After receiving several e-mails regarding Big Kahuna's problems getting Virginia.gov to pony up research they mentioned in a press release, I thought I would snoop around a bit more. Several state employees are upset that Virginia.gov doesn't seem to care - or be able to - follow the same web standards that they have to follow.
An insider told me, under strict conditions of anonymity, that the process used by Virginia.gov to improve their site was marketing-driven rather than user-driven. They essentially lied to try and win Best of the Web, something VITA considers vitally important (which is why Virginia.gov essentially mimicked the Delaware site that won last year). Management decided what they wanted to change on the website, they made the changes, they released a press release that they had research to back up their choices, then they began to consider faking the research, since no research actually existed (who knew people would ask to see it?).
Well, whether or not that accusation is true or not, the ITIB is meeting today. It's a public meeting, so if you can get off work, show up and ask a few questions.
- If all Virginia Interactive is doing is a bad job of copying Delaware, why are they getting paid $4 million a year for their expertise?
- Where is the research? What was the baseline? How many users were tested and what population group did they pull them from? What statistical data did they use to determine they had actually improved anything?
- Why is it so godawful ugly?
- Why is so much important information buried?
1 comment:
I agree it's pretty ugly. I heard a group of designers at my office laughing at something, and when I went to go see what they thought was so funny, it was virginia.gov. Why can't the state design an attractive and useful webpage?
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