Cueva: Australian Government Organ and Tissue Authority (AGOTA)
A Revised Digital Health Strategy for:
Australian Government Organ and
Tissue Authority
Mary Cueva
August 1, 2015
Lisa Gualitieri HCOM 512
1
Cueva: Australian Government Organ and Tissue Authority (AGOTA)
Table of Contents
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.
X.
XI.
Executive Summary
Rationale
Overview
SWOT Analysis
Primary Goals
Planning Horizon
Target Audience and Personas
Competitive Analysis
Recommendations
a. Design
b. Content
c. Technology
Revised Digital Strategy
Conclusion
2
Cueva: Australian Government Organ and Tissue Authority (AGOTA)
3
I. Executive Summary
According to Organdonor.gov, there are currently 122,607 people waiting for an organ
and each day 22 people die waiting for an organ1. This statistic is only based on the
United States. Worldwide, it is a completely different story. Spain currently holds the title
as the country with the world’s highest donation rate per million people. This could be
because of their opt in, opt out system, in Spain you are considered a donor unless you
make the effort to opt out of the donation system2. Other countries lag behind Spain,
including the US, and even then, 35.3 donors per million people seems like a very huge
disproportion. The competition for organ donation is everywhere, driven by time, money,
and deterioration of health. Whether it is through the black market offering cheaper
organs for a loved one or pharma offering another resort to your last resort or
advancements in science creating genetically modified organs, it seems like organ
donation is seen as an ultimatum for many on the transplant list. And for those whose
lives have not yet been affected by the need of an organ, it is almost like an afterthought.
Whether it is the lack of visibility of these organizations in the forefronts of changes and
policy making or the use of genetics as the band aid to this ever increasing problem, none
of the organizations associated with the International Registry in Organ Donation and
Transplantation (IRODaT) have been able to create a significant dent in the views of the
7 billion people living on this Earth that will cause them to engage in an action of
registering as a donor.
The Australian Government Organ and Tissue Authority (AGOTA) is one of the many
registered organizations through IRODaT, in a huge network of health experts involved
in the organ donation and transplantation process worldwide. The AGOTA works with
states and territories, clinicians and the community sector to deliver the Australian
Government’s National Reform Programme to improve access to life-transforming
transplants for all Australians. They are the coordinators and pioneers of Australia with
the focus to increase awareness and involvement in the organ donation process.
The AGOTA has a very clear mission that they would like to execute yet they have fallen
behind in the polls of top leaders in the organ donation transplantation list worldwide,
coming in 10th in the National Transplantation report of 20113. Over the years AGOTA
has been able to simplify the management of their website for users and seems like a very
resourceful website for the likes of many audiences but they seem to get buried in what it
is that they want to do. There is a blur of defining the different agendas between the
AGOTA, Donate Life Australia, and the National Reform Programme because they are
all interconnected.
AGOTA has done a great job in creating an online presence in the digital world although
it is confusing to know who they have made it for specifically (AGOTA, Donate Life
Australia or the National Reform Programme). Through careful observation the following
report will show a detailed revision of the digital strategy used by the Australian
Government Organ and Tissue Authority.
Cueva: Australian Government Organ and Tissue Authority (AGOTA)
4
There will be a total of three primary attainable goals and one big hairy audacious goal
(BHAG) for the revised digital strategy. In order to better accomplish the goals, four
personas were created to understand the target audience. In addition to the personas, three
other international organizations that are also a part of the IRODaT were identified and
analyzed to further inform recommendations for a digital strategy development.
The primary components of the digital strategy are:
1. Increase highlights of features of the website that make organization unique such
as Book of Life stories or health professionals tab and create a login to be able to
better coordinate among other Australian organizations in the organ
transplantation process.
2. Enhancing social media optimization through the introduction of social media
handles in order to help achieve the organization’s vision in being the world
leader of best practice in organ donation.
3. To create a press or media tab for journalists to have access to new stories,
publications, and events that can be shared with the shareable features through
social media and highlight those life transforming transplantation access for
Australians.
The Australian Government Organ and Tissue Authority already has a solid digital
strategy but as an organization they still lack the essentials in being able to define
themselves outside of campaigns or programs in the Australian government. They do not
look like the coordinators of the organ transplantation process but they have the essentials
there so they can prioritize the implementation of recommendations and revisions and
improve their digital health strategy once they take a moment to wait and listen to who
they are as an organization and be able to resonate that throughout the website and their
social media platforms.
II. Rationale
Organ transplantation has slowly become an accepted medical treatment for end-stage
organ failure. Every 10 minutes there is a person added onto the waitlist. On an average
day, 79 people receive organ transplants and 22 people die each day waiting for
transplants to take place4. Organ donation is often seen as a statistic and can often be
overwhelming and difficult to understand. It is important to remember that every statistic
is a person, waiting for the hope that someone signs up as a donor and can help change
their life around.
Cueva: Australian Government Organ and Tissue Authority (AGOTA)
5
The following chart shows
the amount of people waiting
for an organ donation along
with the number of transplant
and number of donors. As
you will see, there is a huge
gap between them and it only
continues to grow5.
These are only numbers in
the United States because
they have a better image
reflecting the need for organ
transplantation. The numbers
in Australia run slightly
different6.
-
Around 1,600 people are on the Australian organ transplant list at any time.
In 2014 378 organ donors donated to 1,117 transplant recipients
The Australian donation rate was 16.1 donors per million people.
The majority of Australians are generally willing to become organ and tissue
donors (69%) yet the numbers don’t add up with Australia having a population of
23.13 million people7.
The gap for organ donation and transplantation is increasing each and every year. The
AGOTA already has a great platform but they have not been able to sway the 69% of
people that are generally willing to become organ and tissue donors. Having those people
sign up as organ donors can make the difference for people on the waitlist and if the
system proves to be great, these donated organs can be conserved to start a system in
making the Australian organization a world leader in transplantation for all Australians to
be able to optimize every donation opportunity.
III. Overview
The AGOTA is one of many international organ donation coordination organizations that
help promote and educate the public and health professionals about the importance of
organ donation. Another role they play is the ability to coordinate and match organ
donors to recipients and ease the transition between the two to make everything run
smoothly.
Our vision is to establish Australia as a world leader in best practice organ and tissue
donation for transplantation that optimises every potential donation opportunity to
increase access to life-transforming transplantation for Australians.
Cueva: Australian Government Organ and Tissue Authority (AGOTA)
6
Our mission is to deliver a highly effective national organ and tissue donation system
with the support of Australian governments, the clinical profession and the community.
Although they seem to have a clear mission and vision the organization seems to have
lost their distinction and credibility behind the other organizations coming to the
forefronts in Australia and taking the limelight away from the AGOTA. This could be a
part of their strategy as the handlers that just make things easier for other organizations
and help establish Australia as a world leader in best practice of organ and tissue
donation. Because they have a bigger goal as an organization they sacrifice themselves
and what they would like in order to make a country look better.
It is time to shift away from that mentality and make the organization look better too. The
AGOTA deserves the credit in the merits they do as organ and tissue transplantation
coordinators. They need to have the support from their partner organizations and be able
to stand aside as an organization that runs the show, because after all they do. They have
so much content and features on their website that makes them distinct from other
international organ donation organizations but they bury those features with information
to appease a certain audience which are: organ donor families and health professionals.
AGOTA seems to be playing so many different roles perhaps because of the lack of help
from partner organizations or because they are the organization to look up to but they
have so much that they want to do that they need to take a step back and re-envision
exactly what type of content they want to provide users of the website and have a set of
values that they would like the organization to represent.
IV. SWOT Analysis
Strengths
- Information in many different
languages although they are in the
form of PDF
- The use of religion for users to see
where religion stands in terms of organ
donation
- Section for donors and health
professionals.
- A lot of expert generated content
through pamphlets and toolkits to help
audience
- Content sharable through social media
(for Donate Life)
- Janette Hall Scholarship
Weaknesses
- Lack of distinction for organization
- Outsourcing too much data to partner
organizations
- Not enough activity on social
media/not enough social media
optimization
- Dated website and information reports
- Long name, unclear logo
- Different multicultural resources not
separated by language all under one
sub link
- No social media for AGOTA only
LinkedIn but not even mentioned on
website.
Cueva: Australian Government Organ and Tissue Authority (AGOTA)
7
Opportunities
Threats
- Pronouncing the Book of Life stories
- Sub organizations or partner
more and dig them out of the bottom of
organizations getting higher credit for
the page feed
direct involvement with organ
- Using the religion support system
transplantation process
feature and being able to expand on it,
- Sub organization or partner
perhaps local religious organizations
organizations stealing identity because
helping a person through the organ
of close interchangeability
donation process and being able to
- Lack of tone for establishment of
ease the decision.
organization
- Highlight the Janette Hall scholarship
- No values, makes it hard to create
for health professionals
content if there are no principles or
- Media Centre
guidelines to abide by.
V. Primary Goals
The main goal of the AGOTA is to deliver the Australian Government’s national reform
programme to improve organ and tissue donation and transplantation outcomes in
Australia by delivering a highly effective national organ and tissue donation system with
the support of Australian governments, the clinical profession and the community. Most
of its aim is to target health professional and partner organizations to ease to facilitation
of organ transplantation in Australia. The AGOTA’s secondary goal to create a support
system niche for organ donor families. While those seem to be the main goals of AGOTA
it has also taken on the responsibility to engage users to come across the website to
register as organ donors and start talking about it more. The following goals have been
designed to help the AGOTA accomplish their aims through their mission and vision and
help the organization organize their values and personal goals.
Goal 1 (important BHAG): Distinguish organization through a revamped logo and tagline
that makes the organization’s purpose clear as well as a creation of values for the
organization.
Rationale: The Australian Government Organ and Tissue Authority (AGOTA)
works with states and territories, clinicians and the community sector to deliver
the Australian Government’s National Reform Programme to improve access to
life-transforming transplants for all Australians. The Donate Life Network is also
a part of the National Reform Programme and the AGOTA provides funding to
the Donate Life Network. This is a cobweb of information and really buries the
credibility or importance factor that the AGOTA provides to all the other
organizations in the organ transplantation system. Currently the AGOTA website
uses the Australian Government logo along with the Donate Life Network logo
and it is hard for a user to understand at first sight that they are two separate
organizations. The AGOTA has no stated values as an organization.
Measurement: Creating a voting poll for users to fill out and see if they are in fact
understanding that they are reaching the AGOTA and distinguishing them from
the other associated organizations. Having partner organizations inform their
Cueva: Australian Government Organ and Tissue Authority (AGOTA)
8
users that AGOTA is a sponsor of their organization and creating that stamp of
approval.
Goal 2: Clean up the homepage and provide clear, organized, and understandable content
to the target audience(s) while highlighting features such as the Janette Hall scholarship,
religion support system, etc.
Rationale: The homepage has a giant banner on the right hand side that almost
seems like an ad for Donate Life. It’s awesome that they are incorporating that but
because this is the website for AGOTA, it would be wise to have Donate Life
have a tab to themselves and talk about what they want to do which is have people
sign up as organ donors and the Book of Life. The Janette Hall scholarship could
be a great way to engage health professionals. The booklets for donor families
also seems like a great way to ease the process of having a family member donate
their organs or even understand why a family member donated their organs.
AGOTA provides a nice support system for both audiences. As for Donate Life,
that seems like a sub part to AGOTA and is more for the community.
Measurement: Having an increase of people downloading the pamphlets, opening
the PDF in different languages, or applying for the scholarship.
Goal 3: Optimization/creation of social media for AGOTA.
Rationale: They don’t have a social media page through Facebook or Twitter
specifically for AGOTA. They are piggy backing off Donate Life Australia. They
do have a LinkedIn that hasn’t been shown on the website but could be useful for
the health professionals that they want to visit the website. Creating a Facebook
page for AGOTA would be helpful for organ donor families to be able to connect
and know of the process for their loved one’s transplantation, perhaps linking
some story and following it from the beginning will be nice for the family of a
loved one donating their organ to hear. Creating a Twitter is also helpful that way
they can endorse and also promote themselves to other organizations that way
they can have better accessibility to provide the organ transplantation process.
Measurement: Increase in LinkedIn connections and increase in likes and tweets
will be very helpful for AGOTA to start trending and making themselves a known
organization outside of the professional world.
Goal 4: Creating a Media/Press tab for ease of accessibility to publications, reports,
stories, and news that people can share through the shareable feature through social
media.
Rationale: Although they have one outside the navigation bar, it makes it easier to
bring out the highlights of hidden content and features that will be appealing to
the audience if it was a tab on the navigation bar. It also makes it easier on a
journalist to know that they have a place for themselves where the language will
be easier to understand and have an easier time writing their stories about
AGOTA.
Measurement: Increase in article mentions of AGOTA and the work they do both
nationally and internationally.
Cueva: Australian Government Organ and Tissue Authority (AGOTA)
9
VI. Planning Analysis
For the complete implementation of the digital strategy to occur a one-year time frame
will occur. The organization will be able to prioritize which goals are most attainable
such as social media optimization/creation compared to the reinvention of the logo. The
revamped logo will have an ongoing planning process where partner organizations and
users will be used as focus groups to find a logo that really speaks to the organization and
it’s values. The creation of values will also have to go through the different committees
that make up the AGOTA but they are necessary in order to distinguish the organization
from other Australian organ donor programs. It is a long process and this will most likely
go beyond the one-year time frame because of the three-tier committee. The new layout
and design of the website should have a two month planning process on what content to
keep and discard. For additional content added such as the press/media tab, the
committees should agree on the management of this tab and how reports and information
will be shared to the public. There should be a three-month period to discuss what to do
in case of the need for collateral damage through social media handles and how to
appropriately respond. Any additional planning analysis will be discussed later in the
recommendations section.
VII. Target Audience and Personas
Eric (23)- A healthy bloke that loves
going out surfing everyday. He’s
young, he’s healthy, and often times
he feels like he’s invincible. He
recently went to a surfing competition
in Sydney. After taking a rough shake
from a wave in his trial run he goes
over to the medic tent to get some ice
for his shoulder. Next to the tent is a
giant banner promoting the local organ
bank center of Sydney. He finds it silly
that they promoting that at a surfing
competition, but there have also been
many blood bank vans located
previous years asking for blood
donations. It’s ridiculous to him, as if
giving blood isn’t enough, now they
want his organs too. The only thing
they seem like they are useful for at
the moment is that they are giving out
free wax for boards if people like their
Facebook page. Well, they’ve just won
a whole crowd over he thinks. He does need some wax; he used the last of his when he
was preparing for the trial run. His actual run is about to start though so he quickly likes
the page, waits for the wax and runs over to the meet up spot to swim out into the ocean.
Cueva: Australian Government Organ and Tissue Authority (AGOTA)
10
A few days later Eric starts receiving notifications on his Facebook from the Australian
Government and he starts freaking out because he’s not sure who they are, then he
realizes it’s the organ donation bank place from the surfing competition. The Australian
Government Organ and Tissue Authority sounds like a mouthful he thinks out loud. He
quickly glances over the Facebook page and doesn’t really get what it is they’re about so
he clicks on the link to the actual website. He doesn’t find anything useful for him so he
unlikes the Facebook page and moves on with his life, no need in having things that
aren’t useful for him.
Shannon (15)- She is a huge Fault in Our Stars
fanatic and has an overwhelming fan fiction crush
on Augustus Waters one of the main characters in
the book. She wishes she could’ve given him a
bone marrow transplant or her legs so he could be
okay. And for Hazel Grace, the main protagonist
of the story, she wishes she could give Hazel her
lungs just to be able to give Hazel a breath of
fresh air. After reading the book Shannon was so
touched by the story that she wanted to register as
an organ donor. She knows her mom will never
allow it but she tries to register online anyways.
The first site that comes up is the AGOTA and
when she clicks on it she feel a little confused
about the ad on the right, at least she thinks its an
ad. After skimming through the homepage she
realizes the ad is actually what she was looking
for as it has the Donate Life navigation to register
as a donor. She clicks on the link and is taken to
another website, Medicare Australia. The first
thing she sees is that she needs her Medicare card number and reference number, which
she doesn’t have. Only her mom has access to that and she knows her mom will never let
her register. Shannon feels very bummed out and goes back to the website and starts
reading about stories of people that have received organ donations. She wishes she could
help out one of those people just like she wishes she could help her book characters Hazel
and Augustus. When she refreshes the homepage one last time she realizes that there is a
discussion tab in the Donate Life Ad. She clicks on it and out appears a pamphlet about
how to start a conversation of organ donation. She decides to print it out and give to her
mom. Hopefully her mom understands that Shannon really wants this and just wants to
help someone out.
Cueva: Australian Government Organ and Tissue Authority (AGOTA)
11
Mia (43)- Mia was a mother of three. She
always felt blessed to have her children whole
and close to her in their hometown of Perth.
Last year, her youngest son Jackson (20) went
off to college in another city, Melbourne. She
was so sad to see him go but very proud of him
for taking off and doing his own thing. Last
night she received a phone call from the Royal
Melbourne Hospital intensive care unit. Her
beautiful son was involved in a car accident,
there was a drunk driver, and it left Jackson in
a coma. Mia couldn’t even really understand
what the nurse was saying. They weren’t giving
him any hopes and he had apparently registered
as an organ donor. They were telling Mia that
they wanted to cut his life away and give his
organs to someone else. Mia was so distraught,
she took the first flight out to Melbourne (3.5
hours) and she knows the nurse gave her a time
frame for Mia to be able to make a decision but
she just couldn’t wrap her head around the idea that they wanted her to cut her son off the
life support. She was sad and angry and at the sight of her son, she fell to pieces. He
looked like ground beef and she cursed everyone last night, she couldn’t imagine how
there could be anyone that could use his organs. When she got there she didn’t have to
make the decision, her husband Jim already made it for her they were just waiting for her
to see her son. They quickly rushed him out of the room. The nurses gave her pamphlets
and the link to a website for AGOTA. She just took them without a word. There was an
email late last night, there was a newsletter that her son had signed up for about Donate
Life, as she scrolled through it ended with the story of a little girl who received a kidney
from an older man. She cried at the idea that one day her son’s name would be mentioned
in this Book of Life as saving someone else. She read through the pamphlets and went to
the AGOTA website and saw that there was a local support group in Perth for families of
organ donors. She doesn’t know if she’ll go but she understands why her son signed up as
a donor. She just hopes that the recipient(s) of her son’s organs value them greatly and
live with as much life as he had left to give.
Cueva: Australian Government Organ and Tissue Authority (AGOTA)
12
Dr. Robert Chase (34)- A transplant doctor that is just starting
his fellowship program. As a transplant surgeon he feels like he
needs the best and most up to date knowledge on the
transplantation process. He also would like to improve his skills
in introducing the topic of organ donation to his patients’
families and friends. It’s always tricky and he has always had a
hard time with it. He has started to use the AGOTA website
materials on recommendation from a friend in order to be able
to improve the ease of conversation for the topic with families.
He feels it’s important to talk about scenarios that physicians
experience with families in order to improve the relationship
and provide easier ways to be able to ease the topic of organ
donation into the conversation. So many more lives can be saved if people would register
as donors. He’s signed up for a few workshop programs and hopes he’ll be able to bring
his concerns up into the conversation. He also finds it difficult to have to fill out a form
and his information every time he wants to sign up for a workshop. Hopefully the
AGOTA could create a login for health professionals such as himself in order to be able
to ease the registration for workshops and be able to share and access educational
packages.
VIII. Competitive Analysis
Introduction
There are many organ donation coordinator organizations in the world. I decided to look
at the organizations affiliated with the IRODaT. Two of the countries represented by the
organizations chosen for the competitive analysis are in the top 10 countries with the
highest organ donation rate per million8. These countries are the United States of
America through the UNOS organization and the United Kingdom through the NHS
Blood and Transplant organization. Australia comes in last in 10th place and although
Argentina isn’t among these top 10 organ donation rate countries, they have a solid
digital presence, strategy and credibility to attract their community and coordinate with
local organizations to spread awareness of organ donation. The Australian Government
Organ and Tissue Authority has a lot of potential in being able to run with the other top
countries in organ donation rates.
UNOS
The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) is a very professional and modern
website. They have only recently revamped their website but they’ve done a great job in
distinguishing content based on different audiences. They have a separate page or
patients and health professionals which is a great move on their part. They have the
clearest logo/tagline combination with a very clear mission and vision compared to the
other organizations. It seems to have many useful features and content tailored to the
different audiences. It also has one of the best optimization uses for their social media
presence.
Cueva: Australian Government Organ and Tissue Authority (AGOTA)
13
El Insituto Nacional Central Unico Coordinador de Ablacion e Implante (INCUCAI)
This is the Argentinian organization that coordinates organ transplants. Although they
don’t have a clear logo or tagline this mission and vision is reflected and concise with the
content of their webpage. They seem to be a very organized organization and provide the
public with access to expert generated material such as videos, pamphlets, and ads. They
have a great homepage with the real time of organ transplant waitlist. The only problem
is that for their target audience, it might be a little difficult to understand some of the
content because of the high levels of science and medical dialect.
NHS Blood and Transplant
This organization for the UK seems to have just started out the implementation of their
digital health strategy. Although they still need a lot of work, in terms of organ donor
number rates the UK is fine. They have a basic design at the moment but it’s getting the
job done. Nothing is too complex, even the way the content is presented seems very clear
and easy to understand. The only problem is the logo of the organization; it doesn’t
appear to coincide with the organization even though most of the organizations are going
for hearts in the organ donation realm. They have a very good idea about keeping
everything within the website and limiting the amount of outsourced information which is
great for users that want one stop answers and it makes their website easier to navigate.
1. Purpose: How
clear are the
purpose and
goals of the site
at a glance from
name, tagline,
logo, and
imagery?
Unclear logo, no
tagline, unclear
brand because
such close
associations
The purpose is
very clear and to
the point with the
tagline which is,
“Working together.
Saving lives.” It
works out very
well with the logo
abbreviation.
^not actual logo
but nicer
promotion/campai
gn for Mar de
Plata 2015
It’s kind of clear,
just have to scroll
down to
completely
understand what
it’s about. The
logos don’t make
a lot of sense to
the concept but
perhaps to the
company.
The purpose is
very clear
Cueva: Australian Government Organ and Tissue Authority (AGOTA)
Everyone is target Yes.
audience but they
do a good job
distinguishing who
is who except for
2. Users: Is the
people receiving a
target
donation. There is
audience clear
a tab for donor
through text,
families but not for
images,
individuals that
stories, or
received an organ
testimonials?
donation (they do
however share
their stories,
hidden bottom of
page)
Yes.
3. Organizational No; but there is a
mission
statement
branding: Are
the organization and about us.
and site purpose
clearly portrayed
through name,
tagline, logo,
imagery, or text?
Is there a mission
statement or an
“about us”?
Eye and Tissue
United Health
4. External
affiliations: Is Banks, DonateLife Foundation,
Novartis, Pfizer,
there branding Partners,
Corporate
AMGEN,
from other
Partners, CALD
Genentech
organizations, media partners.
accreditation
National Reform
(such as
Programme and
Donate Life
HONcode),
sponsorship, or
advertising? Are
there celebrity
sponsors?
Yes
14
Yes.
Not really, the
No, it doesn’t
logo is the
seem unique to
abbreviation of the the organization.
organization and
you don’t really
know what it
means until you
go into about us
section. There is a
mission
statement.
Hospital Donante,
SINTRA,
COEFTRA,RNDC
PH
(Affiliations as
partner programs)
Save a life Give
Blood, Save a life
Give platelets,
british Bone
Marrow Registry,
Tissue Donation,
Cord Blood Bank,
Blood Transfusion
Cueva: Australian Government Organ and Tissue Authority (AGOTA)
The design is
5. Design: How
professional is modern and
simplified through
the design?
hovering but then
Characterize the
it gets very busy
design (modern, once clicking on
dated, simple, link.
busy, etc.) and if
the design seems
effective for the
site purpose and
users.
Segmented by
6. Section
organization: Is content, user roles
such as donors or
information
health
segmented by
professionals, and
content type,
user needs
user roles, or
user needs?
7. Layout and
They have a site
navigation:
map which is
How organized great but some of
are the layout
their very useful
and
information is
navigation?
buried in sub
Are options
links. They also
apparent and
have a search bar
clearly
to use within
labeled? Does website.
content seem
easily
accessible or
buried?
15
I really like the
simple yet modern
design; they just
recently updated
their website.
The design is very
simple and the
homepage looks a
little busy. I like
how there is a
countdown but it
is only after I read
a little bit or scroll
down a little that I
realize what it
might be for.
This is a beta
website but they
do have a place
for feedback on
the navigation of
the website.
Yes.
Yes.
For the most part
yes, although
some things could
be put under the
same category.
It is very well
organized and the
content seems
easily accessible.
The layout and
navigation of the
website is really
great. The
sections of
audiences are
distinguished
significantly which
is awesome.
The layout is
simple but not well
organized. It
seems easy to
navigate and
there is not much
content accessible
yet.
Cueva: Australian Government Organ and Tissue Authority (AGOTA)
8. Expert
content: What
are the expertgenerated
components
(including text,
graphics,
audio, video,
blogs,
directions, ask
an expert, and
quizzes)? Are
there
supporting
titles,
synopses,
links, and
imagery?
9. Authorship
and
oversight: Are
authors listed
and, if so, are
their
credentials
available? Is
there an
advisory board
or clinician
involvement?
Is there a
review
process?
16
Videos on facts
statistics and
starting up organ
donation
conversations and
stories of people
touched by organ
or tissue donation;
toolkits; guides;
pamphlets
Allocation
calculators;
videos;
testimonials
Videos,
Videos
testimonials,
pamphlets/ads for
public access use.
There is a threetier committee
structure:
Advisory Council/
Jurisdictional
Advisory Group,
CEO established
committees,
purpose specific
working groups.
Credentials are
available
Yes there is clear
leadership with
credentials and
descriptions.
Yes there are
different
presidents,
directors, and
coordinators.
No
Website does
seem current and
there are dates to
content published.
Different format
but it looks up to
date and they
keep up with their
events.
No; there is no
copyright date on
website
Copyright is from
2014; haven’t
10. Currency: Does updated for new
information seemyear. Last annual
reports and
timely and
publications are
recent? Are
from back in 2014.
dates included
News events and
for when content letters are kept for
was published up to date dating
and reviewed? back to most
recent July 30,
2015.
Cueva: Australian Government Organ and Tissue Authority (AGOTA)
17
11. Health literacy The content is
and readability: easy to
understand and
Is the content
there is no
easy to
confusing jargon
understand? Is used because
there any
they have tailed
confusing
sublinks to
language, jargon,specific
or abbreviations?audiences: donor
Are the reading families, health
professionals;
and health
community.
literacy levels
appropriate?
20+ in
12. Language:
multicultural
Which languagesresources
are available?
The content is
tailored to
different audience
and is easy to
understand.
Some of the
language used
might be a little
too complex for
audiences that
have not received
an education.
There are
abbreviations but
they state what is
being abbreviated
first.
The content is
easy to
understand and is
tailored to the
general public or
people that can
donate their
organs.
English
Spanish
English
13. Usergenerated
content: What
are the usergenerated
components
(including
stories, blogs,
discussion
forums,
videos, likes,
comments,
ratings, and
reviews)? Can
content be
shared? Is
“most read” or
“most emailed”
content listed?
Is usergenerated
content
delineated
from expert
content?
Users can share
through social
media or attend
UNOS event, Enewsletter
Videos and
testimonials
Cannot share
through social
media but there
are a few stories
about families or
people that
engaged in organ
donation
Users can share a
page through
social media
Cueva: Australian Government Organ and Tissue Authority (AGOTA)
Yes
14. Policies: Are
there explicit
privacy policies
or ones for how
user-generated
components are
managed,
organized, or
moderated?
No
15. Registration:
Can users
register or create
profiles to
personalize
content or
appearance?
Can users login
and, if so, what
are their
benefits?
16. Notifications: Yes; newsletters
Can users
subscribe to
newsletters or
new content
alerts?
17. Transactions: Yes; order Donate
Can users make Life Book of Life
donations or
purchases?
18. Mobile: Is there No
an app or a
mobile website?
Is responsive
design used?
18
Yes:
Internet/social
media
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
Yes; e-newsletters No
tailored to
audience either
patients or health
providers
No
Yes; brochure,
hats, t shirts,
mugs
No; sign up as
donor
No; sign up as
donor
Yes
No
Yes
Cueva: Australian Government Organ and Tissue Authority (AGOTA)
19. Social media:
Which social
media
technologies are
used? Are they
integrated into
the site or a set
of icons?
20. Overall
assessment:
What are the
best and worst
features of the
site?
Donate Life has a
Facebook and
Twitter but not
AGOTA
19
Facebook, Twitter, Youtube,
LinkedIn,
Facebook, Twitter
Youtube,
Instagram,
Google+
Youtube,
Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram (not
promoted on
website)
Best: Simple
design easy
navigation; clear
distinguished sites
for different
audience
members (nicely
tailored); quick
vote poll related to
organ donation
process
Worst: none
Best: They have a
section for
religion; call
center phone
number;
registration form
for organ donation
goes directly to
site and is not
outsourced;
campaign
catalogue to help
other
organizations get
free promotional
items; can amend
decision of organ
donation
Worst: First thing
that pops out is
cookie
information;
search is through
google; navigation
toolbar below
cookie and
accessibility
functionality; no
about us; mission
or vission
LinkedIn not on
webpage
Best: religion and
language
accessibility; Book
of Life stories;
performance data
and annual
reports; grants; a
site for health
professionals
Worst: layout;
dated reports;
outsource
registration form
Best: real time
donation rates
and waitlist; press
section’ materials
ads for respective
audiences;
hotline; reports
per region; events
agenda;
testimonials from
donors.
Recipients, and
doctors that
perform organ
donation
Worst: no tagline
or information
about organization
with logo alone;
their logo
Borrow:
Argentina: real time donation rates and waitlist patients, hotline and press section
materials/ads tailored to audience
Cueva: Australian Government Organ and Tissue Authority (AGOTA)
UNOS: quick vote poll related to organ donation; distinguishable sites tailored to
audience needs
20
Cueva: Australian Government Organ and Tissue Authority (AGOTA)
21
UK: Ability to amend decision of organ donation; accessibility option for website layout
text size
Avoid
Argentina: no tagline for logo; unclear logo
Cueva: Australian Government Organ and Tissue Authority (AGOTA)
22
UK: Google search navigation; cookie information placement
Distinguish yourselves
The Australian Government Organ and Tissue Authority has a Book of Life feature
where people can order stories or read stories about organ donation donor families and
recipients. It is very unique to them because of the design layout for the feature. They
also have links to religions and where the religions stand on the topic of organ donation.
They also have more than 20 languages worth of information about organ donation. And
they have different tiers of committees in charge for the content of the website.
Cueva: Australian Government Organ and Tissue Authority (AGOTA)
23
IX. Recommendations
A. Design
Move Donate Life banner ad to a tab in the navigation bar. It gets confusing
having that in the homepage because it takes away from the credibility of
AGOTA to be able to stand alone. Move the Media Centre link to a tab on the
navigation bar and include publications, news and events under the tab. With
the implementation and optimization of social media, put icons of social
media on the top right hand side where there will be a blank space after taking
out the large Donate Life banner. Implement the real time waitlist number of
people and organ donations from the Argentinian organization on web layout
Cueva: Australian Government Organ and Tissue Authority (AGOTA)
24
to fill space. Perhaps along the lines of the UK web design, have a way to
make the information easily readable through text accessibility. Keep the
accessibility to share a page through social media on the right hand side is
very useful. The current layout structure of the drop down menu is great and
simple so keep the same design just group things together when implementing
the other tabs. If needed, move the religion/language information about organ
donation on the right hand side, in place of the Donate Life banner. The local
Donate Life agency and Book of Life banner can be moved under the Donate
Life tab because it doesn’t have anything to do with AGOTA. The navigation
bar should also be as follows: Home Icon, About Us, For Donor Families, For
Health Professionals, For Community (Donate Life), Media/Press, and
News/Events.
B. Content
The AGOTA website would benefit a lot from the creation of accessibility of
the navigation bar. A lot of useful information is hidden. Thankfully the
search bar works and is very useful but there are many features that AGOTA
could take advantage of that they already have. They outsource a lot of the
information on their website and it is not useful for the user to always be taken
outside of the website. Keeping users inside the website is good, occasionally
having a window or tab opened can be good but as long as they stay on the
website they have easy accessibility with the navigation bar on top. The Book
of Life is another great feature for AGOTA but it is not really a part of them,
it is more for Donate Life. Creating the Donate Life Tab and having the Book
of Life as one of those panel shots in features of the tab would be a great idea
for AGOTA to use. As for the different multicultural materials available, it
would be great if they could group together information of the same language
and show it independently of other languages instead of providing a giant list
of PDFs with different content information in different languages. It makes it
harder for the user to find what they are looking for.
C. Technology
AGOTA should really highlight their LinkedIn profile especially in the “For
Health Professionals” tab because it is very important for them as an
organization to be active on social media. This would also be helpful for users
to be able to know about upcoming events and network with local Aussies and
how they handle the organ donation transplantation system. The Facebook is a
great way for the users in the “For Organ Donor Families” to build a
community and hear about different stories and events happening sponsored
by AGOTA. AGOTA is currently piggybacking off the Facebook and Twitter
Cueva: Australian Government Organ and Tissue Authority (AGOTA)
25
of Donate Life Australia which is very confusing for users and for the
organization itself if it hasn’t been able to distinguish itself on social media or
their own website. A Twitter can also be a great way to highlight events and
get the topic of organ donation transplantation trending. The Twitter would be
a great way to hop on to trending topics and switch the conversation around to
organ donation when appropriate.
X. Revised Digital Strategy
1. The production of workshops for health professionals to learn how to be able to
help people in the grieving process, when an organ donor is deceased, or bringing
up the conversation of organ donation for patient families.
Rationale: You can give people as many pamphlets and resources as you want to
provide them with information about the organ donation process and give them a
peace of mind but when it comes to people like Mia, who had to face that decision
out of the blue it is very difficult to process and someone like her needs an extra
besides a pamphlet and the link to a website. They need that doctor-patient
interaction and it is a fast process because the dire need there is for organ donors
but someone has to be able to be there and talk to a patient’s family and calm
them down or be a shoulder to cry on. These individuals need to be ideally the
doctors but if not other trained individuals that understand the process and can
psychologically evaluate patient families and base their responses through
informed decisions.
2. The chance for health professionals to also be able to share their stories and
experiences about handling families and opening up the conversation about organ
donation.
Rationale: Creating a web or blog of health professionals and their day to day
struggles in helping families cope or properly explaining the process. Giving
health professionals such as Dr. Chase to provide new innovative ideas and how
they’ve worked for him and hearing back from others to see if they’ve had similar
results.
3. To use social media optimization to bring people like Eric back into the
equation of potential organ donors and ease content accessibility for users like
Shannon to be able to sign up as a donor with ease.
Rationale: The idea is to make the content of the website user friendly. It is
also important to have social media to attract people from outside the partner
organizations, health professionals, and current community. There has to be
expansion in reaching out people outside of the organization and increasing
Cueva: Australian Government Organ and Tissue Authority (AGOTA)
26
the traffic back into the website so there can be more awareness of organ
donation and letting people understand that it is a process.
4. Wild Initiative: Mobile application for health professionals to enhance patientprovider interactive in organ donation, keep up to date with changes in
government reform, get the latest organ donation real time waitlist numbers,
have local events or workshops sponsored by AGOTA pop up as notifications
and ease the sign up process for health professionals.
Rationale: There is a lot of information that health professionals have to keep
up with whether it is the partnerships between local organizations and partner
organizations of AGOTA or just the process of transplantation and how to get
the best possible ease of accessibility. Health professionals in the field of
organ donation have to have access to information and would ideally like to
know better ways to improve their patient interactions especially when
handling grief or explaining the process. The app would give them the most
up to date information on the status of the organ waiting to be received and
the next steps in organ transplantation.
XI. Conclusion
A strategic and comprehensive online presence is important for organizations with an
important cause such as AGOTA. Organ donation is a topic that is not often heard
enough about. Although people seem to agree, for the most part, that it is a good idea the
numbers do not affect the approval of organ donation among different populations. A
digital space such as the one used by AGOTA is important to inform and educate
audiences about the purposes of the organization. In the case of AGOTA it is also there to
build a community centered around organ donation, uniting not only health care
professionals but the community as well. This report hopes to provide AGOTA with an
opportunity to strive in giving Australia the title of world leader in transplantation
coordination but also in steadily increasing the organ donation rates as a credible and
powerful source and sponsor.
Appendix A: Learning Process
Developing a digital strategy for this organization was difficult because there was a
limited knowledge of how the system works compared to the US, which is the main
platform that was used when the Internet could not help delving deeper into the
understanding of the guidelines from the Australian government. The organization had a
lot of good things going for them; they just needed to shine a brighter light on things that
made them unique to other international organ donation coordinating organizations.
Cueva: Australian Government Organ and Tissue Authority (AGOTA)
27
Through the process I had to think like an Aussie and also be able to keep a professional
mentality. Hopefully the Australian Government Organ and Tissue Authority hears about
my proposed plan and tries to implement some of the ideas.
Appendix B: About the Author
Mary (21) is a graduate student in the Emerson Health Communications program. She
received he Bachelor’s of Arts degree from Florida International University in
Communications with a concentration of organizational communications in 2014 in her
hometown of Miami, FL. Previously she was in a dual enrollment program where she
graduated with an Associates degree and high school diploma in the same year (2012).
Her interests in the field involve global health awareness with concentrations of noncommunicable diseases and neglected tropical diseases. She has done work abroad in
bringing medical attention to low income and isolated communities in South America.
On her spare time she plays competitive Quidditch representing the local Boston team,
works out, and enjoys reading.
Cueva: Australian Government Organ and Tissue Authority (AGOTA)
28
References
"Why Organ, Eye, and Tissue Donation?" Organdonor.gov. U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, n.d. Web. 2015.
<http://www.organdonor.gov/index.html>.
2 Miller, Kristin. "Which Country Has the Highest Organ Donation Rates?"
PBS. PBS, 10 May 2014. Web.
<http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/country-highest-organ-donationrates/>.
3 Miller, Kristin. "Which Country Has the Highest Organ Donation Rates?"
PBS. PBS, 10 May 2014. Web.
<http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/country-highest-organ-donationrates/>.
4 "The Need Is Real: Data." Organdonor.gov. U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services, n.d. Web. 2015.
<http://www.organdonor.gov/about/data.html>
5 “Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network." OPTN:. HRSA, n.d.
Web. 2015. <http://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/>.
6 “Facts and Statistics." Facts and Statistics. Australian Government of
Organ and Tissue Authority, n.d. Web. 2015.
<http://www.donatelife.gov.au/discover/facts-and-statistics>.
7 "WPR." Australia Population 2015. N.p., n.d. Web. 2015.
<http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/australia-population/
8 Miller, Kristin. "Which Country Has the Highest Organ Donation Rates?"
PBS. PBS, 10 May 2014. Web.
<http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/country-highest-organ-donationrates/>.
1