Environmental Services
Division
PA 757 Group Project
Agency Web Strategy Development
Regina Soo, Will Williams, Oriol Zales
Introduction
● City of Oakland Environmental Services (COES)
● E-government Popularity
● Website Enhancements:
○ various usability, accessibility, citizen engagement
● Comparisons to State of Hawaii and San Francisco's Environment
websites.
Intro Con’t...
Insights from Hawaii.gov and SFEnvironment.org
Overview of COES
COES Mission: “protect Oakland’s natural resources and the health of our community
through waste reduction, energy efficiency, pollution prevention, environmental clean-up
and promotion of sustainability"
Four Work Groups
1. Energy Group - Reduce electricity and natural gas use and greenhouse gas emissions from
City facilities through advancing energy conservation, efficiency and solar power generation
1. Environmental Protection - Improve facilities, open spaces, rights-of-way,
waterways through assessments, clean-ups and beautification, etc.
1. Compliance, Recycling and Solid Waste - Zero waste policy, reuse and recycling.
2. Sustainable Oakland - Seeks community where people have the opportunity
to pursue safe, happy, healthy and fulfilling lives, now and into the future.
Areas COES Could Enhance
its Web Strategy
1. Content
2. Services
3. Social Media
4. Citizen Engagement
5. Mobile Applications
6. Usability
7. Accessibility
8. Open Data/Government
9. Security & Privacy
Recommendations for
Content
Mission Statement:
Provide a clear and compelling mission statement that promotes
transparency and citizen engagement.
Display mission statement prominently on main (or multiple) page(s):
● Central/top position - immediately visible to viewer
● Different/bigger font than main content
● Consider using a pleasing text color to distinguish it from other
content
Recommendations for
Services
● E-government services saves time and money, as faster service can be
provided and staff may be reduced if those services can be located.
● COES offers great programs that are difficult to find, i.e.:
-OaklandRecycles
-Home Energy Analyzer (HEA)
-Recycle Where
-Oakland Green Map
Recommendations:
● Improve website search tool
● Develop multiple links to materials with overlapping subject matter
● Improve indexing of website materials
Recommendations for
Social Media
● City of Oakland currently using Facebook and Twitter, but COES does not
have their own accounts
● Possible social media outlets for COES to consider:
○ Facebook- community outreach, engagement, events
○ Twitter- fun facts/trivia, announcements
○ Youtube- educational & how-to videos
○ LinkedIn- recruiting
“ … We can use these tools effectively in a way to kind of up
people’s trust in government a little more” (Mergel, 2014)
Recommendations for
Citizen Engagement
“Civic engagement” is an opportunity for exchange between the
public and government experts that can influence policy decisions
(Lukensmeyer & Torres, 2006)
It is recommended COES develop citizen engagement opportunities in the following areas:
●
●
●
●
Methods - informational, beneficial, commercial (transactional)
Types of Interaction - educational games/contests, surveys, polls, interactive searches
Social Media - to promote knowledge/awareness of mission; provide real-time
information; give opportunity to respond to concerns, recruit employees/volunteers, and
enhance policy support
Mobile Applications - easy-to-find payment links, online applications, volunteer
opportunities, educational activities
Recommendations for
Mobile Applications
Mobile application uses:
○ Pay bills (OaklandRecycles)
○ Make appointments for services
○ Volunteering opportunities- Community Cleanups,
Park restoration, etc.
○ Educational games/contests/surveys
○ Tips and facts on recycling
○ Program and facilities locator- Adopt-A-Spot, recycling
centers, etc.
○ General information about department and programs
Recommendations for
Usability
“Usability is about effectiveness, efficiency and the overall satisfaction of the user”
including: intuitive design, ease of learning, efficiency of use, memorability, error
frequency and severity, and subjective satisfaction (Usability.gov, n.d.)
●
●
●
Enhance content structure/layout - balance text and white space
Improve readability - use less text and larger font (14-16pt) for main content
Develop mobile applications - including “touch-first responsive design”
Usability Con’t...
●
Enhance content structure/layout balance text and white space
●
Improve readability - use less text and
larger font (14-16pt) for main content
●
Develop mobile applications including “touch-first responsive design”
Recommendations for
Accessibility
Accessibility is defined as when “people with disabilities can perceive,
understand, navigate, and interact with the Web…” (Henry, 2005)
● Larger text size
○ Option for users to shrink or enlarge text size to
their preference, without distort interface and
layout
● Image text Alternative
○ Provide text description for all images for users using screen readers
Recommendations for
Open Data/Government
● Establish interactive "Open Data" raw datasets
○ Promotes greater trust and transparency
● Resolve internet "404 errors" for static data links
○ More dedicated staff to monitor links
Recommendations for
Security & Privacy
●
●
Close working relationship with the California Chief Information
Security Officer (CISO) for guidance:
○
Budgetary Strategy
○
Emerging Cybersecurity Threats
○
Personnel Acquisition and Retention
E-authentication methods
○
Email / Password Access
Conclusion
While COES provides a variety of services and opportunities online for Oakland residents and
businesses to help them achieve their mission of environmental protection and sustainability,
they could benefit greatly by enhancing their web presence and developing various web features
which could better enable citizens to learn more about and better engage in their programs.
Areas for web strategy improvement: content, services, social media, citizen engagement,
mobile applications, usability, accessibility, open data/government, security & privacy
It is hoped that by implementing some or all of these recommendations, COES will be able to
better drive and achieve its mission of environmental protection and sustainability for the
citizens of the City of Oakland.