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California
wins 3rd out of 50 States in The
State of California has a proud history of
innovation and is constantly improving how it gets
information to the public. In August, the
State of California won third place in the nation in
the Center for Digital Government’s "Best of
the Web" competition. The Center for Digital
Government ranks all fifty states'
web sites based on the following categories:
innovation, functionality and economy and
efficiency. “This
important recognition” California Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger says, “shows that we are leading
the way in providing access to government
information and services in convenient new ways—saving
Californians from extra travel costs and helping the
environment.” One
“convenient new way” California’s web users
are accessing their government’s information is by
clicking on California’s Best
Practices Wiki, a joint-agency project for
which the California State
Library played an integral role. On
the state’s wiki, people who work in state
agencies share “best practices,” their
successful work processes, systems, tools, and even
experiments. State agencies used to exchange success
stories randomly. Now, via the Best Practices
wiki, they can collaborate more effectively. A
small project team from the State and Consumer
Services Agency, State Personnel Board, California
Department of Food and Agriculture, California
Department of General Services, Office of eServices
and the California State Library developed the
collaborative 2.0 web tool for housing agency
entries. Since
the wiki launched in April, state employees have
been praising the site. One state webmaster raves
[the wiki] is “bound to be a frequent destination
for state webmasters.” A Department of Motor
Vehicles (DMV) customer service coordinator says,
“If [the wiki] gets as huge as I envision, it will
be easier to locate information since each
department has its own language…” And a manager
at the Department of Fish and Game exudes, “A wiki
from the State of California agency - who would have
thought? This is fantastic!” The
Center for Digital Government is a national research and advisory
institute on information technology policies and
best practices in state and local government. For
more than a decade, the Center has used the annual
Best of the Web competition to recognize and
celebrate state web portals that provide innovative
solutions by communicating well with constituents
and businesses. For
more information about the California Best
Practices Wiki, please contact Kris
Ogilvie, the California
State Library at (916) 651-6800 or email kogilvie@library.ca.gov.
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