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The Generalitat of Catalonia website, gencat, started in September 2005 a process of redesign and restructuring of the continuously developing content.
This multimedia:
- Balances new things and improvements of the last year.
- Emphasises two of the aspects which have contributed most to making localisation of relevant content on the website easier, which are the Topics section and the search engine.
- Revises the interactive services which have supplied new experiences to users of the websites or which it will very soon.
Increase in visits
During 2006, gencat received almost 70 million visits, more than 191,000 on average every day, which means a 72% increase in visits in comparison with last year.
.cat domain
At the beginning of the year, the gencat.cat domain was authorised, designating those websites that form part of the Catalan linguistic and cultural community on the Internet.
Commitment to accessibility
The Generalitat of Catalonia has taken on the commitment to fulfil the AA accessibility standards of the W3C Consortium, considered the best for Public Administration. The aim is to guarantee access to information for everybody, independently of their sensory, motor, cognitive and technological abilities, and of the software, types of connection and equipment (computer, mobile, PDA, etc.) that they use. The last audit carried out by Technosite, Grupo Fundosa in August 2006 determined that the degree of fulfilment of the AA standards for web 1.0 content was 83.72. Since then, part of the problems detected have been revised and solved, and work in this direction is continuing.
Improvement of user experience
The gencat website and the new services which have been incorporated over the said period of time are thought to contribute:
- Ease of use: the structure of the website, particularly the Subjects section and the search engine, make navigation and the localisation of relevant content simpler.
- nteractivity, participation and personalisation: multimedia content, interactive application, personalised information services, virtual assistant to take steps, participation tools (blogs, social networks)... gencat has been being enriched by new interactive services.
All these novelties can be summarised in a general improvement of the user experience.
In May 2006, gencat received a mention in the category of public administration websites at the Stockholm Challenge 2006 international awards. This recognition positioned gencat as one of the five best websites in the category of TIC initiatives of public administrations. In addition to the recognition from Stockholm Challenge, gencat has also received the ComputerWorld 2006award for Impact on the Citizens of Catalonia, a prize awarded by the magazine ComputerWorld that distinguishes the institution that has committed most to the wellbeing of the citizens.
The Generalitat of Catalonia website is structured in four main sections:
- Topics: directory of 23 themed categories.
- Services: section where you can find all the services and steps of the Generalitat of Catalonia.
- Generalitat: enables you to find out about the composition and operations of the Catalan institutions, government action, the Statute, budgets, etc.
- Catalonia: to get to know the region, its nature and cultural heritage and what you should know if you want to come and visit, study, work or do business in Catalonia.
Of all these, the one that has undergone the most substantial change in the structuring of the information is the Topics section. This is a directory of 23 themed categories which group the contents, services and steps available on the Generalitat website, independently of the department or organisation which has the skills. This themed structure has complemented what already existed, which was organic, so that the user just has to know at any time which organisation to go to in order to make a query or interact with the Administration.
The gencat search engine uses Google technology. It has approximately a million index-linked documents and answers some 9,000 queries daily. To search you just need to enter one or more descriptive words in the text box and click on the icon to the right. You can also choose advanced search, which enables you to refine the criteria (types of document, language, etc.). The results are shown by order of relevance. On the right are the highlighted results.
The results of the search are organised into four sections:
- Results from gencat (search the whole website).
- Results from Services and steps (only shows the results relating to services and steps).
- Results from Addresses and telephone numbers (search only in the files of the Citizens Advice Service, which provide basic and contact information for the organisations of the Generalitat of Catalonia)
- Results in the Official Gazette (search exclusively in the DOGC, from 2000 onwards).
- In the future, a fifth section will be added of pictures.
These are some of the new services with which have been enriching the gencat website:
- 1. Channels for subjects and particular parts of the population: A Great world (children), Company and entrepreneurs, Information society ...
- 2. gencat data: multimedia map with essential statistics for getting to know the region.
- 3. Multimedia version of the public service magazine InfoCatalunya: to read it on the Internet as if you had it in your hands. And text version available in Spanish and English.
- 4. Multimedia dedicated to individual subjects: reports that explain projects simply, actions or services of the Government of Catalonia, with improved design, categorised by subjects.
- 5. Social networks platform e-Catalunya e-Catalunya: there are already some twenty collaborative work communities, on subjects as diverse as Catalonia overseas, Meeting society, Justice, Health, prevention of abusive relationships (ending with bad atmospheres)...
- 6. Automatic translator: translates texts and websites (Catalan - Spanish, Spanish - Catalan, Catalan - English, English - Catalan, Catalan - French, French - Catalan).
- 7. Personalised information services (My gencat):
In addition, it will soon incorporate:
- Virtual Citizens Advice Office (OVAC): to carry out services and steps with the Generalitat and receive help from a virtual assistant, Laia. Currently, it is already operating to process school pre-enrolment.
- Street map for the mobile phone.
- Virtual 3D atlas (coming soon): application which simulates a virtual flight over the Catalan region and which enables you to find information (addresses, routes, information about monuments and places of interest, photographs and videos).
- Automatic corrector of Catalan texts.
