“We are very pleased and honored to receive a top ranking in Best of the Web again this year,” said Governor John Baldacci. “Our goal for Maine.gov is to provide innovations that make interacting with state government as easy and efficient as possible. This award shows us that we are achieving that goal while providing an economical and useful service to the citizens of Maine.”
The Center for Digital Government, an international research and advisory institute on the use of information technology in government, conducted the 2007 Best of the Web competition. Now in its 11th year, Best of the Web evaluates government Web sites based on their innovation, Web-based delivery of public services, efficiency, economy, and functionality. Representatives from the Center for Digital Government, state and local leaders from around the country, and officials from the 2006 Best of the Web first-place winning state served as judges for the 2007 competition.
This year, several new features were added to Maine.gov, including interactive maps of key government offices and locations, an enhanced one-stop resource for state agency contact information, and language translation features that translate any Maine.gov page into French or Spanish.
In addition, Maine.gov provides access to more than 350 online government services that allow citizens and businesses to take care of government payments, filings, renewals, permits, and other transactions over the Internet. Popular online services include vehicle registration renewal, professional license renewal, hunting and fishing licenses, driver’s license renewal and replacement, traffic ticket payments and business tax registration. Other noteworthy features of Maine.gov include seasonal photo contests, citizen alerts and other e-mail notifications, news, RSS feeds, and a mobile version of Maine.gov for cell phone access.
“In this day and age when state budgets are tight, Maine.gov provides a cost-effective way to meet the public demand for convenient government transactions,” said Dick Thompson, Chief Information Officer for the state of Maine. “We are proud to lead the nation in offering a user-friendly and innovative portal, and the continued recognition by the Center shows that you don’t have to be a large state to deliver effective eGovernment services.”
Since 2000, the Maine.gov Web portal has served as the online gateway to Maine state and municipal government information and services. Public usage of Maine.gov has grown tremendously; the site now receives more than four million page views per month and provides access to more than 250,000 state government Web pages.
The Maine.gov portal was also recognized earlier this year with a third-place ranking among state government Web sites by the Brown University’s Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions.
About Maine.gov
Maine.gov is the official Web site of the State of Maine (www.Maine.gov) and a service of the Information Resource of Maine (InforME). InforME is a collaborative effort between the State of Maine and Maine Information Network, LLC. Maine Information Network is the official eGovernment solutions partner for the State of Maine. The company builds and manages interactive government services on behalf of the state and is a wholly owned subsidiary of eGovernment firm NIC (Nasdaq: EGOV).
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Erin Hutchins
Quelle/Source: Business Wire, 26.11.2007
