CityOfBarrow.org has been recognized by Juggle as one of the top city government websites in the state of Alaska. Below you'll find an interview with Allan Lee Mesina of TechGN.com.
- CityOfBarrow.org is a top-notch web portal; what has been your role in its development?
The CityofBarrow.org web portal is managed and maintained by the web development team at TechGN. The website is a product of collaborative efforts between the developer and the City of Barrow staff.
- Can you summarize the history of Barrow’s web portal?
The website was first developed with as much as 15 static pages that links to outside entities in Barrow, Alaska. In 2007, it has been revamped and redesigned to utilize a content management system that can handle dynamic contents.
- What are the overarching objectives of Barrow’s current e-government initiatives?
The objectives are to provide the most current information that are specifically related to the northern-most American City, extend services to its citizens, and present our unique culture throughout the world.
- From a marketing standpoint, what are some of the strategies that you have utilized to draw attention to the information and services provided by CityOfBarrow.org, both on- and off-line?
We publish external local news feeds, live weather information, job postings, and public announcements. This drives visitors to keep coming back for current local and statewide events.
- How has citizen feedback influenced the development of Barrow’s e-government services?
Citizen’s provided comments and suggestions that helped us improve functionalities and online services. Citizen’s feedback will always be a part of our service quality improvement plan.
- What is the most-used feature or service on the site?
People love up-to-date news, current weather and live council meeting webcasts features of the website.
- What has been the biggest hurdle in developing and/or maintaining CityOfBarrow.org, and how did you overcome it?
One of the biggest hurdle is the lack of Internet bandwidth in the North Slope, Alaska. Satellite latency and unreliable connection prevented us from providing rich media and interactive contents. The temporary solution is to host the website externally.
- Why is it important to show how many visitors are online? How have you used these kinds of analytics to better understand what citizens are coming to the site for?
We would like to use the data for future analysis. Website visitors vs. actual tourist visitor data. It will also determine the factor for bandwidth upgrade considerations.
- Where do you see e-government heading in the next 2-3 years? Are there any exciting new features or services currently in the works for Barrow’s web portal?
With the advancement of technology and innovation, e-government will slowly merge into the mainstream media. Live user interaction will be adapted such that citizens can exchange information easily.
- What else would you would like to tell us about CityOfBarrow.org?
We are working on an upgraded version of the CMS which will include user interaction, opinion polls, blogs, and social networking integration.