City of Corvallis
Web Survey Report
Results and Recommendations from the City of Corvallis Web Survey
Run December 2008 -January 2009 Prepared by Anna Ellendman Ellen Volmert City Web Team
City of Corvallis Web Survey
Results and Recommendations Introduction................................................................................................................................................. 3 High-LevelSummary................................................................................................................................... 4 Who Took the Survey.............................................................................................................................. 4 What Users Want..................................................................................................................................... 4 What We Are Doing Well ....................................................................................................................... 4 Areas that Need Improvement ................................................................................................................. 4 New Opportunities to Communicate ....................................................................................................... 5 Recommendations ....................................................................................................................................... 6 Recommendations Based on Survey Reponses ....................................................................................... 6 Additional Ideas....................................................................................................................................... 9 Creating a Digital Information Culture.................................................................................................. 10 Responses ................................................................................................................................................... 11 1: How many years have you used the Internet? ................................................................................... 11 2: How often do you use the Internet for these activities?..................................................................... 12 3: How do you prefer to find information on a Web site? ..................................................................... 14 4: Do you use the internet for information about imminent emergencies?............................................ 15 5: How often do you use these methods to get information about Corvallis and City government?..... 16 6: Have you ever (before today) used the City Web site? ..................................................................... 19 7: How do you currently use the City Web site? ................................................................................... 20 8: Rate the degree to which you agree with these statements about the City Web site. ........................ 23 9: Which tasks would you like to be able to do online? ........................................................................ 25 10: If the following information was available, which would you use? ................................................ 27 11. What information would you like to see on the home page. ........................................................... 30 12: Which other Corvallis-related sites would you like to reach using links on the City site? ............. 32 13: What types of emergency or alert information should be on the City site?..................................... 34 14: The City maintains several email lists for sending information and announcements. Which of these statements applies? ................................................................................................. 36 15: What types of general business/services information would you like to see on the City site?........ 37 16: What types of visitor information would you like to see on the City site?...................................... 38 17: If you could use the Web site to interact with City staff, which ones you would use? ................... 39 18: The City has RSS feeds, which let you sign up to receive City news in a personal news reader. Which statement applies? ................................................................................................................ 40 19: Please feel free to add additional comments about the City web site.............................................. 41 20: Your age?......................................................................................................................................... 45 21: Where do you live?.......................................................................................................................... 45 Appendix A – Web Survey Action Plan .................................................................................................. 46
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Introduction
In September, 2007, the City of Corvallis released a Comprehensive Communications Plan, which contains a three-year action plan to address the goals and priorities set by the City Council. A number of items in the action plan are directly related to the City's web site at www.ci.corvallis.or.us. In order to identify and prioritize enhancements to the site, the plan calls for development and implementation of a web-based survey of web users. In October 2007, the City hired a Communications Specialist. Survey development started soon thereafter, with significant input from the Web Team. Developed using the surveymonkey web-based survey tool, the Corvallis Web Survey went live on December 15, 2008 and remained open until January 23, 2009. It was publicized by a press release to the media, articles in both the City and Read & Recycle (employee newsletter), a series of advertisements in the Corvallis Gazette Times, flyers in City buildings, and signs on Library public-access computers. The City received 238 survey responses. This report presents those responses, with accompanying interpretation and recommendations. The responses were statistically compiled and graphed by the City Manager's Office (CMO). The interpretation of the data, and ensuing recommendations, were generated by the Web Team with input from the Community Communications Ad Hoc Advisory Committee and the Committee for Citizen Involvement. The information in this report should be seen as one component of an ongoing process to identify and meet citizen needs. Additional components include: The City Employee Survey. The Citizen Attitude Survey. GIS strategic planning by the Public Works Department. Ongoing e-commerce plans in the Finance Department. Additional departmental technology plans for deploying information on the Web.
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High-LevelSummary
Who Took the Survey
238 respondents. Mostly Corvallis residents (¾ live in Corvallis, 89% within Benton county). 80% are 35 or older, 64% are 45 or older. 98% have at least three years of Internet experience.
What Users Want
A source for City government news, with information refreshed often. A robust search engine. Easy access to large amounts of public information. A comprehensive calendar of City-sponsored events. A place to go for emergency information. A way to effectively conduct business, ask questions, make complaints, and provide feedback. Real-time information about City services. Private, secure, and easy-to-use ecommerce.
What We Are Doing Well
A tremendous amount of information is available. Information is, for the most part, accurate and easy to understand. City Council materials are timely and thorough. Most recent press releases are on the home page.
Areas that Need Improvement
Better integration of separate information sources: site static pages, City Archives, corvallispermits.com, corvallismaps.com, thebestlibrary.net. Better search engine and user interface for searching. Better organization for browsing. Better Interactivity: submitting feedback, getting forms, e-commerce, asking questions. More "dynamic" content: breaking news, pending emergencies. More attractive pages: more images, better use of color, more variety in page layout. Easier ways to manage and extract information from the large repositories of City data. Better authoring and administration tools.
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New Opportunities to Communicate
Create more robust web-based ways to communicate with City government without having to know the specific person or department they need to reach. Make better use of email to keep citizens informed. Integrate the Web site with a Citizen Relationship Management (CRM) system (included in the CMO Technical Plan). Provide a "My City" capability with user accounts.
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Recommendations
Recommendations Based on Survey Reponses
Improve the Search Engine The current search engine must be improved to: Provide intelligent searching, with results ordered in terms of relevance. This should make the intermediary search page (where the user selects search options) unnecessary. Short term: change the default search option to "All Words." Allow users to return to the search results page to try another result (a "Back to Search Results" button). Index many common file formats, such as PDF, Microsoft Word, and WordPerfect. Search across all City sites. The Mambo technology does not provide a solution, so other alternatives must be considered. This might involve embedding another module into our current framework. Or, it may be necessary to upgrade from Mambo. Allow users to define the search scope to include or exclude the City archives. If it is not possible to provide inclusive site/archive search, the site must communicate this and provide easy links between site search and archive search. Improve the Organization for Browsing It is often difficult to find information on the site by browsing the menus and other hyperlinks. The following changes would help improve "browsability:" Determine (via click data, if available) which pages are used most frequently, and make it as easy as possible to access them. Provide better linkages to the extended sites: thebestlibrary.net, corvallispermits.com, corvallismaps.com. Where topics straddle departments, consolidate the information or provide obvious hyperlinks between topics. Rework the landing pages for corvallispermits.com and corvallismaps.com to make it easier for users to accomplish tasks. Explore ways to make browsing the archives easier. Investigate using color to differentiate submenus (menus beneath the home menu) from one another. Provide menu titles for each menu. When links leave the main site, open the target page in a new window.
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Provide Users with Fresh, Up-to-Date Information The web site should be seen as a primary means of providing citizens with information. Refresh the home page frequently with the most up-to-date City news. Provide easy access to the most recent important documents (for example, commission agenda/packets). Make the Home Page More Compelling The space on the home page must be prioritized to make sure the most important and up-to-date information is the most prominent. Refresh the home page frequently with the most recent breaking news and a calendar of events. Organize the home page so that the most important information is the most prominent. Have a main menu containing links to the primary branches of information and most important topics. Provide important information when there is an imminent emergency. Improve E-commerce Currently, the reported interest in e-commerce does not match the actual usage. Make it easier to find e-commerce pages. Expand e-commerce to include payment of fines and fees. Provide better City branding on e-commerce pages. Provide better messaging about security and privacy. Let users purchase bus passes online. Provide online registration for classes. Create more Visual Appeal Although over 50% of respondents said that the site was attractive, there were a number of comments related to the preponderance of text and the lack of images. Make more use of graphics, including photos and line drawings. Create pre-coded content templates for web authors. Ensure that visual enhancements to not impair site performance for users with slower internet connections. Provide a Better Event Calendar The need to improve the City calendar showed up in several survey responses, as well as in a number of comments.
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Make the calendar more inclusive, incorporating information about all City-sponsored events. Increase the visibility of the calendar, possibly by including a mini-calendar on the home page. Make the calendar searchable. Tie in with other community calendars. Coordinate with the Sustainability Coalition, which plans to create and maintain a community-wide calendar. Provide More Interactive Capabilities Users would like to be able to conduct their City business from home, and have the expectation that they should be able to do so. Make it easier to find and download forms. Provide web-based mechanisms for submitting forms and attachments. Provide online registration for courses. Provide online mechanisms for filing permits. Provide user accounts that allow users to manage subscriptions, save personal bookmarks, and view information that requires personal identification. Provide a weekly or monthly e-newsletter Respondents overwhelming are using email to communicate on a daily basis. Yet, only a small number of people are signed up to receive email updates from the city. The current email being sent is text-only. Investigate the resources required to create and distribute an attractive weekly e-newsletter containing latest news, interesting photos, a calendar of upcoming events, and perhaps columns by City officials. Provide Better Contact Us capabilities. Respondents indicated that they wanted to use the web site to send email to the City for a variety of reasons: to share a concern with a particular person or department, to ask questions, to make complaints. Consolidate the City directory and Contact Us into a central location for all contact information. Enhance the Contact Us form to allow users to send the City email without knowing the best recipient. Implement a CRM system. City Council Packets There were complaints that the very large packets are difficult to download and print. In particular, users did not want to download the entire packet to obtain information about a single agenda item. Currently, all the packets are made available using the archives. Perhaps the materials for the current packet should be made available another way.
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Break the council packets into separate downloadable segments. Provide a way to download individual segments or all segments at once. Improve the User Experience for the Archives In question 8, the statement "It is easy to use the City archive pages" received the lowest positive rating score of all items, indicating that users are having trouble extracting information from the archives. Additional work is needed to determine the nature of the problems and work at resolving them. Heuristically, we can identify a number of problems, including: Slow performance. Hard-to-use search interface. Lack of step-wise search help and examples.
Additional Ideas
The Web Team held a series of meetings to review the Web Survey results. In addition to providing a broader perspective on the results, the team also generated a number of ideas for resolving issues identified by respondents. Create user accounts that would provide authentication for ecommerce and any other activities requiring users to identify themselves. Provide the ability for authenticated users to create and customize a "My City" personal page. Create an inventory of current tools for Web authors. Utilize a new framework that provides robust categorization of content. Make better use of email to keep citizens informed. This might include: Creating an image-rich, attractive email version of "the City" that is designed for reading online. • Sending shorter, more frequent emails about City news. • Creating a "Letter from the Mayor" periodic email Create a "Just Added" area on the home page to link to topics/features that were recently added to the web site. Create separate portal pages for Residents, Business, Visitors, and Students to provide better browsing for different audiences. Provide better tools and training for Web authors. •
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Creating a Digital Information Culture
The City has a strong commitment to creating, maintaining, and deploying publicly-owned information. Individual contributors are highly aware that the news and data they generate are collectively owned by the citizens of Corvallis, who have a right to access and use this data. The explosion of content on the Web has created an expectation that "I can find anything there if I just search for it." Increasingly, the Web has become the location of choice when people seek information. End-users often do not realize that their queries are initiating digital searches through large, multiple databases across multiple formats. The sophistication of the technology has made it possible to hide the complexity of centralizing the search for answers. As the creator of large volumes of information, the City is faced with challenges in keeping up with these expectations. It maintains multiple databases in different formats, developed and maintained by different departments. The decentralization currently shows up in its Web presence, with different domain names, lack of comprehensive and effective search, and browsing that is largely based on departmental hierarchies. The job of creating and posting content is shared by a number of "web authors" whose job it is to put information on the web after it has been created. They face a number of challenges. A lack of easy-to-use WYSIWYG (What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get) authoring tools. A quirky, aged, and somewhat limited administration environment (Mambo). Lack of training and authoring support. (Note: MIS should not have responsibility for answering basic authoring questions.) The fact that a great deal of information is not initially created with the Web in mind. The default should be: Any public information I generate should go on the Web, and people should be easily able to search and browse it. There will be exceptions, but they should be handled on a case-bycase basis. Increasingly, all creators of information need to be asking themselves: How do I get my information on the web? What format/tool should I use to create the information? How do I make the information appear visually compelling on the screen? Where do I put the information so people will find it? How do I let people know it is there? How can people reach me if they have questions about the information? How do I keep the information up-to-date? The City's web site provides a tremendous opportunity to reach citizens in an effective, efficient, and compelling way. It can and should be a major contributor to the guiding principles identified in the Comprehensive Communications Plan. However, if the site is hard to use, stale, or lacking in interactive capabilities, it not only fails to reach its potential, but also may communicate a negative message to some users.
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Responses
1: How many years have you used the Internet?
Frequency 1 year or less 1 year or less More than 3 years 1 year or less 0% 0.4% 2.2% 97.4%
2 -3 years 2%
More than 3 years 98%
Interpretation The percentage of novice Web users is low. Thus, it can be assumed that most respondents have been to many sites and have some sense of what a Web site can do. Recommendations We must have a program for keeping up with both the growth in information AND users’ expectations of how easy it will be to find and use it.
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2: How often do you use the Internet for these activities?
Daily Weekly Monthly or Infrequently 1.72% 0.86% 20.94% 46.35% 24.46% 36.09% 27.83% Never
Search for information Email Read state/local news Get maps or driving instructions Download or upload documents Pay bills Watch videos or TV
84.12% 94.40% 55.56% 12.02% 45.06% 11.30% 23.04%
14.16% 3.45% 19.66% 39.06% 29.61% 26.09% 22.17%
0.00% 1.29% 3.85% 2.58% 0.86% 26.52% 26.96%
Daily Search for information Email Read state/local news Get maps or driving instructions Download or upload documents Pay bills Watch videos or TV 0%
Weekly
Monthly or Infrequently
Never
10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Interpretation Users are accustomed to searching for content, and have an expectation of success. Email is a major communications channel. The Internet has become an important source for local news. 73% of respondents do some online bill paying. 73% of respondents watch some TV/video on the Internet, with almost ¼ saying they watch on a daily basis.
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Recommendations Improve the site search engine. The lack of a robust search engine is seen as a major barrier to ease-of-use by survey respondents, as well as members of the participating citizen advisory committees. Make the site more "newsy," with more visibility of City current news. Increase the interactivity of the site, with more ways to communicate via email. Make ecommerce easier with more options (paying fines and fees, payment by credit card) and better authentication. Clearly brand ecommerce pages to establish trust. (Note: can we quantify cost savings to the City?) Make it easier for citizens to correspond with the City by email. In particular, provide an email mechanism that makes it the City's responsibility to ensure that the email goes to the right person/department, rather than putting this burden on the citizen. Short term: make the Contact Us information more prominent. Long term: integrating CRM software into the site would increase its interactivity and improve responsiveness. Provide links to other primary local sites. Questions/Issues In future surveys, we should differentiate between home and work internet use. We should monitor trends. There have been trends towards using the Internet in place of paid services such as cable TV, regular mail, phone service, and newspaper subscriptions.
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3: How do you prefer to find information on a Web site?
Favorite Search for words or phrases Browse using menus and hyperlinks A site index page
100% 80% 60% 53.33% 40% 65.44% 20% 20.74% 0% Favorite 2nd choice Least favorite 19.52% 13.82%
2nd choice 20.74% 53.33% 24.77%
Least favorite 13.82% 19.52% 62.15%
65.44% 27.14% 13.08%
13.08% 27.14%
24.77% 62.15%
Search
Browse
Index
Interpretation Searching is the preferred method for finding information. The concept of an "index" is not highly valued on the web. Recommendations Improve the search engine on the site, so that Find It A>Z is no longer the primary way to find information. Increase the browsability. Possibilities: Reorganize content where necessary. Provide roll-over submenus if possible. Use color to help categorize information. Aggregate related information, rather than placing it within departmental hierarchies. (For example, the Volunteer information, which was reorganized around a theme rather than by department.) Implement technology that makes ALL web documents searchable, including PDFs. • • • •
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4: Do you use the internet for information about imminent emergencies?
Frequency Yes No 62.3% 37.7%
No 38%
Yes 62%
Interpretation Users go to the web for information about pending emergencies. There is the expectation that up-to-date information will be posted on a continuing basis. Note: On question 11, respondents indicated that they wanted the home page to announce pending emergencies. Recommendations Reserve a portion of the home page for emergency information. Perhaps the rotating image could be replaced by an "emergency box" when an emergency is pending. Establish what constitutes an emergency requiring updating the web site. Note: Providing emergency information sets an expectation. Procedures and staffing must be in place in order to become an emergency information portal. Provide a type of reverse 911 notification system. Add links to other important sources of emergency information, such as ODOT, Benton County, Red Cross, BC Health Department, and NOAA (weather.gov). Questions/Issues Using the site as a source of emergency information requires a 24/7 vigilance to latest content. This requires additional resources, including providing the staff responsible for the content with extranet (at-home) access to the site administration tools. A mechanism would need to be devised to post information outside regular sync cycles.
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5: How often do you use these methods to get information about Corvallis and City government?
Weekly or more 5.29% 5.26% 65.49% 11.95% 22.57% 55.16% Monthly 43.61% 16.67% 9.73% 9.29% 10.62% 16.14% SUM of Weekly/Monthly 48.90% 21.93% 75.22% 21.24% 33.19% 71.30% Infrequently 33.48% 46.93% 15.04% 35.84% 24.78% 22.87% Never 17.62% 31.14% 9.73% 42.92% 42.04% 5.83%
“the city” newsletter “Activity Guide” (Parks and Recreation) Corvallis Gazette Times OSU Daily Barometer TV The Internet
“the City” newsletter
Never, 17.62% Weekly or more, 5.29%
“Activity Guide”
Weekly or more, 5.26% Never, 31.14%
Monthly, 43.61%
Monthly, 16.67%
Infrequently, 33.48%
Infrequently, 46.93%
Corvallis Gazette Times
Never, 9.73% Infrequently, 15.04% Weekly or more, 65.49%
OSU Daily Barometer
Weekly or more, 11.95% Monthly, 9.29%
Never, 42.92%
Monthly, 9.73%
Infrequently, 35.84%
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TV
Never, 42.04% Weekly or more, 22.57%
Infrequently, 22.87%
The Internet
Never, 5.83%
Monthly, 10.62%
Weekly or more, 55.16%
Infrequently, 24.78%
Monthly, 16.14%
Comments (Verbatim) Talking to actual City staff/council. Jon Nelson I would read every City newsletter if it came to me monthly and/or came to me through the internet. I am now intrigued to see whether the Activity Guide is available on the internet....I'll look for it! TV-public access station (classes and City Council meetings) Eugene weekly -- monthly on average www.ci.corvallis.or.us Word of mouth Other publications I like the paper "The city" newsletter In conversation with friends. YouTube If there were paper copies of the Activities Guide hanging around the Library, I'd be inclined to pick one up and have a look, maybe even participate in something, but as a regular patron, I rarely see it. (don't live inside city limits) The City Council Meeting Agenda should have an attachment (or a live link) behind each agenda item, allowing one to open and read or print that one item, rather than having to download the entire document, often hundreds of pages. read Gazette-Times. the City, others when they are delivered or mailed to my house In the past, it has been diffiuclt to find info on City Hall's site NPR Radio at KLCC and KOAC
Interpretation The wording of this survey is related to frequency, not importance. Therefore, infrequent use may be related to the item's publication cycle, rather than its importance.
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For daily/weekly City news, users most often use the Gazette Times and Internet. "the City" is the most often-used source of monthly "city news." However, only 49% of respondents said they used it at least monthly. Comments indicate that some recipients consider it very important. Approximately 70% of respondents use the Parks and Recreation Activity Guide, and the Citizen Attitude Survey found that people consider the Guide an important source of information. TV and Barometer were rated "Never" in higher numbers than other sources. Recommendations Provide richer access to day-to-day City news on the site, with prominent linkages from the home page. Make sure City publications are prominently displayed at the library. Make it clear in the Subscribe link that "the City" can be read online. Investigate dividing the Council Packets into segments that can be downloaded by separate links. Modify the next survey to obtain information about the relative importance of these sources, rather than just the frequency that they are used.
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6: Have you ever (before today) used the City Web site?
Frequency Yes No 84.3% 15.7%
No 16%
Yes 84%
Interpretation The great majority of respondents had previously used the City site, indicating that the site has "return" users.
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7: How do you currently use the City Web site?
Frequency Learn about a City department or service Download or upload a document Learn about City regulations or permits Read current City news Learn about upcoming events See job openings Library activities Read about the Mayor or City Council View maps Learn about Parks and Recreation programs Read “the city” newsletter Other Submit feedback Watch videos of City meetings Pay a utility bill 73.8% 41.9% 40.3% 39.3% 39.3% 38.7% 37.2% 32.5% 30.9% 30.9% 17.8% 14.7% 12.0% 10.5% 8.4%
Learn about a City department or service Download or upload a document Learn about City regulations or permits Read current City news Learn about upcoming events See job openings Library activities Read about the Mayor or City Council View maps Learn about Parks and Recreation programs Read “the city” newsletter Other Submit feedback Watch videos of City meetings Pay a utility bill
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
Comments (Verbatim) CTS routes, fares, availability I TRY to use the archives a lot, but there are many problems read council email logs
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CTS updates and schedules search archives for City documents Especially read about the May or investigate past decisions check bus schedule/map check budget, research archives search online archives bid opportunities History tax/assessment info volunteering opportunities Access City documents such as staff reports, Land Development Code, etc. Transit - schedules, delays/detours, maps, etc. Bus routes, Oregon revised statutes for law class Would pay utility bill, but will NOT pay fee to use credit card. Bah. Interpretation Almost ¾ of respondents use the site to learn more about departments and services. Although we did not differentiate between departments and services, it is probably that users are primarily interested in services provided by departments. The City site is an important source of transit information and event schedules. There is currently low use for paying utility bills. Although the City does not charge a fee for using a credit/debit card, there were comments indicated that this was not known by some respondents. Over 40% of respondents download documents. In comparing these results ("what can you do?"), with question 9 and 10 (what would you like to do?), several items show lost opportunities because either the information is not there, or users haven't been able to find/use it: • • • • Submitting feedback. Paying bills. Viewing property and zoning maps. View a calendar of upcoming events.
Users report difficulty using the archives (here and in other questions). Recommendations Investigate further which City services people are inquiring about most often, and make sure links to this information are prominent. Provide easy online mechanisms for making complaints and asking questions. CRM software would be very helpful in routing inquiries to the best destination. Make the City calendar more inclusive.
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Provide easier and better-branded e-commerce. Create clearer access to maps. Identify areas where we can improve the usability of the archives. Investigate providing real-time transit information ("where's my bus right now?").
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8: Rate the degree to which you agree with these statements about the City Web site.
Answer Options Strongly agree (4) 10.29% 12.99% 7.39% 6.32% 7.26% 9.71% 4.44% 5.68% 2.26% 2.89% 1.70% 2.26% Agree (3) 74.86% 44.07% 61.93% 50.57% 63.13% 50.29% 55.00% 49.43% 54.24% 31.21% 40.91% 24.29% Disagree (2) 9.71% 14.69% 9.66% 9.20% 20.11% 26.86% 27.78% 32.95% 28.25% 21.39% 23.30% 18.08% Strongly disagree (1 ) 1.71% 2.82% 3.98% 4.60% 5.59% 5.71% 7.78% 6.25% 7.34% 5.78% 13.64% 15.25% Don't know 3.43% 25.42% 17.05% 29.31% 3.91% 7.43% 5.00% 5.68% 7.91% 38.73% 20.45% 40.11% Rating Average 2.97 2.90 2.88 2.83 2.75 2.69 2.59 2.58 2.56 2.51 2.39 2.23
The information is easy to understand I like the "Find It A-Z" feature The information is accurate It is easy to download forms I can find the information I need The site is attractive The information is well organized I navigate without "getting lost" It is easy to find information using the menus I can easily conduct my City business The site's search feature works well It is easy to use the City archive pages
The rating average reflects the weighted average of all the responses. Since all the questions are phrased positively ("I like this"), a higher score indicates higher satisfaction with the site. A perfect score is 4.0. A rating of 3.0 indicates that, in general, people agree with the statement. Ratings below 3 indicates a relatively greater level of dissatisfaction.
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0.00
1.00
2.00
3.00 2.97 2.90 2.88 2.83 2.75 2.69 2.59 2.58 2.56 2.51 2.39 2.23
4.00
The information is easy to understand I like the "Find It A-Z" feature The information is accurate It is easy to download forms I can find the information I need The site is attractive The information is well organized I navigate without "getting lost" It is easy to find information using the menus I can easily conduct my City business The site's search feature works well It is easy to use the City archive pages
Interpretation None of the responses average above 3.0. Thus, it appears that respondents do not see the site as highly usable or excellent in any of these areas. "Understandability" of the content rated higher than all other surveyed attributes. Thus, it appears that the writing style and reading level of the information are appropriate for the audience. The consistency between "The information is well organized" and "I navigate without getting lost" is appropriate, indicating that the two are probably correlated. The Find It A-Z feature rated relatively well. (This is interesting, since people reported they do not like index pages. This may indicate that the site has "trained" users to not use the search engine.) Respondents reported that they had difficulty finding information by browsing. The ratings show relatively low usability of the City archive, search engine, and level of interactivity for conducting City business on the site. Recommendations There is an urgent need to improve the search engine. Provide better mechanisms for conducting City business electronically. For example, respondents want the ability to submit a question that will be routed to the proper department, pay fines, register for classes, apply for permits, and purchase bus passes. Determine (through surveys and/or heuristics) the major usability problems of the archives and explore ways to fix solve them.
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9: Which tasks would you like to be able to do online?
Frequency Report street problems Download City forms Report a nuisance Register for a Parks & Recreation class Pay a fine (parking ticket, etc.) Submit testimony for a public meeting Apply for a volunteer position or commission Apply for a City job Purchase a bus pass Pay a utility bill Report a crime Apply for a building permit Schedule a building inspection Apply for a housing loan or grant Other 69.3% 60.4% 60.4% 55.9% 54.5% 46.5% 43.6% 41.1% 41.1% 37.1% 36.1% 30.7% 27.2% 20.8% 10.9%
Report street problems Download City forms Report a nuisance Register for a Parks & Recreation class Pay a fine (parking ticket, etc.) Submit testimony for a public meeting Apply for a volunteer position or commission Apply for a City job Purchase a bus pass Pay a utility bill Report a crime Apply for a building permit Schedule a building inspection Apply for a housing loan or grant Other 0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0% 60.0% 70.0% 80.0%
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Comments (Verbatim) Get Real-Time route inforation: Snow: Busses Running? Even things I did not check are things you should offer. I don't personally plan to apply for a job, but obviously that' is needed. find emergancy information, water pipe breakages Check weather and traffic issues Commission application already there Comments or complaints - like all the spam on your email view dining options, weather Write to my councilperson Send a letter to the Mayor Access land use documents and public hearing documents fill out forms on line and email them I think the Cold Case Unit should have a website like other cities. Pay utility bill without "convenience" fee find maps of the city, e.g. zoning map Research information and check status of a building permit Pay library fines, bills Report traffic and public safety problems get council & committee packets I would worry about paying through a city web site. Access the City's GIS system, for utility locations, etc. view and download attractive photos of Corvallis Interpretation Stand-out tasks that people want to be able to do include: reporting street problems and nuisances, downloading forms, and registering for classes, and paying fines. There is relatively low interest in applying for grants and scheduling inspections. Interesting fact: there is approximately equal interest in applying for volunteer and paid positions. Citizens want easy access to meeting packets and minutes of public meetings. Over 35% report they would like to pay bills online, yet only 8% are currently doing so (see question 7). Recommendations Provide a more obvious mechanism for reporting street problems and nuisances. (Note: Public Works reports that their highest level of phone reports are related to street lights.) Make online bill paying easier and more obvious. Work at closing the gap between those who want to pay their bills online and those who are actually doing so. Implement online registration for Parks and Recreation classes. (This is currently under development.) Improve access (browsing and searching) of City maps.
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10: If the following information was available, which would you use?
Frequency Bus routes and schedules Hiking and biking trails City government event calendar Zoning and property maps A City oganization chart and directory Local weather Emergency preparedness Municipal code Street sweeping schedule Noise and nuisance abatement Sustainability information City beautification programs City Council packets Resources for senior citizens TV schedule for the government channel Other 73.4% 70.4% 60.3% 59.8% 57.3% 53.8% 52.3% 50.8% 50.3% 41.7% 39.2% 34.7% 33.2% 31.7% 27.6% 9.5%
Bus routes and schedules Hiking and biking trails City government event calendar Zoning and property maps A City oganization chart and directory Local weather Emergency preparedness Municipal code Street sweeping schedule Noise and nuisance abatement Sustainability information City beautification programs City Council packets Resources for senior citizens TV schedule for the government channel Other 0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0% 60.0% 70.0% 80.0%
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Comments (Verbatim) The municipal code and city council packets are online! Contact information for members of Advisory Boards and Commissions minutes and packets for commissions and committees dining upcoming (volunteer) events easier access for city complaints School/road closures during emergencies Links to other organizations or resources (if they have the info I need, and the city doesnot) confusing question since some of this IS available already information about utility usage bike maps Water Quality and other annual city Reports committee packets if any bus routes are running late City Council packets need to be in a format where one can easily open and read/print only the material pertaining to the agenda item of interest, rather than having to downloan the entire packet. Directories now don't include everyone; high ranking people are unavailable for contact. human service resources GIS system, like they have on the Albany website garbage/recycle schedule Interpretation 9 items received scores of 50% or more, with bus routes and recreational trails having the highest interest. Council packets rated relatively low, although they are essential. This points out that certain essential information may not be the most requested. TV schedules and city beautification had the lowest interest. 22% of respondents are age 61+, while 32% of respondents said they would use information about senior resources. This may reflect a need for caregiver information, or it might indicate that senior services are used by younger people. Recommendations Increase the visibility of bus route information. When routes are running late , provide a mechanism for reporting the delays. (The busses appear to have GPS systems. Could this eventually be tied into interactive maps…where's my bus or a Bus Twitter). Improve the landing pages for corvallismaps.com and corvallispermits.com to guide users to the information on those sites. Make it easier to find zoning and property maps. (Improving the landing page at corvallismaps.com would accomplish this.) Provide integration to the fully interactive GIS system when it is implemented in 2010-11.
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Provide better linkages between the Community Development pages on the main site, corvallismaps.com, and corvallispermits.com. Make the services page at corvallispermits.com more visible. Consolidate all City permit applications in a single location. Provide an inclusive calendar of City events, and make access to the calendar highly visible on the home page. Where appropriate, provide links to other community calendars.
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11. What information would you like to see on the home page.
Frequency Breaking City news Calendar of City events Emergency alerts Weather Photo of the day Job openings Links to Webcasts of City meetings Links to a newsletter subscription page Other 83.1% 68.7% 67.2% 42.1% 35.4% 29.7% 21.5% 14.4% 11.8%
Breaking City news Calendar of City events Emergency alerts Weather Photo of the day Job openings Links to Webcasts of City meetings Links to a newsletter subscription page Other 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
Comments (Verbatim) A direct link to the Parks & Recreation Activity guide The web must be used for providing the most CURRENT information. There seems to be very old information here and it looks like it is not used to the full potential. Get with the times! Real-time advisories: Closures, Detours, etc. The calendar should include links directly to the materials for meetings -- at least the agenda. That hasn't always been the case. Today's page seems to do that, athough I can't open Part II of the City council packet. Link to *most recent* departure of each bus route from the Transit Mall. Real time bus schedule Mayor and Council news, City Manager news
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Calendar of community events Volunteer Activities Latest daily water usage for City Every thing should be linked from the home page! Progress upon key action plans, such as that from the Sustainability Coalition Construction/road condition updates There is WAY too much text, not enough color or photos to distinguish between different departments (Albany has a nice web site) Alot Alot more about jobs Outline what information is available from the site, with links to related websites such as local businesses, art galleries, bands, performers, and the people responsible for community events. link to bill pay Easier navigation and catalogging so search engine actually works Eye-catching appearance; give it and the department pages some jazz Library news and info, including closures, modernizations, and Book Sales. Interpretation Respondents want timely information: breaking news, emergency and advisory information, and a calendar of events. In general, people want a home page that reflects "what's happening now." Recommendations Investigate mechanisms/processes for refreshing the home page more frequently. Re-prioritize home page content to determine what is the best use of home page space. Make the home page more compelling –more timely with more visual punch. Create a prominent calendar link on the home page, preferably with an interactive thumbnail. Add an emergency banner and/or content areas that would source in RSS feeds from agencies generating emergency information.
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12: Which other Corvallis-related sites would you like to reach using links on the City site?
Answer Options Benton County Festivals Corvallis School district (509J) Farmers' Market Oregon State University Utility companies (phone, power, etc.) Corvallis Tourism Downtown Corvallis Association Corvallis Sustainability Coalition Corvallis-Benton Chamber Coalition Corvallis City Club Willamette Neighborhood Housing Services Boys and Girls Club Other (please specify) Response Frequency 75.4% 64.4% 61.8% 60.2% 57.6% 45.5% 40.8% 30.4% 27.7% 22.0% 20.9% 19.9% 17.8% 11.5% Response Count 144 123 118 115 110 87 78 58 53 42 40 38 34 22
Benton County Festivals Corvallis School district (509J) Farmers' Market Oregon State University Utility companies (phone, power, etc.) Corvallis Tourism Downtown Corvallis Association Corvallis Sustainability Coalition Corvallis-Benton Chamber Coalition Corvallis City Club Willamette Neighborhood Housing Services Boys and Girls Club Other (please specify) 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
Comments (Verbatim) Leadership Corvallis http://radar.weather.gov/Conus/pacnorthwest.php
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Gazette Times NA government should not intersect private sector I would love to see a link called 501c3's and other community organizations that took the reader to ALL the resources above. Perhaps the categories could be: business advocacy, environmental advocacy, health and human services advocacy, education and other government\ along with what's going on: fun; and ;what's going on: issues; Every thing CITY with links to County and State sites. Pages about City History Thanks State of Oregon, elected representatives (federal, state, & local), river levels, sister cities, local neighbors (Tangent, Philomath, Albany, etc), other agencies, recipes using local food, New York Times article access Prosperity That Fits Friends of Corvallis Police, Inc. My City Council Representative City and County Departments. I would never go to the City's site to get to something else. CIBA Support LOCAL businesses (Corvallis Independent Business Alliance - CIBA)! Senior Center and Library Animals available for adoption calendar of events Corvallis Disposal (trash/recycle) School holiday schedule Interpretation A majority of respondents would like the City site to provide a central "jumping-off" spot for other organizations' sites. Over 50% of respondents wanted link between the City site and: Benton County, 509J, important festivals, and the Farmers' Market. Interestingly, several of the comments listed sites already accessible from the City site: Friends of the Corvallis Police, City Councilors, City and County Departments, Senior Center, and Library. This may indicate that those pages are difficult to find. Recommendations Create a Visitors page that would provide links to sites featuring tourism and cultural opportunities. In particular, provide a prominent link to visitcorvallis.com. Create a process for deciding which sites the City site should link to on the Visitor's page. Make the links to the Library site and the Chintimini Senior Center more prominent. Provide a prominent link to http://www.locallygrown.org/, the Web site for the Corvallis Farmers' Market. (Note: the availability of a farmers' market has become an important rating point in surveys evaluating the relative livability of cities.) Create a photo gallery for Corvallis and its surroundings.
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13: What types of emergency or alert information should be on the City site?
Answer Options Severe weather warnings Flood warnings Road closures Hazardous materials event Fire danger Field burning alerts Other Response Frequency 89.2% 86.2% 86.2% 70.3% 67.7% 58.5% 13.3%
Severe weather warnings Flood warnings Road closures Hazardous materials event Fire danger Field burning alerts Other
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Comments (Verbatim) Absolutely everything timely! CTS route info...(Are busses actually running.) traffic redirection for home OSU football games road conditions none water pipe breakage Live list of police fire EMS calls. several big cities have a web site that connects to their CAD Dispatch system so allow citizens to see what is going on here Alternate driving routes for snow/ice *current* list of bus route delays City facility closure, bus schedule impacts, water and sewer impacts With climate change: who knows what could happen! web cam or photos from public about road conditions in and around Corvallis NA radio or TV better for this
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Traffic LIVE Escaped convicts possibly being in the area Road Conditions This country could stand to be less controlled by fear. Any shootings taking place in public buildings or public areas where people should be warned to stay away, esp. schools and OSU Earthquake hazard, prison escapes, amber alerts, regional traffic congestion, escape routes Police action - avoid this section of town for now Criminal Activity what the city is doing in the particular situation Any hazard that could affect me or my family. Amber type alerts? I would never go to the city's site to get to something else. Air Quality Street closures Interpretation Respondents want the site to provide emergency information — in particular, information related to potential or current flooding, severe weather, and road closures. If there is an imminent emergency, people expect information about it to be displayed prominently on the home page. Recommendations When a website takes on the role of providing emergency information, it is essential that the resources and processes be in place to follow through on this responsibility. This involves a commitment to be able to obtain accurate information and post it on a 24/7 basis. An intermediate step would be to post warnings – for example, snow or severe wind warnings – without setting an expectation of constant updating of urgent information during the emergency. Investigate implementing an emergency banner. Investigate whether we can embed emergency information and dispatch events generated by other agencies by using their RSS feeds.
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14: The City maintains several email lists for sending information and announcements. Which of these statements applies?
Answer Options I know about them and receive at least one I didn't know about them, but might like to sign up I'm not interested in receiving email from the City Response Frequency 15.3% 44.4% 40.3%
I know about them and receive at least one 15% I didn't know about them, but might like to sign up 45%
Response Count 30 87 79
I'm not interested in receiving email from the City 40%
Interpretation Over 50% of respondents have an interest in receiving City news via email. Although this feature already exists, it is being under-utilized. This may be because the Subscribe link is not prominent. Note: current City email consists of text with embedded hyperlinks to web content. Email is a form of "push" information, bringing information to people rather than requiring them to actively seek it. The City should find ways to take advantage of citizen's willingness to have City information pushed into their Inbox. Recommendations Make the subscribe link more prominent on the home page. Add a subscribe link to the Contact Us page. Create a "subscribe" campaign to get more people signed up. Send rich text/image email newsletters that use attractive templates. (The current email is text-only) Provide users with the ability to easily manage their subscriptions. This could be done in several ways: • • Switch to a list management tool, such as Constant Contact, that allows people to easily manage their subscription preferences. Provide user accounts on the web site, and a My Subscriptions page.
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15: What types of general business/services information would you like to see on the City site?
Answer Options Zoning information Downtown parking permits How to bid on a City contract Outdoor café seating applications and regulations Response Frequency 65.6% 58.0% 36.6% 32.8%
Zoning information Downtown parking permits How to bid on a City contract Outdoor café seating applications and regulations 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
Interpretation Respondents are most interested in zoning information and parking permits. Recommendations Increase the visibility of zoning information and maps (note: the zoning map is very difficult to find). Provide a set of "parking downtown" pages with regulations, locations, meter rates, etc.
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16: What types of visitor information would you like to see on the City site?
Answer Options Event calendar Restaurants and accommodations Scenic routes Transportation Wineries Museums Art Galleries Travel instructions Response Frequency 92.1% 77.0% 64.6% 62.4% 56.2% 55.1% 54.5% 51.1%
Event calendar Restaurants and accommodations Scenic routes Transportation Wineries Museums Art Galleries Travel instructions 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Interpretation All items rated over 50%, indicating that respondents would like the City site to provide (or link to) cultural and tourism information. An Event Calendar generated the most interest. (Other questions also captured this preference.) Recommendations Create an event calendar that includes all City-sponsored events, and make the existence of the calendar prominent on the home page. Provide links to prominent City-wide events and other community calendars. Create a "Visitors" page that gathers tourism and cultural links.
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17: If you could use the Web site to interact with City staff, which ones you would use?
Answer Options Ask a question Email the Mayor or my City Councilor Request a City service Submit feedback about a City employee Suggest topics for “The City” newsletter Response Frequency 75.8% 64.8% 45.1% 37.4% 35.7%
Ask a question Email the Mayor or my City Councilor Request a City service Submit feedback about a City employee Suggest topics for “The City” newsletter 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
Interpretation The two more important "contact us" features are: Ask a question. Email the Mayor or a City Councilor. Recommendations Adopt a mechanism (such as a CRM system) that: • • • • • • Allows users to submit questions. Properly routes those questions to the proper department. Allows for private feedback to the questioner. Maintains a FAQ of questions/answers that can be accessible to the public. Provides the ability to track requests. Captures inquiries/complaints/suggestions in a database that can be searched and analyzed.
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18: The City has RSS feeds, which let you sign up to receive City news in a personal news reader. Which statement applies?
Answer Options Response Frequency
3.1% I’m already signed up 42.3% I’d like to know more, and might sign up 54.6% I’m not interested I’m already signed up 3%
I’m not interested 55%
I’d like to know more, and might sign up 42%
Interpretation RSS feeds are infrequently used. The majority of respondents are not interested in knowing more about them or subscribing. In comparison with email, RSS is much less preferred. Recommendations In keeping with feedback that email is a preferred means to push information. Provide more information to the 42% of respondents who "might sign up." Place RSS signup buttons in context — on the site pages to which the user might subscribe. Create additional email-based communication channels (for example, weekly newsletters).
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19: Please feel free to add additional comments about the City web site.
Having a useful, working and up to date web resource for any government agency is a minimum expectation. This site seems like a big parking lot of stuff with no concern for how citizens can use it. Get it in shape! It would be nice if Municipal Codes had a search feature, but the latest version makes it much easier to find things with section heading listed. I went online to find out status of CTC, & PC routes. Phones busy. No information on the busses, a week old, most recent. Even though I have been somewhat critical in this survey, I want to note that the city's web page is eons ahead of the county's page. I've quit bothering to look, but last I knew you couldn't get agendas, packets or minutes, and it might have been dicey to even learn where and when a meeting was scheduled. Most of my concerns are about the archives function, and I recently have sent an email about those in more detail. The survey screen about tourism stuff perhaps should have offered the option that all this stuff could be accessed via Corvallis Tourism. I do think the site could be prettier. Albany's is very nice. The site needs to praise the city and toot our horn better. Praise OSU for all its accomplishments. Update pictures, promote local business, etc. When we were deciding to move to Oregon 2 years ago the web-site was the first thing we looked at. It is the first thing people find about our city. For large downloadable files, use zip files. Set up all downloadable files so they can be directly downloaded so one does not have to create a pdf on one's own computer and then save it. the corvallis web should be about corvallis government, not restaurants I would be very reluctant to have any correspondence with the City as I once included personal contact information (through another website, so I was unaware of the policies of the City), and now my personal information is on the Internet. There should be a warning message that is displayed before a message is sent to the City so that the person is aware their information is public. I suspect the site has all of the information an everyday Corvallis citizen would want, but finding it is the problem. The site should be activity oriented, not organized by department. e.g. how do I find the form to close a street for a neighborhood party? Oh, it's under the Engineering Dept. Obvious to a city employee, perhaps, but not to the average citizen. There also seems to be a dearth of *current* information on the site. It takes commitment to maintain the site, but a content management system would go a long way to providing a truly functional venue for both maintaining and accessing a site with current information. RSS is fine, but displaying a web page with updated info is preferable to most folks. Have a projects link To truely network all information pages? All things shopuld be linked and not spread out on the site as it is now. Please make autopay available for bills!! Will volunteers receive chocolate from the Mayor next year? Is a RSS feed offered for standing committee packets? The worst problem with the City archives is that about 20 seconds of inactivity (such as reading a page after miraculously finding it), will cause the system to kick the reader back to the beginning of the archives when the reader tries to navigate to other pages. where was the does not apply button? In general, a good job. But calendar for Planning Commission meetings is often not up to date. Archives are hard to get around, especially hard to find archival info about building permits. It would also be nice to more easily find email addresses for individual staff members. Staff directory would be nice. Some of my responses were responding to the internet-- like searching for maps etc. But when it asked about the city site, I think I got it! I am just delighted with this survey....it taught me a lot about what options are available. Thanks!
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Please be more "Green" responsible and do NOT print or mail out The City newsletter, I would prefer an email or simple have it available as a PDF link on the city website. Alot of great info, but the site is "BORING" for those of us that like to see color and those things not shown on this site. For example I was in Avery Park taking photos of the swimming area behind the maintance shop this spring and the City water quality guy came down to test. I photographed the worker "doing his job"! What this did for me was knowing that he was their by seeing it.."It's SAFE to swim in there!" Athough I live outside Benton County (Linn -- in beautiful downtown Oakville), I work, shop, learn, recreate, and medicate in Corvallis. It sucks less. Too much Text, it is not very intuitive, need more "at a glance" features although the look is OK - it's pretty boring. I like what the Library has done, and to some extent, the Transit pages are less boring. I'd like to see the website feature drop-down menus on mouse hover, organized in several different ways. Also, I find the "Find it A-Z" feature fairly useless; it's kind of like an excuse for not organizing the site content. I never shop in downtown Corvallis, mostly ALBANY. Corvallis does not have department stores! I would like to be able to access my utility billing account by using a user name instead of my account number because I sometimes would like to view my bill or pay my bill when I am not at home and do not have access to my account number. Why can't the address be easier? Maybe www.corvallis.gov or something like that. It is very hard to find some information. The search engine does not work well. Information for the parks department seems to be particularly difficult. Access to council meeting minutes and codes is also very difficult to navigate, and the PDF files are hard to read. They should be transcribed and continuous so you do not have to download every page (very slow) to continue to read on a topic or skip to another topic. There are no decent city maps. corvallismaps.com has one static map that you can't move around. It shows you one property and you can't look at the surrounding area. A link to a zoning map is not listed in the A-Z list. Good grief. The web site layout,etc. is not intuiative and downloads are very slow. Cannot send page from a document on the web site to another person. Three cheers for a City staff so demonstrably willing to do all it can to find ways to better serve the citizens! The parking meters at the Benton Co. Library should be removed. Limits of 2 hours could be enforced instead. Another option could be to issue a parking pass which could be validated inside the library for free parking. It irritates both my wife and me to be required to pay to park in our public library parking lot. I've sometimes found it difficult to email the mayor or city council. Difficulty in the city mail system in accepting my email. I would be more interested in what the City does if I thought its manager and elected leaders were asking the right questions and applying the resultant answers. I don't see great pro-active, examplesetting leadership in the City currently. For a city of smart and educated people, the City's website is pretty boring. How about some color and creativity in the way stuff is presented? All deparrtments look alike, yet they are not. Maybe stop being so controlling and let departments do their own thing. How about entering survey participants in a drawing to win something valuable? Navigation, navigation, navigation. Think about what I'M looking for, not necessarily where YOU think it should be. I can't figure out the reason why some things are so hard to find. This isn't about the website, but it needs to be said. Please re-time the traffic lights. I spend way too much time sitting and waiting when there are no cars coming in other directions, it is very aggravating. Thank you City Council and Committee Agenda items should be easily accessed. Each Agenda item should have a direct attachment or live link behind it so that material for only the items of interest can be
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opened, read or printed, rather than having to download the entire document (some times hundreds of pages) to gain access to the one or two items of interest. I came to the site today to seek information about events for MLK Day and didn't find any on the calendar. I don't particularly see the city's web site as being useful except in rare situations. Timely newsletters are much more useful to me. It is impossible to get City action on ordinance enforcement. The plead is that there is not enough money; "Wait until the next budget passes; there's some money in there to enforce that ordinance." This is B.S. Very attractive & useful already. I learned a lot about the city just from this survey - THANKS! I really wish citizens had access to the City's GIS system. I'd like to be able to see where sewer, water, storm drainage lines are located. Also aerial photos, property lines, zoning, property ownership, etc. These things are all available on Albany's website! Why can't we have this capability in Corvallis? The website does not support Mac computers well. Camino browser does not enable downloads. Your download PDF feature does not always work when downloading. Text should be available in Word format instead of image format. this would make it easier to prepare public testimony. If a visitor, I would like the location of gorcery outlets such as first Alternative and locations to camp or park an RV. I think the City's website is above average and user friendly. If there is one thing I would like to see, it would be live webcasts of City Council meetings. If not that, then get them up quicker. Thank you. Someone tell Mike Beilstein to take the Cuban flag off of the City owned laptop and at least turn and face the flag during the pledge of allegiance. • Have direct, front pae links to Corvallis Tourism, Corvallis Downtown Association website pages for evnts, dinin, businesses. • Need direct, fonrt page links, left nav col, top, for fire dept., police and similar emergency contacts. • Need direct, front page links, left nav col, below emergency links, to city council, mayor, city administrator. • Need front page link to city/county ombudsman. * Need city blog--council, et. al. * Make some of site mobile capable. • Make most of important site pages available in reduced vision and senior citizens versions. Don't overlap with existing services. Why have visitor information on the City site. We have Corvallis Tourism and www.visitcorvallis.com. Why would you spend money on recreating what has already been done. Don't be everything to everyone. Find the core needs that are not being serviced in the city and focus on those only. If someone is already providing the service but not well enough, support them. Hire industry professionals to help you with your site. Some of these survey questions are good but do not rely on the average resident to determine the best way to design/build your website. Both the library and the senior center apparently share the City web site. However, neither are easy to find based on your front page. thanks for the opportunity to make input and for reminding me of some existing City web site features. The city web site is VERY dificult to use. I've found it nearly impossible to track down information that I nedd-- it is often faster to walk to the libary and look it up than to scan on line. Weather information is so easily available on the net, I can't see that putting it on the city website would be a good use of space (except for emergency information). For web developer: Stop using Mambo as your CMS, you can try Joomla with Search Friendly URL's. You can also try some of the components to make searching easier.
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I had one problem with the site. I wanted to point out some bike-traffic light problems and the site put me to public works but with no e-mail contact. I later went in and just went to public works and it showed an e-mail link and web link. So "Contact the City" gets a phone list. I tried Bike Path and it had a (PW) which when clicked goes to Public Works with no e-mail. Later I found links at the top. A click on "Dept Contact List" got me to an email and web contact. I think many would give up as I did the first time. It would be good to be able to view police activity or reports of vandalism and nuisance calls by area.
Comment Summary Most of the comments were critical in nature, expressing the users' difficulties in using the site, or disappointment in the lack of certain content. There are numerous comments related to users' inability to find information. In particular, respondents report getting lost in the menu system.
Category Number of critical comments
Appearance Search capabilities Dynamic nature – content kept very current Ability to find information by browsing Technical issues Content Interpretation
4 4 4 11 6 12
The comments often confirm the issues identified by other questions in the survey. There is a critical need to improve the search engine and its interface. The department-based organization makes browsing difficult. The distribution of information across multiple sites is confusing and makes it difficult to locate information.
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20: Your age?
Answer Options 0 - 17 18 – 34 35 – 44 45 – 60 61+ Response Frequency 1.0% 19.0% 16.4% 41.5% 22.1%
ages 61+, 22.1% ages 0 - 17, 1.0% ages 18 – 34, 19.0% ages 45 – 60, 41.5% ages 35 – 44, 16.4%
Interpretation The demographics of the respondents is skewed towards older residents, with only 35% younger than age 44. Recommendations It may be helpful to revise the age categories in the next survey. For example, the Senior Center services are available to people ages 55+, and OSU students are typically ages 18-25. Conduct more outreach to younger residents, including OSU and LBCC students, high-school students, and young adults.
21: Where do you live?
Answer Options In Corvallis Outside Corvallis, in Benton County Outside Benton County Response Frequency 74.2% 14.4% 11.3%
Outside Benton County 11% Outside Corvallis, in Benton County 14%
In Corvallis 75%
Recommendations We should consider amending the options to learn whether respondents live outside Oregon.
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Appendix A – Web Survey Action Plan
The Web Survey Action Plan is a separate document, WebSurveyActionPlan.doc. It contains a list of action items identified in the Recommendations section of this document, with additional information: Priority. Timeline. Technology requirements. In particular, the plan indicates whether the enhancement can be done in the current (Mambo) framework. Owner(s) Resource requirements. Additional implementation notes. The implementation notes can be used by the task owner(s) to document concerns and issues as they arise. If an outcome departs from the original recommendation, it will be indicated here.
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