Data, not decor, define new state website; chatbot answers questions from users

Comparison between the current arkansas.gov site and the redesigned site
Comparison between the current arkansas.gov site and the redesigned site

A redesigned state website is ditching glossy images for a down-to-business design that emphasizes state services.

The new site also will feature a chatbot -- a computer program that responds conversationally to typed queries -- to try to answer common questions. The program hands off questions it cannot answer to humans.

Users can preview the site at beta.arkansas.gov. The current site is accessible at arkansas.gov.

"As you look at the current arkansas.gov, it's real graphic heavy and it looks real nice and has some beautiful landscapes of the state, but there's not a lot of content that gets indexed [by search engines] well and that helps the citizens find what they're looking for and move on," said Karl Hills, director of technology for the Information Network of Arkansas.

The Information Network of Arkansas is funded by charging a fee for some online transactions through state and local governments. Over the past decade, it has collected about $̶7̶0̶ ̶m̶i̶l̶l̶i̶o̶n̶ $82 million* in user fees on government transactions. The new website comes at no cost to state government.

Behind the Information Network of Arkansas is the Arkansas Information Consortium LLC. The consortium is based in Little Rock, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of NIC, a Kansas-based company that provides services for governments.

Hills said Information Network has seen traffic decrease to the main arkansas.gov site, which serves as a clearinghouse for state services, while traffic from search engines -- such as Google -- to specific state webpages has increased.

For the main page to remain relevant, Hills said a text-heavy format and the chatbot to answer questions would serve users better. Plus arkansas.com, the state's tourism website, does a good job showcasing the state's beauty, he said.

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He said the new arkansas.gov emphasizes popular services in a way that de-emphasizes the role individual state agencies play. For example, instead of directing users to the Department of Finance and Administration, there's a link for "Car Tag Renewal."

Some things aren't changing on the new site.

A search bar that provides suggestions as text is entered remains front and center, though a new search engine under the hood is aimed at providing better results.

Gov2Go -- a state service that sends reminders about assessing, paying property taxes, renewing car tags and elections -- continues to be emphasized.

Aggregated state press releases and a calendar of public meetings also are prominent on the new state webpage.

Hills emphasized that the site -- and the chatbot in particular -- is a work in progress and said he hopes to get feedback from users at: beta.arkansas.gov/pages/beta

When a reporter asked the chatbot: "Where can I view restaurant inspection data?" the program directed the query to a human who replied with a link to the Arkansas Department of Health's new restaurant inspection database. Asked about "car tag renewal" a human responded with the link to arstar.com. Because those transactions occurred at night, the information was sent in the morning.

No new employees will be hired to deal with online queries, Hills said. Instead, existing employees at state agencies are routed questions.

The chatbot program is trained to answer the top 15 or so queries right now, about 20 percent of the overall requests, Hills said. The rest will continue to be handled by people, but over time, Hills expects the technology to improve and human intervention to decrease.

Hills said he expects the beta site to become the main site in October.

After reviewing the site, Joseph Williams, an associate professor in the department of rhetoric and writing at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, said user interface designers have multiple goals, including efficiency and engagement.

"The text is probably quicker because you can get right to the thing you need," he said. "It's more efficient. But on the engagement issue -- that's a hard one to quantify."

Images tend to increase user interest in a website, Williams said.

"Some people will be really happy because they just came here to find out when their taxes were due and that's all they care about," he said. "Finding that really quickly -- at the top of the page -- it's boom, they can get it done. For a lot of users that kind of functional based approach has really been a priority in usability."

Williams said most of the changes to the site were positives to him, especially the focus on specific government transactions, but he might move the link to the chatbot closer to the top of the page.

Chatbots are "all the rage right now," Williams said. "They generally have gotten some pretty positive feedback from people with limited questioning. They can't answer everything, right? They're basically trained like you would train a dog and they can only do a certain number of tricks."

In 2015, the current arkansas.gov was ranked first in the nation by the Center for Digital Government, a California-based group.

In an article about the award, Government Technology magazine said the best government sites "tend to use simple, high-image, low-text designs; prioritize accessibility and mobility; prominently feature a search function; and start with a design philosophy that puts the user first."

In 2016, Arkansas wasn't listed in the top five. Maryland, with a large featured image of a man fishing, took the top honor.

Beyond arkansas.gov, the Information Network of Arkansas says it has designed more than 4̶0̶0̶ 850* services for Arkansas, including as IDriveArkansas.com, an interactive map that details road conditions, and The Great Arkansas Treasure Hunt, a tool to find unclaimed property.

SundayMonday on 08/21/2017

*CORRECTION: The Information Network of Arkansas has collected about $82 million in user fees over the last decade. A previous version of this article misstated the figures. The network also created more than 850 services. This article used outdated information from the network’s website, which has since been updated.

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