How We Use Government Websites

By Scott Proudfoot, Principal
March, 2002

More of us are going to government web sites, finding what we want and are happier with government because of it. But not all our needs are being met.

Those interested in E-government and Digital Democracy issues in Canada will find a general lack of good Canadian information. The available news and research is mostly ad hoc and fragmentary. Inevitably, we examine the better data coming out of the US and assume similar usage trends exist on both sides of the border.

But, that may not hold. Canadians are more wired than Americans. Sixty percent of Canadians are online compared to 52% for the US. And a recent study placed Canada in the E-Government implementation lead. The US was in third place after Singapore. So trends could converge or Canada may be 6 to 18 months ahead in a number of areas.

With that in mind, one of the best sources for how citizens interact with their government is from the US based, Pew Charitable Trust which has been doing periodic surveys on the topic. Their latest is entitled, The Rise of the E-Citizen: How People Use Government Agencies' Web Sites.

First, the news about government online is very positive.

Going to government web sites is one of the fastest growing online activities.

• 60% of government web site users say such sites improve their relationship with public agencies.
• Seventy-six percent rate the quality of government sites as "good" or "excellent".
• A majority of respondents believe that it is "fairly" or "very" easy to find information on government sites.
• 80% were able to accomplish what they wanted to do on their last visit to a government web site.
• A good online experiences correlates with higher trust in government.

It also appears that as people gain more experience online they are more likely to discover and take advantage of government web sites. Over 50% of those who use

Government web sites have five or more years of experience. These five year+ Internet veterans visited more government web sites, looked for more information and engaged in more transactions online with government than those with less Internet experience. Since roughly 50% of those online have less than five years of experience, government sites will gain more traffic and customers as people gain more experience.

We are starting to get a sense of how government online can change people��s attitudes about government. Before the Internet most people lacked easy access to information about government programs. Now government is far more transparent and accessible.

Even a badly conceived web site is likely to provide more useful information about a government program than would have been available before the Internet.

Last week, I paid a traffic ticket online. It took less than 2 minutes. I may not like traffic tickets, but the city limited the aggravation by providing a quick, easy way to pay. As more of us have good experiences with Government online, the higher our opinion of government is likely to become.

Civic Engagement

A re-occurring complaint from some quarters is that Government Online is too concerned about services and too little interested in facilitating and encouraging citizen involvement in public policy development.  That is probably a fair criticism. In Canada, there is not been much interest in digital democracy issues at the political centre.  Officials have concentrated on providing information and services. But, it should also be pointed out, there have been little public pressure placed on politicians and officials to move in this direction. So are those online only interested in government services?

Apparently not, 2/3rds of those online have sought information on public policy issues via a government web site. One in three has contacted an official through a site. And almost 20% have participated in lobbying campaigns on the Internet. (Since the US has a more aggressive political culture, we can wonder whether those numbers would be as high in Canada?)

And, although the young are more likely to be online, according to the Pew Survey those aged 18-29 are least likely to have used the Internet in overtly political ways.

As recent voter turnout figures suggest, many young people have tuned out politics, political parties and government. Having the Internet available does not appear to deflect that trend.

There clearly is a potential appetite for government to use the Internet to increase civic engagement. There are good practical arguments for doing so. It will pull more people into the process.  At the same time, there is insufficient evidence to support the case that it will make the disinterested become more interested.

How Do We Find Government Information?

Overwhelmingly Internet users begin their search with a major search engine or general sites such as AOL or MSN (49%). About 29% started at a site they had used before - this number is higher for more frequent users of government sites. 9% got the site from a government publication. 7% got a recommendation from a friend or a newspaper advertisement.  Only 3% went through a government portal.

Given the amount of effort and funding that governments have devoted to creating broad portals and departmental sites, it appears that they are starting from the exact opposite direction from the way people actually access information online.

People use key word searches on their favorite search engine to find information on the Internet. Many use the search functionality at the top of their ISP home pages (which explains the high rankings of AOL and MSN).

If government programs want to be found, then having their sites optimized for the key words that people actually use makes the most sense.  That would point to certain strategies.

• Government gateway sites that aggregate information and provide links to relevant government programs around certain narrow themes (e.g. business, Canadian economy, consumer, recycling, telehealth) may have a better chance of delivering people to the information they seek - if those sites are properly optimized for search engines.
• Governments may want to go to where people are by working with the search engines and major ISPs that most people use.