It’s All About You: ‘My State Department’ Launched

Posted by Janice Clark / January 23, 2012

Janice Clark serves as the Director of the Office of Website Management in the Bureau of Public Affairs.

Update: Enhancements to My State Department were launched on July 5, 2012. Many more widgets have been added, including those for countries and expanded foreign policy topics. The page view has also been enhanced for better reading and easier customization. Contact us and let us know what you think!

I think just about everything on www.state.gov is interesting, but you might not take the same interest in food security, women's issues, or the human rights reports that I do. With the site's roughly 100,000 pages of content (and growing), we set out to create a way to help you, the end user, more easily access the categories of information that matter most to you.

That's what's behind the pilot release of My State Department -- an optional, customizable interface that makes the most of the vast electronic collection that comprises www.state.gov so you can be better informed and stay on top of foreign policy topic areas that you find most interesting or in which you want to become involved.

The My State Department interface is easily found in the banner on www.state.gov pages. A new window will open so that you can get to the interface without interrupting other browsing you may be doing on state.gov. To make sure that your selections follow you no matter what computer you're on, you'll access My State Department using an OpenID logon. OpenID is a service that allows you to sign in to many different websites using a single identity, such as your yahoo, gmail, or aol account. (Find out more about OpenID and how to get an OpenID-enabled account.)

Once you're on the My State Department screen, select from any number of "widgets," such as top policy issues (Counterterorrism, Trafficking in persons, etc.), country information, reports, or social media. Move the widgets around, change the color scheme, add a utility -- it really IS all about you!

We hope you'll enjoy using My State Department. Our pilot is just the starting point. Please let us know your suggestions for future enhancements.

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