National Association of Government Web Professionals (NAGW) - Speaker-Presenter Proposal

National Association of Government Web Professionals 2016 National Conference, San Antonio, Texas

E. Rey Garcia, MPA Candidate

Public Administration Professional

4/1/2016

Conference Speaker–Presenter Proposal

1 | P a g e N A G W C o n f e r e n c e S p e a k e r - P r e s e n t e r P r o p o s a l

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Contents

Introduction 4

Abstract 5

Background 6

Bio 6

Academic/Professional Experience 6

Credible Information 6

Literature Review 7

Overview 7

Purpose 7

e-Government 7

e-Government Strategies 8

Information Communications Technology (ICT) 8

Terms for Types of Content 9

Methodology 10

Tools 10

Project Management 10

User Research 11

Usability Evaluation 13

Information Architecture 15

User Interface Design 15

Interaction Design 16

Visual Design 16

Content Strategy 17

Concluding Remarks 19

References 20


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Using e-Government & Information Communications Technology (ICT) to Deliver a Credible User Experience

by E. Rey Garcia, MPA Candidate Friday, April 1, 2016

Introduction

The National Association of Government Web Professionals (NAGW) is a professional association

composed of government web professionals: programmers, designers, developers, managers, PIOs,

CIOs and government technology experts from all levels of government. The purpose of the

national conference is to allow networking and professional development, focusing on trends and

core topics that promote citizen engagement by building responsive mobile systems, delivering

credible user experiences, while using social media to deliver to the community by following open

data and e-government strategies to ensure the security of the evolving modern cloud-based

technologies, allowing for open source alternatives. This year, NAGW’s annual conference is being

held in the City of San Antonio, Texas on September 20 – 23, 2016. Speakers-Presenters are being

sought by the board members to educate and deliver credible, empirical information to audiences

from both private and public sectors via four-hour pre-conference sessions or the seventy-five

minute regular conference sessions.


Abstract

To effectively deliver and communicate a speaker presentation on the overall User Experience

using UX best practices and e-Government Strategies and Information Communications

Technology (ICT) to deliver public information, while taking into account an understanding of the

users, their needs, values and limitations and:

• To apply UX best practices to promote and improve the quality of the user’s interaction

with the perception of the organization, its product and any related services.

• To take into account the business goals and objectives of the organization and the managing

group.


Background

Bio

As a former active member of NAGW from 2010 through 2013, I represented the City of Weslaco,

Texas, as the Director of Information Technology & Social Media. I attended the following national

conferences, Saint Louis, Cincinnati, Kansas City, and Louisville, where I judged government

agencies on their website’s design, content and delivery of information for the prestigious Pinnacle

Awards.

Academic/Professional Experience

My academic and multi-sector professional experiences have prepared me to deliver credible and

empirical public information that is useful to the attendees of the 2016 national conference. First, I

hold a Bachelor of Arts in Government/Political Science from the University of Houston (UH), and

am currently a candidate for a Master of Public Administration from the University of Texas Rio

Grande Valley (UTRGV). Second, I have nearly 30 years of multi-industry experience working with

local government, financial and student loan institutions, oil and gas companies, Information

Technology, and customer service.

Credible Information

Finally and most importantly, I recognize the importance delivering valuable information that is

useful, usable, desirable, findable, and readily accessible, while promoting community engagement.

While working in both sectors, I have gained knowledge and build a network of professional

relationships, ranging from leaders of the community, to elected officials, while fostering a behavior

that is both honorable and ethical, treating our public with respect and holding ourselves

accountable, creating an atmosphere of trust and productivity… at work… and throughout our

community.


Literature Review Overview Defining a User Experience is based on UX best practices as characterized by Utities.gov. These are

guidelines that serve as models for both public and private sectors. The UX best practices serve as a

leading resource, providing tools to effectively design a process that places the user at the center of

the design. UX disciplines and the methodology are used to deliver digital content that is more

usable and useful, while providing a more desirable user experience.

User experience (UX) refers to the quality of the user’s interaction with and perceptions of a

system. User experience design requires a deep understanding of users.

Purpose

The purpose of the speaker presentation is to address diverse audiences at the national conference

and to educate them on the delivery of empirical, credible public information based on e-

Government Strategies and Information Communications Technology (ICT) to effectively

deliver useful, usable, desirable, findable, accessible and credible information.

I. e-Government: According to the Whitehouse.gov, e-Government develops and provides

direction in the use of Internet-based technologies to make it easier for citizens and

businesses to interact with the Federal Government, save taxpayer dollars, and streamline

citizen participation. (Source: https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/e-gov/)

https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/e-gov/


II. e-Government Strategies – These strategies help save time and money, while providing the

tools (mobile, social media, publishing, etc.) to engage citizens, enhance transparency and to

promote economic development. By adopting cloud-computing, governments develop a

trustworthy-approach with the community.

a. Save time and money – Automated, self-service mobile, web-based and

smart-device tools, save money and manpower.

b. Engage residents – Keeping the employees engaged with the community,

through social media, mobile technologies, and delivering instantaneous readable

information to the community.

c. Moving to the Cloud – Using cloud-computing to share and deliver public

information with remote employees and the general public. (Source:

http://www.egovstrategies.com/)

III. Information Communications Technology (ICT): The use of ICTs, stimulates

sustainable growth, improves service delivery, and promotes good governance and social

accountability. (Source: http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/ict) ICT refers to all the

technology used to handle telecommunications, broadcast media, intelligent building

management systems, audiovisual processing and transmission systems, and network-based

control and monitoring functions.

(Source: https://www.techopedia.com/definition/24152/information-and-communications-

technology-ict)

http://www.egovstrategies.com/

http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/ict

https://www.techopedia.com/definition/24152/information-and-communications-technology-ict



Terms for Types of Content:

a) Useful: Your content should be original and fulfill a need

b) Usable: Site must be easy to use

c) Desirable: Image, identity, brand, and other design elements are used to evoke emotion

and appreciation

d) Findable: Content needs to be navigable and locatable onsite and offsite

e) Accessible: Content needs to be accessible to people with disabilities

f) Credible: Users must trust and believe what you tell them

(Source: http://www.usability.gov/what-and-why/user-experience.html)

http://www.usability.gov/what-and-why/user-experience.html


Methodology

Using the tools provided by Usability.gov, will assist government agencies with effective project

planning. These tools guide the agency with planning, research, evaluation, and with interface,

interaction, and visual design, and delivery of content strategy. Following the processes outlined by

these tools, will allow agencies to develop a more credible system that delivers an overall user

experience that earns trust from the community and follows ethical principles, while using e-

Government Strategies and ICT methods.

Tools

I. Project Management, focuses on planning, organizing, and resource development. This

includes identifying and managing the lifecycle to be used, applying it to the user-centered

design process, formulating the project team, and efficiently guiding the team through all

phases until project completion.

i. Develop a Project Plan: A project plan takes into account the approach the team will

take and helps the team and stakeholders document decisions made regarding the

objective, scope, schedule, resources, and deliverables.

ii. Project Team Roles and Responsibilities: Creating an interdisciplinary team with

the right mix of skills is vital to the smooth and successful execution of any project.

iii. Kick-Off Meeting: Use your kick-off meeting to discuss the business case related to

the site, the vision and mission based on user and organizational goals, and the vision

for the site moving forward.


iv. Website Requirements: Website requirements are a list of necessary functions,

capabilities, or characteristics related to your website and the plans for creating it.

There are several types of requirements that may be defined during the process that

come together to focus and prioritize the project plan.

II. User Research focuses on understanding user behaviors, needs, and motivations through

observation techniques, analysis, and feedback methodologies.

i. Reporting Usability Test Results: When reporting results from a usability test, you

should focus primarily on your findings and recommendations that are differentiated

by levels of severity. Include the pertinent information from the test plan and present

just enough detail so that the method is identifiable.

ii. Running a Usability Test: Once you have planned your test and recruited your test

participants, it’s time to get ready to conduct your test. To do so, you’ll want to

iii. Recruiting Usability Test Participants: It is vital to recruit participants who are

similar to your site users for your usability testing. Depending on the site or product,

you may have multiple potential users groups. Try to include representatives of all

these groups or optimally, perform testing with each group separately if you r

iv. Planning a Usability Test: One of the first steps in each round of usability testing is

to develop a plan for the test.

v. Usability Testing: Usability testing refers to evaluating a product or service by testing

it with representative users.

vi. First Click Testing: First Click Testing examines what a test participant would click

on first on the interface in order to complete their intended task. It can be performed

on a functioning website, a prototype or a wireframe.


vii. System Usability Scale (SUS): The System Usability Scale (SUS) provides a “quick

and dirty”, reliable tool for measuring the usability. It consists of a 10 item

questionnaire with five response options for respondents; from strongly agree to

strongly disagree. Originally created by John Brooke in 1986, it allows you to eva

viii. Contextual Interview: During these interviews, researchers watch and listen as users

work in the user’s own environment, as opposed to being in a lab. Contextual

interviews tend to be more natural and sometimes more realistic as a result.

ix. Focus Groups: A focus group is a moderated discussion that typically involves 5 to 10

participants. Through a focus group, you can learn about users’ attitudes, beliefs,

desires, and reactions to concepts.

x. Individual Interviews: In individual interviews, an interviewer talks with one user for

30 minutes to an hour. Individual interviews allow you to probe their attitudes, beliefs,

desires, and experiences to get a deeper understanding of the users who come to your

site.

xi. Personas: The purpose of personas is to create reliable and realistic representations of

your key audience segments for reference.

xii. Online Surveys: An online survey is a structured questionnaire that your target

audience completes over the internet generally through a filling out a form. Online

surveys can vary in length and format.

xiii. Scenarios: Scenarios describe the stories and context behind why a specific user or

user group comes to your site. They note the goals and questions to be achieved and

sometimes define the possibilities of how the user(s) can achieve them on the site.

xiv. Task Analysis: Task analysis is the process of learning about ordinary users by

observing them in action to understand in detail how they perform their tasks and


achieve their intended goals. Tasks analysis helps identify the tasks that your website

and applications must support and can also help you re-define your site’s navigation or

search by determining the appropriate content scope.

III. Usability Evaluation focuses on how well users can learn and use a product to achieve their

goals. It also refers to how satisfied users are with that process.

i. Reporting Usability Test Results: When reporting results from a usability test, you

should focus primarily on your findings and recommendations that are differentiated

by levels of severity. Include the pertinent information from the test plan and present

just enough detail so that the method is identifiable.

ii. Running a Usability Test: Once you have planned your test and recruited your test

participants, it’s time to get ready to conduct your test. To do so, you’ll want to

iii. Recruiting Usability Test Participants: It is vital to recruit participants who are

similar to your site users for your usability testing. Depending on the site or product,

you may have multiple potential users groups. Try to include representatives of all

these groups or optimally, perform testing with each group separately if you r

iv. Planning a Usability Test: One of the first steps in each round of usability testing is

to develop a plan for the test.

v. Usability Testing: Usability testing refers to evaluating a product or service by testing

it with representative users.

vi. First Click Testing: First Click Testing examines what a test participant would click

on first on the interface in order to complete their intended task. It can be performed

on a functioning website, a prototype or a wireframe.

vii. System Usability Scale (SUS): The System Usability Scale (SUS) provides a “quick

and dirty”, reliable tool for measuring the usability. It consists of a 10 item


questionnaire with five response options for respondents; from strongly agree to

strongly disagree.

viii. Eye Tracking: Eye tracking involves measuring either where the eye is focused or the

motion of the eye as an individual views a web page. Purpose of Eye tracking When

your site visitors are connected to eye tracking software, you will be able to tell:

ix. Contextual Interview: During these interviews, researchers watch and listen as users

work in the user’s own environment, as opposed to being in a lab. Contextual

interviews tend to be more natural and sometimes more realistic as a result.

x. Focus Groups: A focus group is a moderated discussion that typically involves 5 to 10

participants. Through a focus group, you can learn about users’ attitudes, beliefs,

desires, and reactions to concepts.

xi. Remote Testing: Remote usability testing allows you to conduct user research with

participants in their natural environment by employing screen-sharing software or

online remote usability vendor services. In general, tests should be about 15–30

minutes long made up of about 3-5 tasks.

xii. Mobile Device Testing: Testing mobile devices such as phones, tablets, and eReaders

requires special equipment and methodology. Since traditional desktop screen-capture

software cannot adequately capture touch interactions, usability practitioners have been

using strategically placed cameras to record usability test i

xiii. Scenarios: Scenarios describe the stories and context behind why a specific user or

user group comes to your site. They note the goals and questions to be achieved and

sometimes define the possibilities of how the user(s) can achieve them on the site.


IV. Information Architecture (IA) focuses on how information is organized, structured, and

presented to user.

i. Organization Schemes: Organization schemes have to do with how you are going to

categorize your content and the various ways you'll create relationships between each

piece. Most content can be categorized in multiple ways.

ii. Organization Structures: An organizational structure is how you define the

relationships between pieces of content. Successful structures allow users to predict

where they will find information on the site.

iii. Content Inventory: A content inventory is a list of all the content on your site. Your

inventory will typically include text, images, documents, and applications. To gain

insight from your inventory, you will need to assess each piece of content.

iv. Wireframing: A wireframe is a two-dimensional illustration of a page’s interface that

specifically focuses on space allocation and prioritization of content, functionalities

available, and intended behaviors. For these reasons, wireframes typically do not

include any styling, color, or graphics.

V. User Interface Design focuses on anticipating what users might need to do and ensuring that

the interface has elements that are easy to access, understand, and use to facilitate those

actions.

i. Organization Schemes: Organization schemes have to do with how you are going to



ii. Organization Structures: An organizational structure is how you define the




iii. User Interface Elements: When designing your interface, try to be consistent and

predictable in your choice of interface elements.

iv. Wireframing: A wireframe is a two-dimensional illustration of a page’s interface that

specifically focuses on space allocation and prioritization of content, functionalities

available, and intended behaviors. For these reasons, wireframes typically do not

include any styling, color, or graphics.

VI. Interaction Design (IxD) focuses on creating engaging interactive systems with well thought

out behaviors.

i. Use Cases: A use case is a written description of how users will perform tasks on your

website. It outlines, from a user’s point of view, a system’s behavior as it responds to a

request.

ii. Card Sorting: Card sorting is a method used to help design or evaluate the

information architecture of a site.

iii. Prototyping: A prototype is a draft version of a product that allows you to explore

your ideas and show the intention behind a feature or the overall design concept to

users before investing time and money into development.

VII. Visual Design focuses on ensuring an aesthetically pleasing interface that is in line with brand

goals.

i. Color Basics: A color wheel is an illustrative model of color hues around a circle. It

shows the relationships between the primary, secondary, and intermediate/ tertiary

colors and helps demonstrate color temperature. Digital teams communicate exact

colors through the use of hex codes.


ii. Parallel Design: With the parallel design technique, several people create an initial

design from the same set of requirements. Each designer works independently and,

when finished, shares his or her concepts with the group.

VIII. Content Strategy focuses on writing and curating useful content by planning the creation,

delivery and governance behind it.

i. Card Sorting: Card sorting is a method used to help design or evaluate the

information architecture of a site.

ii. Writing for the Web: When writing for the web, using plain language allows users to

find what they need, understand what they have found, and then use it to meet their

needs. It should also be actionable, findable, and shareable.

iii. Develop a Project Plan: A project plan takes into account the approach the team will

take and helps the team and stakeholders document decisions made regarding the

objective, scope, schedule, resources, and deliverables.

iv. Project Team Roles and Responsibilities: Creating an interdisciplinary team with

the right mix of skills is vital to the smooth and successful execution of any project.

v. Organization Schemes: Organization schemes have to do with how you are going to



vi. Organization Structures: An organizational structure is how you define the



vii. Task Analysis: Task analysis is the process of learning about ordinary users by

observing them in action to understand in detail how they perform their tasks and


achieve their intended goals. Tasks analysis helps identify the tasks that your website

and applications must support and can also help you refine o

viii. Content Inventory: A content inventory is a list of all the content on your site. Your

inventory will typically include text, images, documents, and applications. To gain

insight from your inventory, you will need to assess each piece of content


Concluding Remarks

Based on the UX best practices, government agencies who adopt these tools will effectively and

reliably deliver useful, usable, findable, accessible, and credible information to the community. First,

by using e-Government Strategies and Information Communications Technology (ICT) method,

agencies are able to deliver and communicate instantaneous, readable, and current public

information. Second, by recognizing the users, their needs, values and limitations, leaders and

elected officials develop trust and credibility from the community. Third, by adopting an Open

Government doctrine, citizens recognize their rights to access the documents and proceedings of

the government, allowing for effective public oversight. A government that is transparent and

recognizes the importance of the user experience, places emphasis on ethical behaviors and values

the principles of the community.


References

EGov Strategies LLC. (n.d.). Retrieved April 01, 2016, from http://www.egovstrategies.com/.

Information & Communication Technologies Home. (n.d.). Retrieved April 01, 2016, from http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/ict. User Experience Basics. (n.d.). Retrieved April 01, 2016, from http://www.usability.gov/what-and-why/user-experience.html.

UX Best Practices. (n.d.). Retrieved April 01, 2016, from http://www.slideshare.net/theresaneil/ux-best-practices.

What is Information and Communications Technology (ICT)? - Definition from Techopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved April 01, 2016, from https://www.techopedia.com/definition/24152/information-and-communications-technology-ict.

http://www.egovstrategies.com/

http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/ict



http://www.slideshare.net/theresaneil/ux-best-practices

http://www.slideshare.net/theresaneil/ux-best-practices



Government & Nonprofit

National Association of Government Web Professionals (NAGW) - Speaker-Presenter Proposal