[open-development] [foianet] interesting article on the benefits of online transparency

Fri Sep 3 11:08:48 UTC 2010

Ricardo, I don’t I am afraid.  But am copying in some groups who might...

Karin

-- 
Karin Christiansen
Director, Publish What you Fund
UK tel: +44 20 7022 1909

US tel: + 1 202 470 3447

Skype: publish.what.you.fund

*From:* Ricardo Corcuera [mailto:rcorcuera at cies.org.pe]
*Sent:* 03 September 2010 12:45 AM
*To:* 'Karin Christiansen'; foianet at foiadvocates.info; 'Victoria Room';
'Owen Barder'
*Subject:* RE: [foianet] interesting article on the benefits of online
transparency

Dear Karin,

Thank you for the information. It is very interesting. Do you know if
government agencies have developed mechanisms to know the opinion of
citizens about the content of websites?? In the article is clear that there
is a measure about issues such as search, navigation or site functionality.
What about content?? Is it useful?? What groups of citizens or civil
organizations use the information??

Regards,

*Ricardo Corcuera Molina*

Asesor en Transparencia y Acceso a la Información

Observatorio de la Vigilancia Social - OBSERVA

Antero Aspìllaga 584, El Olivar, San Isidro

(: (511) 4212278 Ext. 119

www.observa.org.pe
  ------------------------------

*De:* foianet-bounces at foiadvocates.info [mailto:
foianet-bounces at foiadvocates.info] *En nombre de *Karin Christiansen
*Enviado el:* Jueves, 02 de Septiembre de 2010 05:50 p.m.
*Para:* foianet at foiadvocates.info; Victoria Room; Owen Barder
*Asunto:* [foianet] interesting article on the benefits of online
transparency

Thought this might be of interest.

Karin

http://www.govtech.com/gt/768755

 Online Transparency Remains a Priority Despite Slight Decline in Citizen
Satisfaction

[image: Bookmark and Share] <http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=20>

*Aug 24, 2010, By Russell Nichols, Staff
Writer<http://www.govtech.com/gt/more.php?code=GT_WRITER&format=tag_articles_simple&writer=Russell+Nichols%2C+Staff+Writer>
*

Online transparency remains a top priority for federal government agencies
and it's easy to see why: Research shows that federal websites that better
reflect open government objectives build trust with citizens, save
governments money and keep users coming back for more.

But for 27 surveyed federal sites, their aggregate transparency score is
down a point this quarter at 75 out of 100, according to the American
Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) E-Transparency Index report from ForeSee
Results. The drop, the report notes, mirrors a decline with the overall
Satisfaction Index, which is down 1.5 points.

While online transparency drives e-government satisfaction, trust and
efficiency, not all agencies need to make it the highest priority. Some
sites may need to put more emphasis on improving search, navigation or site
functionality. That's where the importance of measuring comes in.

"Some federal sites will see huge returns from making small improvements to
online transparency; others can maintain the status quo and focus on other
things," said the study's author, Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee
Results. "But measuring transparency is the first step because you can't
manage it if you don't measure it."

But as part of an ongoing study of nearly 58,000 U.S. citizens who visited
federal websites in the second quarter of 2010, the ACSI report illustrates
that citizens' perception of transparency contributes the most to
satisfaction -- more than search, navigation, and look and feel. And as
satisfaction goes up, governments save more money as "citizens turn to the
Web channel before turning to costlier communication channels," Freed wrote.

That's not the only advantage. The report highlights connections between
federal agency websites with high transparency scores (80 or higher on a
100-point index) and citizens' behavior patterns. For instance, high
transparency corresponds to repeat visits to the site from citizens and
word-of-mouth recommendations. These citizens also tend to use the site as a
primary resource.

"Each of these behaviors has the ability to increase government efficiency
by driving traffic toward the most efficient channel for serving the
public," according to the report, which measured only 27 federal websites
out of thousands, although most of the federal government's department sites
are represented.

The sites with the highest individual transparency scores in the second
quarter include the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (85), the Center
for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (84) and the National Human Genome
Research Institute (82). The agency with the lowest score in the report
comes from the U.S. Department of the Interior (58).

"Embracing e-gov initiatives can not only accomplish the open government
objectives of transparency, collaboration, and participation so highly
prized by the Obama administration," Freed wrote in the report, "it can also
make our government more democratic, accountable, effective and
cost-efficient."

-- 
Karin Christiansen
Director, Publish What you Fund
1 London Bridge, Downstream Building (3rd floor), London, SE1 9BG
Karin.Christiansen at PublishWhatYouFund.org
www.PublishWhatYouFund.org
twitter @aidtransparency

UK tel: +44 20 7022 1909

UK mobile: +44 781 6839 533

US tel: + 1 202 470 3447

US cell: + 1 757 348 0738
Skype: publish.what.you.fund

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