Web Redesign: Inspector General of the Interior

Here are seven questions and answers to redesigning the website for the Inspector General of the U.S. Dept of the Interior.

It needs a face lift...badly.

1. Who is our target audience (hint: Don't try to be all things to all people)


1st - Media and Congress are the main focus.

2nd- Still, the general public, taxpayers are the ultimate reach. By pushing the newly designed IG website to the media and Congress, it is hoped that the work accomplished by the IG of the Interior will be reported more often.

2. What is the competitive landscape? (hint: Sites that do it well)

GAO does it better. Their IG webpage is under their main homepage. They have well- defined lists of recent reports. Also, GAO has presence on Twitter. There are also links designated for Congress and Media.

3. How do we differentiate ourselves? (hint: Secret sauce)

The mission of the redesign is to showcase the office's reports and investigations within a multimedia framework.

Pictures and video material will be attached to the reports. Katy has indicated that the office already uses photos and video in its investigations. However, these materials are not being put on the web at the moment. We will put these element on the website.

The website will be more interactive with a map of the US highlighting "high profile" investigations by the office. There will be a small map icon on the main front page that would lead to a full page featuring the interactive map.

4. How do we create our site? (hint: Staff and schedule)

Designate two core web editors who write brief summaries of the reports. They will also populate and organize the website.

Public Relations person will Twitter information about the latest reports.

IT person will execute the act of putting new items on the website.

Katy has said there is an independent contractor already hired to redesign the site. This contractor will create the web template that others can implement.

5. How do we get our content? (hint: Pre-built, manual, automatic, updated)

Content will be collected from the office's investigations, audits, evaluations, inspections and assessments.

Many of these, already conducted by IG employees, have video and still pictures as part of their reports. These investigators already are use to doing two versions of their reports – a "redacted" version and one for internal files.

The website will use the "redacted" version of the reports.

6. How do we market our site? (hint: Spread the word)

A. Get a list of media outlets and have PR person send e-mail alerts on the latest IG office reports. Send out weekly press releases highlighting any visuals.

The PR person will send an email with two web links:
1. the web link related to the specific topic relevant to the media contact.
2. the main website address

B. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube will be utilized in a similar fashion to the GAO office.

C. Katy says there is an existing campaign marketing the IG Interior's complaint hotline. The campaign will be updated to include the website address.

D. Link our website to www.recovery.gov. And include our website on www.recovery.gov's site.

E. Change the website address to InteriorIG.gov – easier to market than the current: http://www.doioig.com/ – (dept of interior office of inspector general).

7. How do we sustain the site? (hint: Show me the $$$)

Funds would be doled out via Federal appropriations and employees already on the payroll. President Obama has said he wants to make the federal government more transparent and interactive on the web. Revamping this website would be at par with the President's mission.

Humanhood.com Vs. Determined2.com

These two social-networking sites focus on helping the public reach personal goals. But, one site clearly dominates over the other in terms of popularity and appeal.

Humanhood.com's homepage shows a timer counting up to the time until it doles out the next batch of invites to the public. It also asks for the new user to enter an email address.


The only reason I know of Humanhood.com is through news articles and the public's comments. But in order to really find out what Humanhood.com is all about, you HAVE to become a member. This exclusivity may deter some users. But given the buzz around this site, it actually works to the site's advantage.


After I entered my e-mail, a "thank you" message appears and says I have to check for an invite on May 28th. I am eager to get the invite through my email and start exploring the site.


On the other hand, Determined2.com also promises to help you to stop procrastinating and start accomplishing. However, before I sign up, I am exploring the pages and seeing that the featured new members of the site have "no goals" labeled on their entries. This clearly isn't appealing to me.

I don't want to be part of a network about accomplishing goals and then seeing that its members have no goals and have not accomplished much.







Humanhood.com clearly wins.

PoliticalCartoons.com

I like this website because it's smart, witty and current to the political stories of the day. I appreciate that there are different cartoon artists represented on the site.




But, I am not sure how to verify that these cartoon artists are the "best" in the world, as the site claims. However, it's pretty clear that the site is good for political entertainment and for purchasing the cartoons.

Of course, you have to be up-to-date with the political stories of the day to really appreciate the humor. I think that's what separates a political cartoon from an every-day cartoon.

It's clear that the website is trying to make a profit from selling these political cartoons.
I think the privacy policy is pretty transparent. But unfortunately, many people may not notice to read this "fine print." Here are some key aspects on how the site uses visitor information:

"For each visitor to our Web page, our Web server automatically recognizes only the consumer's domain name, but not the e-mail address (where possible)."

"With respect to Ad Servers: To try and bring you offers that are of interest to you, we have relationships with other companies that we allow to place ads on our Web pages. As a result of your visit to our site, ad server companies may collect information such as your domain type, your IP address and clickstream information."

Do you feel comfortable visiting this site after reading the above statements?

Loving These Multimedia Websites

I enjoy these multimedia websites because they are fun, organized, and easy-to-use.

1. Feast Your Eyes On This!

If I had a website, I would model it after this one! I LOVE the music. It totally gives the ambience/vibe/mood of the personal chef. The music makes me feel that she's sophisticated like a nice, intimate high-end restaurant. And because I like the music so much, I am inclined to spend more time exploring the site. Also, I am happy that the music can be stopped at any time, just in case a visitor doesn't want the music on.


Her Recipes page is interactive/fun and visual. You click on the recipe box and the individual recipe page "pops out." I think the images are beautiful, neat, and clean. I actually contacted the personal chef, Tianna Feaster, to ask who built her website. I got the name of the guy and saw that he is an extremely creative online website builder. It seems he not only knows the technical stuff, but he also knows web design and visuals. This is why I love this website.



I also like the highly personalized language used with the site. Instead of just "contact" or the usual words, she uses "hit me up!" as her label for the "contact" page. I can read her personality through these choice of words.


The ONE caveat: Before you get into the main web page, there is a page that specifies what types of software and computer would be required/best suited to view the site. This may be the extra step you have to take with such a highly designed website.

Required:
-Java Enabled
-Flash Player Plugin

Best viewed with:

-High Screen resolution
-Broadband Connection
-Speakers
-Internet Explorer 7.0
-Firefox 2.0


2. The Wall Street Journal video section

I enjoy this news website's video player the BEST out of all the other news video players. I like how the video window is a reasonably large size. (The Pop-out video size is also fairly reasonable. But I don't use the pop-out video size that much.)

I would LOVE for the video player to be even bigger like on Youtube, but compared to other news video sites, this is a really good one. The resolution is also pretty good. Also, the video player doesn't DRAG or have glitches from the times I've visited the site.

I usually HATE the video commercials. But somehow, I don't mind the ones on the Wall Street Journal video player. I think it's because these web video commercials are highly produced and creative with really good MUSIC. Again, I come back to music because that's what draws me in. Visuals are great but you can't deny noticing the sounds.


Also, it's clever that between videos, the player displays a 5 second "The Wall Street Journal" mini-ad. It's just a simple piano tune along with the words, "The Wall Street Journal" pieced together from white scattered white puzzle-like pieces. The repetition of this tune and the ad is very effective between news pieces. (I can't get the tune out of my head.)

The enjoy browsing through the video clips. There's an eclectic mix of news topics all put at the bottom of the video screen. Also, I like the video title and concise news caption for each video.

I work in TV news. So I think the Wall Street Journal video reporters often lack the energy in their voices. This is one thing I wish they would do better--- sound more enthusiastic.

3. Google.com


I use Google's search page every time I go on the internet. I appreciate that despite all of the multimedia features that Google has developed (images, video, maps, shopping,) the search page remains relatively simple and clutter-free. I am a HUGE fan of this minimalist style and hopes it remains this way.