New research from internet consultancy iQ Content shows that while Britain’s eGovernment initiative outstrips Irish efforts, many British eGovernment websites are still failing to deliver value to citizens. The iQ Content report “Benchmarking eGovernment Websites in the U.K. and Ireland: Who's getting it right? (And why?)” evaluates 42 leading British and Irish eGovernment websites to measure how much value they deliver to citizens. The result is an eGovernment league table, evaluating individual and relative website performance from the citizen’s point of view.
Overall, British sites performed better than Irish sites by a wide margin. Seven of the top ten sites are British, while eight of the bottom ten sites are Irish. On average, UK sites scored 7% more than their Irish counterparts. The average British site had a good rating, with only two sites being rated poor. The average Irish website is only adequate, and over a third of Irish sites rated poor.
Direct.gov.uk, the UK’s eGovernment portal, topped the iQ User Experience Index for 2005. The UK Department of Health came second. Third place went to the UK’s Business Link. Sharing fourth place were the UK Prime Minister’s 10 Downing Street site and the Irish citizen information portal OASIS. OASIS is the only Irish site to appear in the top 5.
All five of the bottom sites are from Ireland, with Ireland’s Department of Defence performing worst overall, followed by the Department of Justice, The Department of Agriculture and Food, the Office of the Revenue Commissioners and The Department of Foreign Affairs.
Although UK websites performed better, the research reveals that eGovernment websites are still lagging behind the best of their commercial peers in serving user needs and in implementing best practice web design and web management techniques. Common problems that emerged included a lack of understanding of users, confusing navigation systems, poorly structured, stale or incomplete content, sub-standard usability and insufficient provision for disabled users.
“eGovernment should be about people - about anticipating and serving citizens’ needs, about making peoples’ lives easier and better,” said Morgan McKeagney, Managing Director of iQ Content. “Judged by these criteria, many eGovernment websites are still failing to deliver.”
“This research confirms that to succeed, websites must address fundamental user needs”, continues McKeagney. “This means putting the citizen, rather than technology, at the centre of eGovernment strategy. It means adopting a genuine culture of openness and customer service. And it means providing agencies with the guidance, resources and support they need to create genuinely useful and usable online services.”
Research methodology
Five iQ Content consultants evaluated 42 leading eGovernment sites over a period of 18 months, from April 2004 through to September 2005. Each site was evaluated independently by three consultants, with each site being evaluated across three broad criteria: content (the value, ease of use, and completeness of information provided), functionality (availability, utility and usability), and design (structure, navigation, aesthetics and accessibility). Each site was individually evaluated against all criteria, and awarded an overall weighted score, marked out of 100. Sites were then grouped into four different grades: “Grade 1 – Excellent” (>/= 65%), “Grade 2 – Good” (>/= 55% < 65%), “Grade 3 – Adequate” (>/= 45% < 55%), and “Grade 4 – Poor” (<45%). Sites were then compiled into a league table, called the iQ User Experience Index, summarising the relevant performance of all sites evaluated.
The result is the first definitive user experience league table for UK and Irish eGovernment sites. In addition to providing a ranking and detailed analysis of all sites evaluated, identifies common problems across eGovernment sites, provides best practice examples for addressing common issues, and provides detailed recommendations for enhancing eGovernment performance at both organisational and national level.
Quelle: Publictechnology, 04.10.2005
