The A. Alfred Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions at Brown University recently conducted a study of 1,506 City government webpages for the 70 largest Cities in America. The study, Urban E-Government: An Assessment of City Government Websites placed the City of Albuquerque website 2nd, with 1st place going to San Diego and 3rd place to Seattle.

According to the study, an average of 21.5 pages on each City's website were analyzed. Pages analyzed in each City website were executive offices (such as mayor or city manager), legislative offices (such as city councils), and major agencies serving crucial functions of government.

For eGovernment service delivery, researchers looked at the number and type of online services offered. Features were defined as services only if the entire transaction could occur online. If a citizen had to print out a form and then mail it back to the agency to obtain the service, it would not count that as a service which could be fully executed online.

The City of Albuquerque website was redesigned one year ago with a common navigation, search engine, privacy/security statement on all pages, email contact information on all pages, etc. This template, in combination with numerous online forms, databases, external links through the A-Z page, and CityNews subscription service, contributed to Albuquerque's #2 rating.

However, the report also states that urban governments throughout the world can do better in providing on-line services for constituents. Citizens may see some of the following improvements to the City's website in the future:

• Dynamic and more timely content
• Credit card payments online for City bills, services, performances, events, etc.
• Greater ADA accessibility
• Enhanced usability to make it easier for users to find what they need quickly

Read the Full Report

Published: November 30, 2001