August 6, 2008
E-gov’s Struggle
E-government is a significant topic in the realm of government accountability and transparency, as well as for the Transitions in Governance Project. Discussion of improvements to e-gov has continued, and for the first time in a year, the score of federal websites rose on the University of Michigan’s American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) E-Government Satisfaction Index.
ACSI is produced by the University of Michigan in partnership with the American Society for Quality and CFI group, and has been used since 1999 by more than 100 agencies and departments. Federal websites are finally generating more satisfied customers, but the question remains as to whether this is a lucky blip, or if this is the beginning of a positive trend in citizen satisfaction.
Federal websites face several challenges to achieving the user-friendliness of private and commercial websites. First of all, government sites get less funding than their commercial counterparts. Secondly, the ban on cookies for federal websites ensures anonymity, but makes tracking and re-visiting more difficult. Lastly, each government website is owned by a different agency, so little consistency exists among federal sites.
How can the federal government overcome some of these key difficulties in making their websites easy to use? What more can be done to ensure citizen satisfaction? Could new technologies resolve some of these problems? Click here to learn more about the ACSI and the challenges federal websites face.
