Four states honored for Web 2.0 accomplishments
Massachusetts, Missouri, Delaware and Utah were honored along with five cities as the winners of the Public Technology Institute’s prestigious Web 2.0 awards.
Criteria for the award include: measuring specific tools, goals, participation rates, system integration, standards and policies, interoperability, data access and sharing, channel coordination and performance metrics.
“In this third year of the awards program,” said Dale Bowen, deputy executive director for program development of the Public Technology Institute, “the Web 2.0 and social media applications demonstrate a new level of sophistication.”
The city winners were:
- Boston for its Citizens Connect App
- New York City for its Txt-w-Work App
- Raleigh, N.C., for its Open Data Portal
- Santa Monica, Calif., for its Be Excited, Be Prepared! Tool
- West Palm Beach, Fla., for its Police Mobile App
Missouri won for the governor’s 100 Missouri Miles Challenge, where social media was used to encourage Missourians to complete 100 miles of outdoor activity in 2013 on Missouri’s trails in state parks and conservation areas. Users could log their mileage at 100MissouriMiles.com.
Delaware won for its Public Integrity Reporting System, which requires lobbyists to disclose their reports online to the public.
“The recognition by the Public Technology Institute is encouraging for our eGovernment initiatives,” said Delaware Gov. Jack Markell. “This award also highlights the continuing and successful efforts of the General Assembly and my administration at making state government more transparent, open and accessible to all Delawareans.”
Massachusetts was also honored for its Commonwealth Connect and MBTA mTicket App.
Utah.gov won the award for its Master Data Index, which connects citizens to vital information and critical government services. The index encourages cross-agency information sharing; enables real-time, efficient and interactive communications; engages the public in government decision-making; and empowers government staff through data access and streamlined processes.
“The result is two fold,” said Mark VanOrden, Utah’s chief information officer. “New websites can easily pull applicable social media feeds based on multiple points of data. The Master Index also allows staff to aggregate social media feeds to one page, the Connect Portal, where citizens can see all the social media. In addition, the new Master Index allows us to generate customized webpages to display data to citizens in an infinite number of ways.”
This is the second major award that Utah has won recently for its homepage. On Monday, the state won the VEMA Award, which recognizes outstanding work of the innovative, artistic and creative professionals involved in the multimedia arts. The award was created to honor talented individuals and companies who strive to further the evolution and excellence of the visual arts and digital communication.
