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Victoria Online: Seek and ye shall find

Presentation by Vanessa Scott to the Metadata Australia 2010 Conference in Canberra - May 26, 2010.

"This event was for those with an interest in: open source, open standards and open (Government) data, digital preservation, digital business continuity, public sector information and technology management, and web content management and archiving..."

Vanessa presented on the State Government of Victoria's portal, Victoria Online and its recent innovations.

You can view this presentation using EasySlideshare or you can read the transcript below:

Victoria Online: Seek and ye shall find, presentation by Vanessa Scott,

Content Manager, Information Victoria, Department of Innovation, Industry and 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

Number of Questions

• April 2010 - 1,111 questions
• March 2010 - 1356 questions
• February 2010 - 863 questions
• January 2010 - 771 questions
• December 2009 - 467 questions
• November 2009 751 questions
• October 2009 - 456 questions
• September 2009 - 191 questions

Got a Question?

• Technology used – aQtual
• 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 and 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 searc

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

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

Contacts and 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 and Services Directory (continued)

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

Contact information

• Vanessa Scott
• Content Manager
• eServices, Information Victoria
• Department of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development
• e: vanessa.scott@diird.vic.gov.au
• p: 61 3 9938 0517
• Follow InfoVic on Twitter: twitter.com/InfoVic

 

Last updated: 9 June 2010

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