With three-quarters of respondents saying Portsmouth's town web site made content hard to find and 70% giving it failing grades for meeting their needs, the survey results reported today by the Portsmouth Economic Development Committee (EDC) couldn't be much harsher. The entire release from the EDC is worth quoting at length. (Editorial note: For your own sanity, don't click on the link to the Town site — it will load up an insane nest of 90's-era frames with a pointless, lumbering Java navigation bar.)

The Portsmouth Economic Development Committee recently concluded a web-based survey regarding our town website; Our thanks to the many people who responded to this survey.

The survey was developed by Portsmouth Economic Development Committee to solicit all citizens input regarding the current town website with a view towards redesigning the website and making it more user-friendly. During the 4 months the survey was active, 158 people responded. The results of the survey were recently forwarded to the Town Council with a recommendation that they provide the Town Administrator with the resources necessary for a complete upgrade of the Portsmouth Town website.

Highlights of the survey results indicate that 75% of the survey responders concluded that the information they were looking for on the current Town website was either very difficult to find or not found at all, 70% rated the website 5 or less on a scale of 10 in meeting their needs, 60% indicated that a full-featured website would reduce their need to visit the Town Hall, and 84% agreed that a modern, easy to use website was important for the Town.

In addition to the survey questions, respondents were asked for their recommendations on improving the website. The general theme of many comments was the desire and need to allow more public access and participation in Town government through an upgraded Town website. Features that are considered to be key to an effective town site are:

• Emergency instructions, information and data. Immediate Up to date to emergency and other important information can be posted as well as “pushed” to Town citizens via blog, Facebook or Twitter feeds.
• Online payments. (For taxes and other Town fees)
• On-line renewals (e.g., Town and Transfer Station sticker renewal)
• Online access to Records. (e.g., Birth, death certificates, etc.
• Online access to necessary forms and applications
• Posted public documents. (Both final and in draft form while being updated)
• User Friendly Searches. Clear and user-friendly website search ability with links to other important external sites (State, other communities, school department, etc.)
• Video Streaming. Streaming and on-demand videos of Town Council, School Board and other important public meetings
• Local Links. Links to local news, Committee meetings, sports schedules, etc.
• Position statements. (e.g. by Town leaders and candidates for office on controversial or upcoming issues such as budget, policies or initiatives)
• Backup reference Information. Posted backup reference material provided to Town officials for all public meetings
• Comments and Suggestions. Ability for citizens to send comments and suggestions to Town officials from the website

Based on the survey results, the EDC concluded that the Town website is in need of major work to be even minimally effective. A full-featured and more user-friendly Town website will benefit all Portsmouth residents by allowing direct access to Town documents, ordnances, meeting agenda and minutes, and Town officials. An updated website will also facilitate the payment of fees and taxes and provide a much needed vehicle for rapidly communicating important information to the public during emergencies. These changes will also enhance Portsmouth’s ability to attract new businesses and residents, since the first impression potential visitors will have of Portsmouth is likely to be from our website.

An attractive and multi-featured website need not be expensive. The Town Administrator has already taken the initiative to improve the website by requesting the assistance of the ri.gov in creating website templates for Portsmouth. We will hopefully see the results of this effort in the next few months

The complete Website Survey report to the Town Council can be found on the PEDC website at www.portsmouthriedc.com

E. Doug Smith
Member, PEDC

Editorial: We've got a bunch of Web-savvy folks in town. If you had to do it on the cheap, it would take a team to port this thing to a modern content management system like, say, Drupal, but after that one-time effort, it becomes possible to distribute content entry, snap in modules to add new features, and leverage out-of-the box Web 2.0 functionality. I think the Council might consider forming a technology committee to take a look at this.