Rhode Island has a new and improved official state Web portal at www.RI.gov. Governor Donald Carcieri cut a virtual blue ribbon recently to unveil the completely transformed site. The RI.gov portal's visual and technological transformation includes enhanced design and navigation features, real-time information feeds, improved usability for people with disabilities, and a new search engine.
"Our new state Web portal is easier to navigate than ever before and puts Rhode Island in a leadership role when it comes to helping citizens interact with state government faster and at a time that is convenient to them," said Governor Carcieri. "RI.gov gives people and businesses online access to current state information and allows them to transact business with the state electronically without having to wait in line or visit a state office. Last month alone, visitors to the site viewed over 1.5 million pages and conducted thousands of online transactions. This is a win-win because it saves the citizen time and, through the efficiencies online transactions offer, it saves state resources."
Efficiency through smart technology also allows RI.gov to present news and other information gathered from multiple state agencies. The new portal uses Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds and other technologies as part of a statewide data sharing initiative. Data sharing allows state agencies to automatically syndicate news, press releases, and other important data directly to the RI.gov site.
For example, the business section on the new RI.gov offers an up-to-the-minute list of the last 10 corporations registered in the state through the Secretary of State. In the visitors and culture section, the list of upcoming events is produced and updated directly by VisitRhodeIsland, the state's Office of Tourism.
"RSS is one of the most exciting technologies to gain popularity on the Internet in the past few years," said Tracy Williams, Chief Information Officer for Rhode Island. "With the launch of the new portal, Rhode Island now leads the country in embracing this standard. The technology not only saves time and resources by avoiding duplicate efforts to post the same information in multiple places, but it also ensures accuracy by having the entity responsible for the information manage that data for multiple outlets."
The Rhode Island Data Share Initiative is a partnership between the Department of Administration, Secretary of State, Office of Library Services, City of Providence, and RI.gov. This collective launched the Rhode Island eGovernment Exchange (REX) portal that was recognized by the Center for Digital Government in the 2004 Digital Government Achievement Awards.
Ms. Williams also points to another key improvement to the portal. "Making government easily accessible to all citizens is vital and the state portal is no exception. To that end, we've used the latest standards-based design techniques using CSS, or Cascading Style Sheets. CSS contains all the information needed to construct each page of the new site, including the look-and-feel and page layout. These style sheets can be optimized easily for different audiences and devices. As a result, the new RI.gov is available to the widest possible audience, including cell phones and PDAs and, most importantly, by screen-readers used by the visually impaired."
Another highlight of the revised site is a new statewide search engine that allows users to search through thousands of Web pages from more than 120 agency sites via a single user-friendly interface. For example, a search for 'disability' returns results ranging from the Governor's Council on Disabilities to instructions for obtaining special bus passes from the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority.
About RI.gov
RI.gov is Rhode Island's official Web portal (www.RI.gov) and is a collaborative effort between the state of Rhode Island and New England Interactive. The RI.gov site and services are developed and maintained by New England Interactive, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of eGovernment firm NIC (Nasdaq:EGOV).
Quelle: Business Wire, 06.07.2005
