Government Website Discussions Ought To Be Ubiquitous and Continuous: - DotGovWatch Exposing the good, the bad, and the buggy - A Blog Monitoring U.S. Federal, State, and Local Government Websites

Government Website Discussions Ought To Be Ubiquitous and Continuous

Monday, June 8. 2009 at 11:55 PM | by Coby Logen in Government 2.0

Regulations.gov is setting a fine example through Regulations.gov Exchange.

On the Regulations.gov Exchange, users can discuss upcoming design changes on Regulations.gov. This is an excellent idea to get user feedback, and a step in the right direction, but there are actually three ways to improve the system even further.

1. Release the new site as a beta.

Although the discussion on Regulations.gov Exchange is excellent and well-moderated, I hope it is not delaying the launch of the new site.

If (or when) the new site is available, the Regulations.gov Web Team should just release the site as a "beta" like many private-sector companies do. A beta release makes the new site available for visitors who opt-in, but the old site remains the default. This allows for even richer feedback than watching a video.

2. Keep the Regulations.gov Exchange discussion open.

Regulations.gov Exchange is a good model for getting feedback. Why terminate the discussion once the new design is released? Regulations.gov Exchange could continue to provide a venue for customer feedback similar to how TSA's blog allows airline customers to give TSA feedback any time.

3. Spread the Exchange approach to other .gov websites.

Regulations.gov should not be the only .gov website with an Exchange-like discussion. This approach is a great way to further Obama's vision of openness, transparency, and participation.

Discussions, blogs, or similar tools should be used by all important government websites to keep government web teams in close communication with their customers.

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