Shane Suzuki
Interactive Design Practice
Winter 2011
Project Proposal – www.publicaffairsonline.com
Product Description: www.publicaffairsonline.com, or PA Online, would be a free, online home for content producers and public affairs officers across the nation to share ideas, content and lessons designed specifically for government workers.
Background: Government public relation offices (called Public Affairs Offices or PAO) have recently experienced a shift toward embracing digital communication technologies. However, most of the government work force is older and was trained in traditional PR techniques and are quickly finding themselves unable to use the latest communication tools.
Due to the non-competitive nature of government employment (at least in a profits driven business sense) PAOs are more likely to work together and share ideas across agencies and offices. However, the lack of time and experience, combined with an embedded culture of isolation makes this sharing of ideas and products almost non-existent.
This website would provide a place for experienced PAOs to share their institutional knowledge while encouraging new PAOs to teach the technological skills necessary to compete in an interconnected world.
Design Strategy Components:
Business Goals
- Reduce training costs
- Production Software (e.g. Adobe Creative Suite)
- Proprietary ECMS (InterWoven Teamsite)
- PAO 101 (Media handling, press release examples, policy examples)
- Increase productivity by reducing production errors
Target Users
- Government Public Affairs Officers, content producers and webmasters
General Tasks
- Provide forums for topical discussion and virtual networking
- Upload and downloading of templates and lessons
- Stock image repository
- Video Tutorials
- Repository of policies and procedures
Technological Constraints
- Hosting costs
- Government IT blocks on certain websites
- Ensure compatibility with Microsoft IE, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Apple Safari
Marketing/Branding Goals
- Engaging content
- Create sense of community across wide geographic region
- Where “Smart PAOs go for info”
- Cutting edge tips and tricks
Critical Success Factors
- Membership from all 15 cabinet level agencies
- Upward trend in participation metrics (forum posts and template uploads)
- Increase quality of government websites
Deliverables
1. Detailed personas
- a 50 something woman with lots of PA experience but little technology knowledge
- a 40 something male with some computer knowledge but little practical experience in web tech
- and a 30 something male with loads of technical skill but little PA experience
2. Wireframes of main pages
- Homepage
- Forum page
- Tutorials page
- Video tutorial
- File resources
- Regular article/news page
3. Survey results of PAOs in the field
4. Need Analysis/Case Study of Agency PAO needs
