from the citizen advocate point of view.

Other experts from Navigation Arts, Forsee Results and WelchmanPierpoint will explain what Information Architecture is and its connection to improved website usability, how to improve delivering timely and relevant content to a .Gov website as well as what the influences are which contribute to improved customer satisfaction ratings.

Major Topics

  • Achieving transparency and engagement while building a website Strategy for the Smithsonian.
  • Basics of Applying Information Architecture to make websites more usable and informative
  • How website usability leads to improved transparency and customer satisfaction scores.
  • The importance of discoverability in website architecture both external internal searches.
  • How to improve content discoverability from both search engines and external search.
  • Making content in a government website more current, relevant and clear for the public.
  • How to improve the process of content creation to better inform the public and create higher satisfaction levels.

What You Will Learn

    • How the Smithsonian is transparently creating a better strategy to become more accessible to the public.
    • The fundamentals of information architecture and how they can be successfully applied to improve .Gov sites
    • Tactics for improving website usability on .Gov websites.
    • How content and usability influence the performance scoring of websites.
    • How the Library of Congress used information architecture and content structure to improve its websites.
    • An audience perspective of a .Gov website from Greg Elin, citizen transparency advocate.
    • How to improve the content creation process for your website.
    • How to improve your rankings in Google and other search engines and make sure those search results are relevant to the searcher.
    • Increasing the effectiveness of your site's internal search.

Why You Should Attend

  • To improve your understanding of the latest trends and methods in using information architecture to make government websites more useable, comprehensible, searchable, navigatable and architected with the citizen in mind.

Who Should Attend

  • CXOs
  • Communications Directors
  • Web managers
  • Public Affairs Managers
  • Program Managers
  • Policy Analysts
  • Web Programmers and Developers
  • Communications and Web Staff

Format

  • Presentations, panel discussion, and collaboration with attendees and speakers

    New Feature: Based on Your Comments: Engagement Time with Speaker
    Ask Your Questions: Engagement Time: Discussion with Speaker
    We now reserve 15 minutes after each presentation solely for audience questions in web and social media architecture, design, metrics or implementation! Many attendees at Potomac Forum and other events have requested increased time to ask questions and collaborate with the speakers. Potomac Forum has initiated a new feature for this Workshop: Engagement Time: Discussion with Speaker - A 15 minute dedicated block after each presentation to insure your questions is answered or your topic discussed..

Agenda

7:30 AM
Registration and Continental Breakfast
8:30
Welcome
Art Chankter,President, Potomac Forum
8:45
Keynote: The Making of Smithsonian Web Strategy: Transparent, Fast, and Social
Michael Edson, Director, Web and New Media Strategy
9:15
Engagement Time: Discussion with Speaker
9:30
How to Create more Usable Government Websites by Applying the Fundamentals of Information Architecture
Kelley McDonald, Director of User Experience, NavigationArts
10:00
Engagement Time: Discussion with Speaker
10:15
Break
10:30
Principles of Web Content Management: Methods for Providing Relevant and Timely Content in a Government Environment
Christine Pierpoint, WelchmanPierpoint 
11:00
Engagement Time: Discussion with Speaker
11:15
From Good to Great Government Web Sites, A Citizen Coder Perspective
Greg Elin
11:45
Engagement Time: Discussion with Speaker
12:00 PM
Lunch
1:00
How Information Architecture and Content Structure improved the User Experience for the Library of Congress
Meg Peters, AIA
1:30
Engagement Time: Discussion with Speaker
1:45
Effective Site Search: Taking a look at the topic from an Information Architecture and Development perspective
John Sutton, Director of Interaction Design, NavigationArts
Dustin Collis, Development Director,
NavigationArts
2:15
Engagement Time: Discussion with Speaker
2:30
Break
2:45
The importance of Internet Search Engines and How you can make use of them to deliver relevant information for Government Sites

 

Vanessa FoxCo-founder at Jane And RobotFounder at Nine By BlueFeatures Editor at Search Engine Land
 
3:15
Engagement Time: Discussion with Speaker
3:30
Achieving higher Customer Performance Ratings through better Usability on Government Websites
Jennifer Bailey, Foresee Results
4:00
 Engagement Time: Discussion with Speaker
4:15
 Panel Discussion on the Improving .Gov Websites
5:00
 Workshop Adjourns

Keynote Speaker

Michael Edson
Director, Web and New Media Strategy
Smithsonian Institution

Michael Edson is the Smithsonian Institution’s Director of Web and New Media Strategy. Michael has worked on numerous award-winning projects and has been involved in practically every aspect of technology and New Media for museums, including content development, digitization, blogging, gaming, public access to collections, information architecture, networking, place-of-business applications, programming, project management, graphic design, animation, audio and video production, mobile platforms, and citizen-created content. helped create the Smithsonian’s first blog, Eye Level, and the first Alternate Reality Game to take place in a museum, Ghost of a Chance. Michael has a BA from Wesleyan University.

Speakers

Meg Peters

Director of User Experience, AIA

Since 1999, Meg has worked as an information architect/usability specialist both internally and as a consultant, helping a variety of government, association, and private organizations provide customers with better Web experiences. These organizations include The Library of Congress, Marriott International, the Department of Health & Human Services, the IMF/World Bank, the National Association of Realtors® and the American Institute of Architects.


Previously Meg was a graphic designer and a writer for print, having earned a degree in Graphic Design from the Rhode Island School of Design. After seven years in advertising at The Washington Post newspaper, she began designing and writing for the Web, which eventually led to information architecture and user experience work.


Vanessa Fox
Co-founder at Jane And Robot
Founder at Nine By Blue
Features Editor at Search Engine Land

Vanessa Fox is a leading search expert, currently looking at ways the Federal government can make data more easily accessible to the American people through search engines. You can find some of her recent articles about this topic here: http://radar.oreilly.com/vanessa/  Vanessa is known for creating Google Webmaster central and being instrumental in the sitemaps.org alliance of Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft Live Search

Vanessa shares her perspective on how search impacts marketing and user experience at ninebyblue.com and provides authoritative search-friendly design patterns for developers at janeandrobot.com. She’s also an entrepreneur-in-residence with Ignition Partners, Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land, and host of the weekly podcast Office Hours. Vanessa speaks regularly at conferences and corporate events and is a prolific writer. Her upcoming book, Marketing In The Age Of Google, will be published by Wiley in early 2010. She previously created Google’s Webmaster Central, which provides both tools and community to help website owners improve their sites to gain more customers from search. and was instrumental in the sitemaps.org alliance of Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft Live Search. She was recently named one of Seattle’s 2008 top 25 innovators and entrepreneurs.

Vanessa Fox will discuss how search has changed audience behavior and top ways to evaluate your site and improve its findability in search engines. In particular, she'll focus on how search data can help you understand your visitors and ensure your website provides for their needs.  Vanessa, who is known for creating Google Webmaster central and was instrumental in the sitemaps.org alliance of Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft Live Search.  She was also named one of Seattle’s 2008 top 25 innovators and entrepreneurs.

Kelley McDonald
Director of User Experience, NavigationArts

Kelley has more than 12 years of experience helping clients solve complex business problems with web technologies. Since joining NavigationArts in 2004, Kelley has served as a lead consultant on projects for a wide range of corporations, nonprofit associations, and government organizations. Kelley previously served as NavigationArts’ Director of Content Strategy.

Kelley has led engagements for NavigationArts including NASDAQ, U.S. Department of State, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Sallie Mae, American Psychological Association, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Veterans Health Administration, Chemonics International, Newspaper Association of America, Hanley Wood Publishing, and Goodwill Industries.

Kelley is an active voice in the Washington, DC user experience community and a frequent speaker and panel participant at user experience and usability-related events and symposia. He also team taught a class at Georgetown University that focused on the effect of organizational culture on product development. Kelley is a member of the IA Institute and the DC Usability Professionals Association.

John Sutton
Director of Interaction Design, NavigationArts

John Sutton is an accomplished information architect with ten years of progressively more advanced experience working for top clients. John is particularly adept at developing architectures for large scale websites and intranets – creating effective organization to support search and overall usability He is also Director of NavigationArts Interaction Design team, focused on IA for e-commerce.

At NavigationArts, John has been the lead Information Architect for clients including U.S. Department of State, St. Jude Medical, Laureate Education, and PBS. Prior to joining NavigationArts, he worked as a consultant at America Online, designing the architecture for internal systems and portals.

As an interaction designer and information architect at EDS, John developed information designs for clients including Nextel, General Motors, and the Veterans Administration. Prior to that, as an information architect at CommerceOne, John worked on enterprise websites and applications for MCI, Cablevision, UNICEF, World Wildlife Fund, and CARE.

Dustin Collis
Development Director, NavigationArts

Dustin Collis has 10 years experience in all aspects of web and application development. He specializes in content management system (CMS) implementations and search implementations. Dustin is able to define, develop, and deploy mission critical web-based applications. He is particularly skilled at communicating with all members of the web team, and translating a design into a functional website.

At NavigationArts, Dustin has led the development effort for clients including the U.S. Department of State, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, and FDIC.

Greg Elin
Technologist and Open Government Specialist.,Previously Chief Evangelist for Sunlight Foundation

Greg Elin is technologist in the space of government openness and transparency. Mr. Elin was previously the Chief Evangelist for Sunlight Foundation where he created the Sunlight Labs in 2006, the technology arm of the foundation. He has worked on the cutting edge of communications technology for almost 20 years, the last 10 years developing software at the intersection of data, the Web, and social software. He is the creator of Fotonotes, an open source web-based approach to image annotation that was popularized by Flickr and has been widely copied and adopted. Mr. Elin has a BA in Communication from the University of Pennsylvania (Annenberg School) and Masters from New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program. He became a web data/software developer as it became clear new tools were driving innovation faster than policy.

Jennifer Bailey
Usability Services Manager

Jennifer Bailey has over 15 years experience in usability. She co-founded Red Spade, the leading customer experience consultancy, which was acquired by ForeSee Results in 2007. She manages a team of usability professionals who provide a range of audit review services to complement online customer satisfaction analytics. Jennifer's approach to usability solutions identifies issues that impede customers from accomplishing their online goals and reveals insights that impact business metrics and online investment. Her expertise has assisted such clients in the public sector as the Department of State, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Defense, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Census Bureau, and more. Her private sector clients have included dozens of Fortune 1000 companies, such as Adobe, Forbes, JC Penney, and McAfee. She is an active member of Usability Professionals' Association. In addition, Jennifer is a top-rated speaker on the topics of the online customer experience and usability at industry conferences.

Christine Pierpoint
Partner, WelchmanPierpoint

Christine Pierpoint is a partner and senior consultant at WelchmanPierpoint. Throughout her career, Pierpoint has worked with organizations to develop and manage a strategic Web presence. In the past fifteen years she’s gained practical insights into all things Web and has first-hand experience implementing strategies in both the private and public sector. These days she can be found breaking down organizational silos and tackling governance and change management issues in the pursuit of aligning Web operations with business objectives.

Christine’s client work focuses on maturing Web operations in organizations with sites that span upwards of 100 thousand files including The World Bank, U.S. Environmental Protection and American Society of Civil Engineers. She is also a frequent blogger and speaker on topics related to Web strategy, governance and Web team management.

Christine holds a BS in Mass Communications from Virginia Commonwealth University and an MBA in Business Management from Loyola College in Maryland.

Meg Peters
Director, User Experience

Meg Peters is the Director of User Experience at the American Institute of Architects.

Since 1999, Meg has worked as an information architect/usability specialist both internally and as a consultant, helping a variety of government, association, and private organizations provide customers with better Web experiences. These organizations include The Library of Congress, Marriott International, the Department of Health & Human Services, the IMF/World Bank, the National Association of Realtors® and the American Institute of Architects.

Previously Meg was a graphic designer and a writer for print, having earned a degree in Graphic Design from the Rhode Island School of Design. After seven years in advertising at The Washington Post newspaper, she began designing and writing for the Web, which eventually led to information architecture and user experience work.

Organizer

Ken Fischer, CIO
GovCollab.org/Program Executive for Potomac Forum.

Ken Fischer is an invited expert for the W3C E-government Interest Group and co-founded ClickforHelp.com Inc., a social media software company in 2003. He has created the software behind several online communities, as well other types of web based application including widgets and facebook applications. Ken  creates innovative social technology and strategies through an audience centered framework. He advocates tightly integrating technology planning, selection and development with audience outreach efforts as essential ingredients to the success of social media solutions. He received a masters degree in Neuroscience from Washington University in St. Louis in 1996.

Registration



ON-SITE - Walk in Registration Will be Available
The On-Line and FAX Registration is closed at 2:30 PM on Monday.

We have seats available for ON-SITE Registration (at no additional cost).
Pleae register between 7:30 and 8:30 am on Tues at the Reagan Building
Thank You. For Groups  of four or more, please phone 703 683-1613

Special Reduced Workshop Fee in Support of the Administration's Goal of Improving Citizen Engagement
Government: $895   Special Government Registration : $595
Industty: $1,295        Industry Registration:  $795
Includes presentations, Workshop Notebook, Refreshment Breaks, and Luncheon

Please Note:
Potomac Forum Workshops are 100% Educational Events. The Training is NOT supported to Advertisers or Sponsors.Other "events" tell you what Sponsors or Advertisers Want you to Hear - Potomac Forum Workshops inform you on what you need to know to do your job!  We have over 27 years of providing high quality training to the Government

Cancellation Policy

Confirmed registrations who cancel within 3 business days of the program will be subject to a $250 cancellation fee. Registrations cancelled after the program starts are subject to the full registration fee. Substitutions can be made at any time. In the event a particular training workshop is cancelled, the liability of Potomac Forum, Ltd is limited to refund of any prepaid registration fee.

Meeting Location

Ronald Reagan Building & Int'l Trade Center
1300 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W.
Washington D.C. 20004
202-312-1300