Municipal Website Venture

A few months ago the AMA conducted a survey among the participants of the Municipal Website Venture to determine how satisfied they are, in general, with the services we provide.

The Municipal Website Venture's mandate is to improve the quality of municipal websites in Nova Scotia in a cost effective manner that allows non technical staff to easily manage and maintain their websites.

Les Coleman, the Municipal Website Coordinator, designed and developed the websites using Joomla, an open source content management system. In addition to redesigned websites our partners received Joomla training, technical support, consulting services, hosting, software upgrades, interface redesigns and photographic services.

Here is an abridged version of the results from 11 municipalities. For the following answers 1 represents the least satisfied and 5 being the most.

Overall Satisfaction: 4.5
Website Appearance: 4.5
Website Functionality: 4.2
Website Usability: 4.0

Aware of Web Development Process: 4.3
Website Development: 4.5
Training: 4.1
Support & Advice: 4.2

Performing Tasks in Joomla
Changing Content: 4.3
Adding Content: 4.3
Uploading Documents: 4.3
Uploading Pictures: 3.7
Adding Links: 3.9

Meeting Mandate: yes: 9,  somewhat: 2
Recommend Municipal Website Venture: yes: 11

From anecdotal responses and statistical data we have had a good impression about the direction the program has been going. Adding the survey responses into the mix confirms that we are meeting our objectives while providing a good value proposition for our partners. The results clearly highlight our strengths, as well as areas that need improvement. The Municipal Website Venture has adopted a continuous improvement philosophy; therefore, knowing what we have to do to make the program better is just as important as knowing what we are doing right.

We have recently launched new websites for the Town of Springhill and Municipality of the District of St. Mary’s.

Both websites display an enhanced look and feel that is more intuitive to use and faster to navigate. New features include search on all pages, quick access to a site map and contact information, additional breadcrumb navigation, photo galleries and alternative page layouts amongst other features.

With Joomla , one of the leading open source Content Management Systems,  municipal staff can easily manage and maintain their websites without having to rely an IT person.

Depending on your comfort level with computers and technology in general learning and working with something like Joomla can be challenge. But as long as you have an interest and an open mind it's amazing what can be achieved. The following provides an interesteing perspective about a self described "technically challenged" Administrative Coordinator learning and working with Joomla.

The first Joomla workshop was conducted Friday September 26. Attendees came from Hantsport, Port Hawkesbury, Argyle, Colchester, Wolfville, Lunenburg, HRM, SNSMR and AMA. The workshop facilitated a deeper understanding of the mechanics of Joomla and extended the scope of material covered in training sessions.

Prior to the Municipal Website Venture's formation there was a general recognition by provincial and municipal governments that a dedicated program toward significantly raising the standard of municipal governments’ websites could be achieved in a cost effective manner. This concept was fully explored through a Provincial/Municipal E-government Committee during which the idea of the Municipal Website Venture was born. The MWV utilizes the sound working relationship between provincial and municipal governments in Nova Scotia to provide a solid foundation of support.

The overriding goal of the MWV is to substantially improve the quality of municipal websites while empowering municipal staff to manage their websites in accordance with their needs. For municipalities, the Municipal Website Venture should dramatically widen in-house participation in all website activities. Website work can now include departmental heads or other key people in your organization. And wider participation can mean transforming a web site which is monotonous and stagnant, into one which is dynamic, informative, and up-to-date every day.