Open mike: Bermuda government website

A reader writes:

"The recent e-business report from the Isle of Man highlighted the shortcomings of the Bermuda Government's online activities, particularly their website which is known for being incomplete and ponderously slow despite considerable investment. My personal gripe is the lack of timely and useful information on the website. What type of information and services would you like to see on the Bermuda Government website?"

Comments

[Phil on 28.05.06 at 23:16]

I'd like to see all of the Government's press releases on there.

Transcripts of parliamentary proceedings would be nice, as would an online version of the Register of Members' Interests.

I wish the DPP would update its part of the site too: it still says that Kulandra Ratneser is the Acting DPP, several years after Vinette Graham-Allen was appointed.

[tilti on 29.05.06 at 00:07]

I'd like to see all public expenditures accounted for on the web site. Where the money was spent, if it was a loan, and who the money went to.

[Combat Banker on 29.05.06 at 00:36]

I'd like a running commentary entitled "Where in the World is Ewart Brown?", showing his latest and greatest fabulous trips to five star hotels and $5,000-a-plate campaign luncheons around the Globe, podcast by Robin Leech ala Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous. I am sure everyone in Bermuda would just love to live vicariously through minute to minute updates about egocentric blowhards living off the public dole.

And when the voting public finally kicks him to the curb after the next election, we could do a sequel entitled "The Simple Life", as now mild mannered Ewart adjusts scrapping by on a meager physician's salary, shopping at Dollar Depot, and flying steerage like the rest of us poor sods.

But that's just me.

[Adjustah on 29.05.06 at 06:35]

Regular daily updates, streaming video, podcasts etc...

...and Wayne Furbert's picture.

[Pittsbay on 29.05.06 at 07:33]

Some up to date content / at least some, please.

What about government forms, particularly immigration forms. It is not hard to .pdf these, even arrange to have them fillable!!

Generally, I have found the content sorely lacking in relevance.

[ken on 29.05.06 at 08:34]

Adjustah,

U really want Wayne Furbert's picture?
The man who thought that Sybil was trying to represent Queen Elizabeth in the parade? LMAO!

[Zoom on 29.05.06 at 08:35]

Every government form should be there as a PDF form that you can fill out. The process for doing different interactions (how do I get a passport, register a new baby, etc.) should be stated clearly. All Government fees should be stated clearly.

Content for every government department should be up to date; it is woefully stale! Some departments, such as the Ombudsman, are not there at all.

Master schedule of government events.

Shorter URLs please! The website is slow as a dog: fast pussycat faster! Should meet W3C standards for accessibility.

All government laws and regulations should be there, both in full form and plain English synopsis.

Schedules for Parliament and the Senate should be posted at least a week in advance, along with draft legislation that is up for debate. Hansard transcripts should also be posted, as well as voting patterns.

Meeting schedules, agendas, and minutes for the dozens of Government boards.

[Zoom on 29.05.06 at 08:35]

There should be a combined procurement centre for all Government departments posting all procurements over $25,000 in standard format allowing local businesses a fair chance at bidding. Successful bidders should be identified. If the entire United States Government can do it, so can we: http://www.fedbizopps.gov/

[Adjustah on 29.05.06 at 08:52]

"U really want Wayne Furbert's picture?
The man who thought that Sybil was trying to represent Queen Elizabeth in the parade? LMAO!"

LOL! That's brilliant! Hadn't heard that! Perhaps not then...cheers for the laugh, Ken!

Wonder if they could put up an LIB and Politics.bm RSS feed on the site...hmmmm...

[Queen of the Cabinet on 29.05.06 at 09:12]

Where is the text of the Bermuda Constitution?

[Andrew on 29.05.06 at 10:12]

Queen of the Cabinet,

The constitution can be found at http://www.ubp.bm/downloads/BermudaConstitutionOrder1968.pdf

[Queen of the Cabinet on 29.05.06 at 10:34]

And where's Alice Cooper?

http://www.gov.im/event.gov?eventid=314&homepage=1

[curious on 29.05.06 at 11:36]

Departmental Directory showing locations

This could have been useful for the AG staff this morning when they came in to find they'd been moved.

Of course they would need to have working computers to access the website, so maybe it wouldn't work.

[Martin on 29.05.06 at 13:15]

A link to Immigration that does not show the message..."Content will be available shortly".

How much time do these people need to get it up and running?

I shudder to add anything else...given they seem to struggle with what they have there already.

[prickles on 29.05.06 at 14:30]

It appears more and more often that no one is really running this country. Things just "happen".

[Pitts Bay on 29.05.06 at 15:34]

For those lawyers out there, and how statute (existing, revised, proposed etc) and case law could be done by a small jurisdiction, check out this link:

http://www.jerseylegalinfo.je/Home/WhatsNew/default.aspx

This is the sort of thing we SHOULD be doing in Bermuda

[Zoom on 29.05.06 at 15:46]

This is rather posh

http://www.statesassembly.gov.je

This is also the sort of thing we SHOULD be doing in Bermuda. It's not about the technology. It's about Government getting organised.

[Pitts Bay on 29.05.06 at 16:08]

Zoom

That looks good too.

I thought Bermuda was e-commerce and "e" everything else friendly. Isn't Michael Scott the Minister for "E" - he should be shown what can be done.

I wonder how much was spent on the "E" consultant that was done here for a couple of years from the UK Gov't - I expect that cost a fortune - with not much to really show but a lot of talk and not much walk!!

[Denizen on 29.05.06 at 17:12]

There was so much hype about the ombudsman - but no web info. The phone book often has better information about government than their own web pages. Back to basics.

[The Don on 29.05.06 at 18:01]

How about someone tells them how to prepare graphics / photography properly for the web (ie. as small as possible) - a common affliction of Bermuda's web sites... Limey not included!

[kristen sousa on 30.05.06 at 06:46]

Pitts Bay: I'm making an assumption here that the UK "E" consultant you speak of was Nigel Hickson.

He did more than talk - he started to build a foundation for e-commerce growth in our country. The green paper was a pretty clear indication of where we where, what needed to be done... and how to get there. But it never got much further than that. Some things have been taken into consideration and acted on.. but is that his fault? He was a consultant... he consulted and advised. It up to those that hired him to put it into action.

The portal started off at a great place. It never grew from there.. if anything, it has only continued to get worse over time.

Oh.. and as for my advise, rather than do someones job for them... i'm just going to point them in the right direction:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/Homepage/fs/en

They've really done a great job with the main gov.uk portal here in the UK. Some pretty good lessons to be learnt from their experience... i'm sure.

Just boils down to management at the end of the day, you either know what you're doing or you don't.

What use is a singing choir if... !

And on that note, I close.

[Yaw Bye! on 30.05.06 at 08:09]

I do believe that the individual that designed created and posted the dot gov site has left fro greener pastures. From the sounds of it there has been no replacement yet or the replacement is still in the proccess of trying to decide what to do.

What gets my ass is that when the site was launched, gov held a launch party at one of the COB wired Wednesdays functions. Wouldnt you know they chose the most expensive venue "The Waterfront" and had expensive wines at hand whilst ministers resembling Hippopotamus's sat on comfy chairs showing their prowness at Blackberry control.

What is wrong with these people, they think the tax revenue is their own money to do with as they please.n they could have flown this white elephant of a website with far less expense.

[Pitts Bay on 30.05.06 at 08:36]

Kristen

My criticisim was not at Nigel. From what I know of him he was very accomplished and put together the framework. While I think the framework for the gov portal is too complex for Bermuda, it was, I am sure, based on his work in the UK.

The criticism is for the E Ministry (the the Minister) who, I am sure, spent a small fortune on Nigel, and have not followed through on what could be a great display of open government - as I said, a lot of talk and not much walk!

[Zoom on 30.05.06 at 08:41]

Government wanted to buy something expensive and call it an e-commerce success. They spent the money in the wrong place. They did not think about what citizens and business need to know, nor organise themselves to provide that information. It's all about management and customer service!!

[kristen sousa on 30.05.06 at 09:54]

@Pitts Bay: I appologise for misunderstanding you. I'm sure the Government paid less for Nigel than they could of made by taking into his recommendations into consideration.

Also, I was always under the impression that Nigel Hickson was a consultant to Minister Webb, not Minister Scott ?

@Zoom: Indeed. But this isn't to say it can't be done. It can be done. It just takes, as you say, management and customer service - good management and customer service. The facilities are in place, it appears they just don't know how to use them.

Also, I wasn't suggesting we copy Gov.uk... just use it as a model. Along with a number of other government portals. I believe the gov.bm portal was initially developed using a model from Puerto Rico (I could be wrong) or somewhere else that had similarities with Bermuda.

It started off on a really good foot, and it's just mess now.

[SmokingGun on 30.05.06 at 17:09]

"Just boils down to management at the end of the day, you either know what you're doing or you don't." - kristen sousa

They know what they're doing alright. They just don't want anyone else knowing what they're doing. ;-)

[kristen sousa on 31.05.06 at 04:45]

hee hee.. i wish!