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Dear [first_name],
I hope you enjoy this month's topics. This is
your newsletter, so if you like or don't like something about it, please email us at
newsletter@bullmoosemarketing.com and we will
adapt. Like everything in politics and everything on the Web, we too at Bull Moose Marketing need
to be flexible...
Thanks for reading,
Nick Ellinger
CEO, Bull Moose Marketing, LLC.
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In this issue...
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Best Practices: E-Government Throughout the World
The United Nations Division for Public Economics and Public Administration (UNDPEPA) partnered
with the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) to study the global e-government efforts
of its member states. You can
read the article here
if you wish. It is an interesting report for many reasons (if only to see where your home
government ranks), but what we will be focusing on is those services that can serve as examples to
other countries.
Making do with what you have: Namibia has
an unemployment rate of 30-40% and a per capita income of about $4,400. It seems an unlikely
candidate for e-government; however, Namibia also recognizes the need of disseminating important information
by any and all means. Namibia's Ministry of Health page
(http://www.healthforall.net/grnmhss/)
is an example of this. While certainly not a paragon of design, it contains information on
breastfeeding initiatives, HIV/AIDS prevention, and condom usage. It also has information about
the Ministry, news releases, links to other sites, job opportunities, and more.
This site has more information
and services than much better funded sites and shows what you can do if you set your
basic goals and commit to them. This helps avoid "it would be nice if..." projects when
can drag you down when first starting a project.
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Featured Site
Get information on any country from
the CIA's World Factbook. It's where we go when we have to find Namibia's per capita income,
chief exports, political stability, etc.
Cheap Plug
Want to find cheap improvements for your site? Try Bull Moose Marketing's
free consultants report,
which gives you free and low-cost ideas customized to your Web site's needs.
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Examples of Single Entry Portals:
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Single-Entry Portals: Single-entry portals are
one site that a citizen can go to to access any and all government Web sites. These types of sites
are becoming the standard. As you can see from the sample sites to the left, there are a great
variety in the types of countries and types of sites. The most important part of these sites is
the ease of navigation, which is what makes single-entry portals a best practice.
One interesting point is that subnational governments are more likely to have single-site access to
all services; not only can states be the laboratories of democracy, but apparently also Web services, as
the United Nations found a great deal of experimentation at this level.
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Online Tax Services: One of the most frequently found transactional features was the ability
to file and pay taxes online. There are a number of good tax sites--Ireland,
Norway, and the United States are
all worth a look. The most lauded site, however, is Spain's.
Citizens can calculate and pay income taxes online and business can pay income, property, and sales
taxes. Spain also is a pioneer in the use of digital signatures as an important means of
validation for their income tax services.
Commitment: We at Bull Moose Marketing
recognize that it isn't just what goes onto the page, but also the commitment and drive of the
people creating the pages. The best example of this was the
United States' FirstGov team. When the FirstGov offices were evacuated September 11th, 2001,
team members worked from their home computers to provide design and content for the FirstGov page.
By 7 AM the next days, this ad hoc team had a critical list of 60 Web sites and telephone numbers
up on their site. By the afternoon, they had an "America Responds to Terrorism" section. Our
hats are off to this dedicated team who worked through adversity to bring people closer to their
government and ease the pain of a suffering nation.
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Best Overall Site: This is a total subjective
decision by our staff. However, it is tough to argue with
the Singapore government page. This site has taken some
business best practices like recommend this site links and feedback links and
incorporated them into their Web site. They have a search box with excellent search
functionality, a directory listing of government agencies, and a featured area to
allow the site to change with the times. The only thing missing (on our first glance--they haven't
asked for a free consulting report
yet) is services in different languages (Canada is a
good example of this). One important thing to note is Singapore's commitment to be the leading
e-government--they have an entire site set up for just this
commitment.
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Cheap Plug
Speaking of business best practices...
Bull Moose Marketing services are now available for non-political businesses! While our
business site is not yet publicly available (we are still working on a few tweaks), you can get a
sneak preview here. Please
email us if you have any comments.
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Worst practice: Propaganda: After all of these
good Web site, let's look at a bad one--Zimbabwe's general government home page. Unlike Namibia's
attempts to use its Web budget to make a difference for its people, the Mugawe government in Zimbabwe
uses the Web to attempt to consolidate power and propagandize. To be sure, a good many government
Web sites around the world have this as a goal. However, sites that focus on that exclusively
cannot be considered service delivery or citizen-centric. This is not to pick on Zimbabwe; over 25%
of the countries in the survey had similar faults.
Do you have any hints for our readers? Any questions, comments, or death threats? Please send them to
newsletter@bullmoosemarketing.com.
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Case Study: Anesthesiologists Influence HHS Regulations
In the final days of the Clinton Administration, there was a rule tentatively adopted to allow
nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) to perform anesthesia without physician supervision. The American
Society of Anesthesiologists sought to block the rule.
In response, the ASA launched www.anesthesiasafety.net,
which questioned the patient safety impacts of removing supervision. The site featured:
- Regular email updates from the campaign ("sign up for the activist list")
- Studies and news on the efficacy of physician supervision
- Searching for public officials by ZIP code
- Easy emails for users to email the HHS and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (these emails were hand-delivered to the center,
which was a very nice touch)
- Tell a friend functionality
The site generated over 200,000 messages and 70,000 activists--those who signed up and then took action.
And the results? In November, the Bush Administration asked for states to require continued
doctor supervision of nurse anesthetists. For the press, the ASA president was "cautiously optimistic, " saying
"While the new rule preserves the much-needed physician-supervision requirement, there are some
portions that could be exploited and abused by those opposed to having a physician
involved in every anesthetic." For their advocates, they proclaimed victory. The
Anesthesiasafety.net Web site now encourages
visitors to write letters of thanks to President Bush and Secretary Thompson
The fight continues. The current rule allows states to opt out of physician supervisions. So,
Anesthesiasafety.net continues, recruiting
more activist subscribers and sending more emails.
If you need these types of results and want a few hints,
request a free consulting report
from Bull Moose Marketing.
Sources:
Totty, Michael. "Get Out the Vote."
Wall Street Journal. April 15, 2002.
"
ASA endorses new rule to keep physicians involved in anesthesia:, AMA Web site, November 14, 2001.
"
New rule would allow states to waive supervision requirement for CRNAs", Washington Outlook, July 13, 2001.
www.anesthesiasafety.net
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Quick Clicks
The quick clicks for May 2002:
- Washington Post's On Politics.
A solid inside-the-beltway look at politics. News stories, op/eds, handicapping the races, cartoons, and more.
- Thomas. The US Governments page for
legislative information. Dedicated to the spirit of Thomas Jefferson, you can look at current bills
or browse the last 14 years.
- The Onion. Only for those with a sense of humor,
the Onion satirizes events of the day with wickedly funny fake news articles (one of which was
recently picked up by the Chinese government as the truth--testament to the power of the Web)
If you have a site you would think should be a quick click, send it to
newsletter@bullmoosemarketing.com.
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While Bull Moose Marketing and its agents used their best efforts in collecting and preparing the
information published herein, Bull Moose Marketing does not assume, and hereby disclaims, any
liability for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions
resulted from negligence, accident or other causes.
© 2002 Bull Moose Marketing, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
You may freely distribute Bull Moose Marketing material, as long as it bears the following attribution:
Source: 2002 Bull Moose Marketing; www.bullmoosemarketing.com/politics
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