user experience in government: tales from oz
DESCRIPTION
This talk was presented at Yahoo! on Monday 3rd of November 2008, Sunnyvale, California.TRANSCRIPT
User experience in Government:
Tales from OzRuth Ellison
Yahoo!3 November 2008
Who’s Ruth?Love food & photography
(check out my flickr stream....)
Where do I live?
Work in Federal Government in Canberra
Embedded UX person Consultant at Stamford
Interactive
3 key UX presentation topics
Australian Government culture & trends
Challenges in Australian Government
Accessibility
Australian Government is very diverse
Websites based on Government silos and
structures
Let’s look at an example...Having a baby
May involve... Centrelink – Baby Bonus payment Family Assistance Office – child care
benefit, Maternity Immunisation Allowance Medicare – immunisation, Medicare card
Child Support Agency State’s birth, death and marriages More???
Information discovery is a challenge
People aren’t going to Government websites to be entertained
Citizen interaction with Government is changing
People become part of the political process
User experience isn’t just for clients & customers...it’s just as critical for staff
There is no perfect world
Funding and timing often constrains what UX activities that can be undertaken
Love it or hate it – politics is every where
Government is very artefact
heavy
Legislation can be a challenge
Risk adverse
4 year cycle
Amount of money
Time
ABS survey in 2003….
20% of Australians have a disability 15% accident or injury 14% disease, illness or heredity 11% working conditions, work or over-
work
Slowly but surely...increasing
awareness of accessibility
Websites need to be accessible under the Disability
Discrimination Act 1992
No centralised accessibility fund in many
cases
Purchasing decisions Customised versus off-the-shelf Accessibility requirements in tender
processes
Integrated approach to usability and accessibility needed from the start
Be pragmatic
Be politically savvy
Be passionate
Questions or need more info?
Ruth EllisonEmail: [email protected]: +612 6280 7834Mobile: +61423 763 314
@ruthellison
@ruthellison
Find Stamford at www.stamfordinteractive.com.auFind me at www.ruthellison.comSee this presentation at www.slideshare.net/RuthEllison
Credits:Most photos from istockphoto.com
Thanks to Caronne Carruthers-Taylor, and Stamford workmates for brain power!