"Over the past two years, Maine's leadership has clearly demonstrated a commitment to eGovernment, and this is reflected in the rankings for the Sixth Annual State and Federal eGovernment Study," said Darrell M. West, director of the Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions at Brown University and the author of the study. "The Maine.gov portal is an optimal example of how a multitude of content can be arranged well with a pleasing design." Researchers at the Taubman Center reviewed 1,559 state Web sites and evaluated them against a broad range of criteria, including availability of online services, disability and foreign language access, quality control, ease of use, privacy and security policies, personalization, and credit card payment options.
"Maine citizens have a strong tradition of interacting with their government and expect to be able to do so in an easy and accessible manner," said Governor John Baldacci. "The Brown University study validates Maine's commitment to continuing this tradition through the Maine.gov portal and to the spirit of excellence in our state."
According to the Brown study, Maine.gov was recognized for its dedication to helping the user access eGovernment services in an uncluttered and informative manner. The Maine.gov portal has several services to help visitors find information quickly and easily, including Live Help online customer service, real-time RSS (Really Simple Syndication) news feeds, and up-to-date weather reports.
Launched in August 1999, Maine.gov is among the most acclaimed state portals in the nation and was ranked first in the Center for Digital Government's 2004 Best of the Web competition. Maine.gov hosts more than 6.5 million user visits and supports approximately 110,000 eGovernment transactions each month. The portal offers over 150 interactive services for businesses and citizens, including driver's license and state ID card renewals and replacements, public criminal records retrievals, interactive corporate services such as Maine's Total UCC Solution, and motor vehicle registration renewals.
About Maine.gov
Maine.gov is the official Web portal of the state of Maine www.Maine.gov and is the winner of the Center for Digital Government's 2004 Best of the Web competition. Maine.gov is a service of the Information Resource of Maine (InforME), a collaborative effort between the state of Maine and New England Interactive that helps Maine government entities Web-enable their information services. Maine.gov was built and is marketed, operated, and maintained by New England Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of eGovernment firm NIC.
Quelle: Business Wire, 19.09.2005
