2008 Government Web Managers Conference Agenda for Day Two—May 6
Note: You do not have to sign up or indicate in advance which tutorials or breakout sessions you will be attending.
8:00–9:00 |
Registration and Exhibits |
For you early birds, don't sit around waiting for the conference to start—spend some time in our exhibits area and learn about some exciting new initiatives and products that other government web managers are using.
- WebContent.gov Usability Test using the Usability Testing Environment Tool (Nicole Burton and Natalie Davidson, USA.gov Web Best Practices Team)
The Web Best Practices Team will gather web manager demographic data and conduct usability tests on Webcontent.gov using the Usability Testing Environment (UTE) software.
- Paper Prototyping (Steven Fuchs, Broadcasting Board of Governors)
- Multilingual Websites (Leilani Martinez, GobiernoUSA.gov)
The Federal Multilingual Websites Committee (FMWC) is a group of federal, state, and local web managers working to expand and improve web content in languages other than English. The group's primary purpose is to meet the growing demand for government information and services in other languages and to share ideas, challenges, and best practices for managing multilingual content and websites.
- Government Search (Craig Saunders, USASearch.gov)
- Usability Testing (Kit Fuller, U.S. Geological Survey)
- USAServices.gov (Stuart Willoughby and Carole Dobbs, GSA)
USA Services is a valuable resource for federal agency customers in need of tailored communications strategies and solutions. We provide targeted programs and contract vehicles to relieve agencies of administering resource–draining, labor–intensive communications tasks while freeing them up to concentrate on their core missions, saving agencies' time and money. We also collect and promote best practices, conduct and commission research, develop proven guidelines for effective public interaction, run training events, and organize communities of practice for government officials to exchange ideas and experiences.
- CDC.gov and Web 2.0: CDC's Interactive Media Activities
(Erin Edgerton and Kathleen Carey)
CDC is working to deliver public health science, information, and tools when (24/7), where (home, work, mobile, etc.), and how (print, multimedia, mobile, multiple languages, etc.) the public wants them. Join us at the CDC booth to see examples of CDC's interactive media activities and new features of CDC.gov's user-centered website.
- Are You Ready? Using the Web to Help You Prepare and Respond to Emergencies (Toby McAdams, State of Minnesota )
When emergencies strike, are you in charge of informing the public via your website? How do you get that information? See how the Minnesota Department of Health has been creating roles for webmasters in the new Incident Command System structure, in order to keep the public, key partners, and their own staff informed during emergencies.
Update About Our Community: Martha Dorris, Deputy Associate Administrator, Office of Citizen Services and Communications, GSA |
Martha will energize us about opportunities for cross–agency collaboration, how we can focus on top tasks, and best practices for delivering multi-channel services to citizens.
9:15–10:30 |
Mass Collaboration—Transforming How We Deliver Content to Citizens
In recent years, government agencies across the United States have embraced citizen-centric approaches to service delivery, communications, and engagement. But as a new generation of Web 2.0 tools has emerged on the public Internet, new questions are being raised about the communications and service delivery principles and strategies that should guide agencies over the next five to ten years. What are the biggest opportunities for government agencies to effectively use Web 2.0 and other collaborative technologies? How can we do this in a culture that is traditionally risk-averse and where we have limited budgets for innovation? Can mass collaboration and social networks (blogs, wikis, etc.) improve how the government both produces content and delivers it to citizens? How can government agencies embrace mass collaboration when there are little incentives to work across agencies? In this keynote address, Dan Herman, program director of New Paradigm's Government 2.0 research program, will discuss these challenges and present leading edge cases of how government agencies around the world are harnessing Web 2.0 tools to enable new models of communication, collaboration, and innovation.
Speaker: Dan Herman, nGenera
10:30–10:45 |
Break |
10:45–Noon |
Topic: Future of Government Web Content
The 2008 presidential campaign has motivated more people than ever to go online. Candidates and pundits are talking about how we need to harness the power of the Internet to engage citizens online and create better transparency. The top candidates are talking about using technology to open up government so citizens have greater access to government decision–making. Some candidates have called for putting government deliberations online and allowing the public to participate in key public policy issues—a form of "e–democracy."
Are U.S. government agencies prepared for this radical change? What policies and practices do we need to put in place to support this kind of innovation? Can this kind of innovation improve how government delivers services? How can we embrace innovation—and jump into even more content to manage—when we already have 24,000 government websites and millions of webpages that are difficult to keep accurate and up–to–date? How can we fix the content we have and embrace innovation at the same time, in a strategic way?
In this thought–provoking panel discussion we'll get answers to these questions and hear from a broad range of experts and visionaries who will give their views on the future of government web content.
Speakers: Andrew Rasiej, TechPresident; Steven Clift, e–Democracy.org;
Joyce Bounds, Veterans Health Administration
Moderator: Rand Ruggieri, Commerce
Noon–1:00 |
Lunch |
1:00–2:15 |
1–A: Information Architecture: Building Customer–Driven Navigation
How should we structure our websites to help customers complete their top tasks? And still report the agency's news. And provide the "long tail" of information and services that the agency's mission requires. The answer to these competing goals is to evolve and build a website information architecture (IA) that creates a structure for your content while keeping the customers' tasks front and center. In this session, we'll give you successful examples of gathering real customer data to inform your information architecture. We'll offer design strategies that reflect information architecture best practices and that work in our world of government websites. You'll learn effective ways to promote customer–driven architectures, and hear about the benefits of using common content templates to rationalize and streamline our website content across government. Then we'll offer a look ahead to the future of information architecture in a Web 2.0 world, and wrap up with plenty of time for questions and discussion.
Speaker: Hallie Wilfert, SRA International
1–B: Transition Happens—Getting Ready for the New Administration
You know it's coming. You're excited. You're nervous. What will the new political appointees want from you? Will you even be affected by this change in administration? What can you do to get ready? What can you do to convince the new team to make those changes you've been dying to make?
In this session, we'll offer some practical tips for getting ready for the new administration. You'll hear from several veteran web managers who went through the last transition—what worked, what didn't, what they'd do again, what they'd avoid. You'll hear about the five things all web managers should have in place before transition, and we'll distribute some guides that can help you get ready. Finally, we'll talk a bit about how each web manager can (and should) support the strategic priorities of the larger web manager community, during transition. You'll have time to ask questions and share your own tips for this all-important time of change.
Speaker: Rachel Flagg, HUD; Bev Godwin, USA.gov; Sheila Campbell, USA.gov; Kirk Winters, ED
2:15–2:30 |
Break |
2:30–3:45 |
Concurrent Breakout Sessions: |
2–A: When It's Not Just Your Opinion: The Latest Usability Research for Government Web Managers
The best designs feel obvious. As a result, managers, web developers, even citizens, fail to appreciate that design isn't just common sense. Usable design is based on decades of multidisciplinary research. Having a working knowledge of recent studies can help you prioritize initiatives, justify decisions, minimize controversy, and speak with authority. In this session, we'll summarize the best recent usability research to support great design of government websites and intranets.
Speakers: Kath Straub, Human Factors International, and Sanjay Koyani, HHS
2–B: Your Website on a Diet: How to Reduce Clutter and Reprioritize Your Content
Is your website obese? Do your data tables have "cell"–ulite? Is your web page count off the scale? Do you even know?
Obsolete content, broken links, orphan sites, redundant pages, invitations to last year's conferences, pre–Y2K antiques.... we all have them and they drive our customers crazy. Come join our "Putter–Upper's Support Group" and learn some proven tricks and techniques for shedding unwanted pages, eliminating those ugly broken links, building navigation muscle, and providing accessibility to your Web's inner self.
You'll hear various steps that HHS is taking to reduce clutter and gain (self!) control over their Web content. Learn how to: create a Web content inventory; determine which sites and pages to remove, combine, or archive; find resources and tools; build management support; and take steps to prioritize which content to fix first. In particular, HHS will share their insights about how they're doing a comprehensive review of Section 508 accessibility requirements, and how that's been a driver behind their dieting efforts.
Speakers: Dick Stapleton and Prudence Goforth, HHS
3:45–4:00 |
Closing Remarks and Raffle |
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Page Updated or Reviewed: May 14, 2008
