U.S. Department of State International Information Programs
Content and Interactivity
As the flagship Public Diplomacy website, USINFO reaches out to readers around the world who are interested in learning more about the U.S. government and its people. With web-friendly articles that bypass government jargon, readers can get timely information on US foreign policy and American culture, even during fast-moving crises. Recent innovations include web chats with officials and policy experts in diverse fields of expertise. The use of RSS among our 175 embassy network affiliates assures a greater worldwide placement of the most significant materials in 7 languages. We offer daily and weekly email subscriptions in these languages.
Design, Usability and Accessibility
Topical and regional subjects drive USINFO navigation and information presentation. We developed a “corporate” brand that is consistent throughout the site yet still attractive to non-Americans. The search engine is state-of-the-art, incorporating department-wide and Dublin Core tags for internal users while giving public readers the best possible search results. Individual articles are integrated with links to related collections while not overwhelming the (largely) non-native speakers of English. The rich use of photos in most articles and photo galleries enhances the reader experience. Our “live” webcasts have utilized closed-captioning to address section 508 compliance.
Evaluation and Metrics
With audiences as diverse as USINFO’s, listening to readers is important. We utilize a feedback link on every article – “Tell us what you think” that helps our writers stay in tune with the audiences at a time when many readers overseas are critical of the US government. Our online ACSI survey, in use for four years, helped us make improvements to search features as well as better understand readers’ expectations. Web editors use weekly usage reports to gauge the effectiveness of their work and then develop new public diplomacy content to meet the demands of our international audiences.
Wildcard Category
The entire operation is designed (and documented) with contingencies to make the publishing process accessible 24/7 from anywhere in the event that metro transportation or department facilities are shut down. At a time the world may be looking for an official US foreign policy statement, correspondents can file stories from 12 time zones away as editors prepare images and enhancements for articles and special collections; translators on another continent deliver materials that editors publish, resulting in up to six language versions of the original English within a matter of hours. Our distributed global network assures fast downloads regardless of location.
