[Federal Register: December 3, 2001 (Volume 66, Number 232)]
[Notices]
[Page 60226]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr03de01-77]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Deployment of the NRC's Redesigned Public Web Site
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) plans to deploy its
newly redesigned public Web site in a phased approach between now and
the end of the year. The redesign gives the Web site a new and
consistent look and feel. It is organized by content and topic rather
than by NRC organizational structure, uses top-down logic going from
the general to specific topics, makes navigation easy, gives greater
visibility to frequently accessed information, uses plain language
where possible, and complies with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation
Act. As a result of the events of September 11, 2001, the NRC shut down
its public Web site on October 11 and is conducting a thorough review
of the original scope of the redesigned site. This review includes all
of the content available at the NRC public Web site prior to October
11. As reviews are completed, NRC will restore content incrementally in
the redesigned format.
ADDRESSES: NRC's newly redesigned Web site will be made available at
www.nrc.gov. For updates on the planned deployment, see the redesign
notice at www.nrc.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Walter Oliu, Office of the Chief
Information Officer, Mail Stop T-6 E7, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Telephone (301) 415-7823, or e-
mail nrcweb@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: As a result of a public meeting to discuss
NRC interactions with stakeholders on nuclear material and waste
activities, the Commission directed the NRC staff to improve NRC's Web
site by (1) reviewing other major Web sites as models for possible
improvements to the NRC site; (2) soliciting the views of stakeholders,
including members of the general public, researchers, and
representatives of the library community; (3) implementing goals for
the public site to support NRC's Strategic Plan; and (4) ensuring that
the public site is compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act.
The NRC staff established the following objectives for the external
Web site to support the goals of NRC's Strategic Plan: (1) Increase
public confidence in the NRC by providing information that enhances the
ability of stakeholders to participate effectively in the regulatory
process; provide information that enhances the public's understanding
of NRC's mission, goals, and performance; make it easy to find desired
information; ensure the timeliness and accuracy of information at the
site; and (2) make doing business with the NRC more efficient and
effective by providing easy access to necessary information and tools
for conducting business electronically via the Web.
The NRC formed two groups to provide agencywide input to the
redesign effort: a Web Redesign Working Group, composed of staff who
currently maintain the NRC's content at our public Web site, and a Web
Redesign Steering Committee, composed of senior managers and chaired
first by a representative from the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
and later by a representative from the Office of Public Affairs.
The NRC staff contracted for a usability analysis of the existing
Web site. Stakeholders, including representatives of public interest
groups, librarians, licensees, State officials, members of the
international nuclear regulatory community, and NRC staff who
frequently interact with the public were involved in this process
through several focus groups, a usability test at NRC's Regulatory
Information Conference, and a Web survey. An expert evaluation of how
well NRC's current Web site follows best practices and considers human
factors, and how accessible it is to individuals with disabilities (in
compliance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act) was also done.
In addition, the staff compared NRC's Web site with other highly rated
government sites and confirmed that there were significant
opportunities to improve the current site's structure and organization,
navigability, style, understandability, and accessibility. The
recommendations included:
Create a ``common look and feel'' for the entire NRC Web
site (enforce standards);
Organize by content and topic rather than by NRC
organizational structure;
Use top-down logic going from the general to the specific;
Make navigation consistent (links to top-level pages,
within-page navigational devices, and links to external non-NRC sites);
and
Comply with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (test
pages on multiple platforms and with browsers favored by people with
disabilities).
The results of these assessments formed the basis for developing a
prototype for the redesigned Web site. The prototype contained
improvements adopted from all the recommendations listed above and was
reviewed by the NRC Web staff, the Web Redesign Working Group, and the
Web Redesign Steering Committee. In addition, NRC collected and
evaluated comments on the prototype from stakeholders who were involved
in the initial usability study, as well as others. The agency obtained
OMB clearance to collect comments from stakeholders. The NRC staff as a
whole was also provided an opportunity to comment.
An analysis of the feedback on the prototype indicated that users
were more satisfied with the prototype than with NRC's existing public
Web site. Many suggestions for further improvements were adopted and
implemented for the redesigned site.
As a result of the events of September 11, 2001, the NRC shut down
its public Web site on October 11 and is conducting a thorough review
of the original scope of the redesigned site. This review includes all
document collections available at the NRC public Web site prior to
October 11 (over 50,000 pages and nearly all of the other content, over
1,000 pages). As reviews are completed, NRC will restore content
incrementally in the redesigned format. Updates on the redesign will be
posted at the Web site (www.nrc.gov) as the deployment proceeds.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 27th day of November 2001.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Stuart Reiter,
Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 01-29874 Filed 11-30-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P