cityofboston.gov - Official Web Site of the City of Boston - Thomas M. Menino, Mayor

The City of Boston is focused on understanding and engaging residents to build a better city both for and with them. That strategy is predicated on promoting citizen engagement at all levels of local government business, pursuing Open Gov mandates, and providing improved online service capabilities to our users.

Citizens Connect Application

It’s a 311 app, similar to ones that many cities have.  If a constituent sees a problem – like graffiti - in their neighborhood, they launch the app, shoot a photo, and submit it to the City.  It gets routed directly to a City department to address it and when the work is done, the constituent receives a closed ticket alert.

With Citizens Connect, however, we wanted to see if the app could not only connect citizens with government but also citizens with each other.  So we allowed people to share their requests publicly on a map.

Citizens Connect has now gone through 3 improvement cycles and is now multi-lingual.  More people can use it to interact with the City of Boston.  Not only is it the best way to engage at a personal level but it also is our most cost effective channel as limited resources are needed to satisfy increasing demands by our constituents.  We are still able to provide a high quality level of service.  It also increases access to City Hall for our constituents.

Citizens Connect Application

Channel Diversity

Boston is only place in the country where citizens can report a pothole to the City in the following ways:

• Phone call to a live person,
• Smart Phone app,
• Website,
• Text message (both English & Spanish),
• Tweet Via Twitter, and 
• Partner site (See, Click, Fix). 
   

Channel diversity is a major focus for the City of Boston as we work to engage citizens through whatever channel they feel most comfortable utilizing to connect with public officials.  

Open Government Initiatives

City of Boston’ s Open Data Catalog
Building on the foundation of our Data Warehouse application project, we are working to fill it with sources that help provide analytic measures and translating the data for public consumption.  Our partners at Code for America are working to give us a data platform where we can  put ideas, data, and applications together while allowing people to collaborate and create in a communal online space. Our main requirements are that it be easy to use and engage the public. Boston’s always been a leader in putting data sets out for our constituents (DataHub launched in 2008). We are continuing to build on the success of our earlier efforts by adding additional features and capabilities for our next generation Open Data Catalog, a technological platform supporting Boston’s Open Gov strategy and connecting software developers, citizens, data, and applications together.

Transparency & Cable Streaming Video
Mayor Menino recognized the need for more transparency of government deliberations and enlisted his Cable Office staff to help fulfill the Open Gov mandate.  The process we undertook with the City Council, School Committee and Boston Redevelopment Authority included building out full portable production facilities with robotic cameras, on-site audio switching, graphic capabilities, etc. and adding fiber links to the City network and cable networks for live video transport.  Boston agencies and the City Council now offer live cable and web based public processes and hearings, as well as searchable archival video.

Our completion of the City’s fiber network and borrowed resources from Comcast and RCN networks have given us the opportunity to expand our web and cable capabilities for live presentation of government action.  We’ve also successfully completed our transition to a new tapeless, digital video environment affords us the opportunity to transport and record content in ways that previously were not available. 

Mayor's Cable Office

Citizen Engagement Campaign on City Of Boston.Gov

In our constant effort to provide the best possible experience for CityOfBoston.gov users, we are always searching for new features that improve the user experience and increase constituent engagement. The following services and features all focus on directly engaging our users in our pursuit of such goals.

Online Chat
Added as an additional channel to connect with City through the Mayor’s 24 Hour Constituent Services, an Online Chat option will be available during normal business hours (9am-5pm, Mon-Fri). The chat will increase accessibility and convenience for all site users. Visual tools, such as the ability to exchange screen shots and reference page links, along with the ability for operators to triage chats to other operators or run multiple chats concurrently, will allow for quicker, easier, and more accurate service.

Knowledge Base
The development and support of a Mayor’s 4500 Knowledge Base, which would be compromised of all FAQs across the City site, will reinforce the consistency and accuracy of information site-wide. Available to both constituents and city staff, the Knowledge Base will provide single-source answers to a comprehensive set of questions about City Government.

“What’s New” Section of CityOfBoston.gov
We plan to feature site improvements made in response to user feedback. This section will be updated as we continue to receive user feedback on specific portions of www.cityofboston.gov and demonstrates how well the City incorporates critical feedback into our site improvements.
Whats New - Improvements

Web Improvement Campaign Using Social Media Tools
As part of our broad push to improve the site, we’ve designed a social media campaign around #heyBostonWeb, which will encourage users to communicate directly with us about www.cityofboston.gov. We’re hoping to receive critical input that will help us refresh pages or redesign them based on user experience. We’ll highlight our progress and changes by posting updates as we roll out new improvements. 

Feedback Solutions
We will be deploying Feedbackify, a feedback solution software which will allow users to rate page content, usability, design, and performance. On a more long-term basis, we’re exploring the idea of using focus groups and surveys to provide feedback on overall site usability, design, and experience.