Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
for local authority use in England. It was adapted to build a web portal
specifically aimed at the over 50 age group. The software was also adapted
specifically to offer usability for older people, conforming to level AA of
the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative for website standards. For example,
readers can change the font size if they wish to see script at a larger size
(Allen 2005).
The portal offers news, forums and questionnaires, and links to other
websites and organisations considered to be of interest or help to the over
50s. The most interactive parts of the website are the forums, on which
individuals can pose questions for councilors and council staff to answer.
Topics under discussion include Employment, Education, Environment,
Leisure, Housing, Health Care, Discrimination, Social Care, Transport,
Community Safety and Benefits. Online registered members of the over 50
network now receive updates on council news via email and/or SMS text
alerts if they choose. Older people without computers are able to access the
website from centres, some of which are sponsored by the charity Age
Concern (Surrey 50+ n.d.).
Another open source package, AWSTATS, was used to monitor use of
the website. Almost 2000 people had visited the portal between September
2004 and March 2005. Review of the forums suggests that although they
are not used heavily, there is a continual feed of questions. Discussions are
not long since particular questions are usually answered by a council offi-
cial. This suggests that in-depth discussion does not yet take place online.
Although the pilot project has ended, the web portal continues to offer a
local online resource with information considered to be of use and interest
to older people. Users of the website did express an interest in using it for
voting on issues but this facility is not yet available. The county council
considers that the project has succeeded in raising awareness and usage of
ICT amongst older people. The project has also helped the county council
meet its targets for delivering local authority services electronically (i.e. by
web, telephone contact centres, digital TV, mobile phones etc.) by 2005/2006.
The project report concluded that the period allowed for developing the
portal had not been long enough. Neither was the content management sys-
tem ideal in that it was not compatible with Microsoft products, which are
generally far better known and familiar to staff tasked with updating the
website and monitoring project management. This meant time was needed
to learn new operating procedures.
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