Page 55 - FCW, July/August 2018

CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT
We try very hard to make sure people throughout USDA have a seat at the table because there’s a lot
you miss when you’re just talking through a computer.
archived outdated content and established new taxonomy, metadata and keywords for the site, which was supported by our site analytics.
How do you measure the success of your sites?
We have a digital analytics program, and building out that program is a top priority right now. That’s important for making informed decisions and finding out what our customers’ experiences are on the site.
We’re going to tap into expertise to establish benchmarks about standard baseline data and about how people want to reach us. This will help inform our strategy. We’re also looking at the different platforms to determine which reaches each audience. We want to look at all our platforms and see what the data is telling us.
What can be done on the back end to enhance citizen engagement?
It’s definitely part of the conversation. We need IT to build the system(s). Before our redesign, we never gave a lot of thought
to how the website and social media connect. Now we know if we’re going to have meaningful data analytics, we have to have the right code on the site and the right toolsets. That’s the biggest impact.
Accessibility, such as 508 compliance, is also a big issue, as is mobile use. We know that most people are looking at our sites
through mobile devices, so we have to make sure all our sites are mobile-friendly.
Our previous USDA.gov website was not fully mobile-friendly. We chose pages to create mobile versions of, so we had duplicative content. With our new site, we made sure all of it is mobile-friendly. It’s
a responsive design, and we’ve conducted testing with a number of different toolsets.
USDA has also started a departmentwide IT modernization, which includes websites and digital platforms. We’re planning
to duplicate our redesign across the department. Naturally, part of that will be making sure all sites are mobile tested.
How can agencies evolve with tech- nology and citizen expectations for interacting with the government?
Agencies should always keep an open mind and be willing to look at various options. I’m really big on tapping into
my federal networks and saying, “What have you guys done?” I’ve done that at numerous times and brought it back to my department, and it helped us.
They also need to make sure that everything — from user testing to search engine optimization to searchability, social media, multimedia, accessibility and digital analytics — is not an afterthought.
All those things need to be built in from the beginning. If they’re not, you will miss the mark. It may not be mobile, it may not
be fully accessible, and it may not show up in search engines.
Data analytics can speak volumes. I can’t tell you how many times things have been launched, then afterward someone asks
if we can do data analytics. Well, you’ve already missed out on some critical data! You need to be talking about all these things from the very beginning.
How did USDA ensure the collabo- ration necessary to spread citizen engagement across the department? We meet regularly through established groups that include our CIO council, our Digital Council and public affairs. They’re distinct groups, but they overlap. It’s important not only to share information, but also to build those relationships.
We’re building our digital analytics program, and as part of that, I’ve met one-on- one with representatives from every agency and office in USDA. That has resulted in total buy-in. That takes effort and time, but it’s critical to have that conversation.
We try very hard to make sure people throughout USDA have a seat at the table because there’s a lot you miss when you’re just talking through a computer. Making the connections and having the conversations go a long way toward ensuring success by increasing collaboration and making sure every team member plays a role and every stakeholder feels valued.
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