SOCITM (Society of Information Technology Management)
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Better connected 2015: preview of council website performance on local democratic representation

Local authority websites could do a lot better when it comes to presenting information about local democratic representation, says the first trailer in a series to be published ahead of the main Better connected 2015 report on 2 March.

One of the tasks tested for Better connected 2015 was ‘Find out about my councillor’. Fewer than half - 46% - of the UK’s 433 sites met the Better connectedstandard for this task, with 41% failing specifically because names and parties of local councillors could not be found.

With local authorities being, above all, bodies of democratic representation, if people are unable to find out who their councillors are, and which political party is in control, it is not just annoying, it is undemocratic, says the preview.

The poor result for this task is indicative of the fact that democracy sections of local authority websites have failed to evolve significantly in the last few years. It is not satisfactory to have to know the name of your ward in order to find your councilor, especially where no advice is given for finding out which ward you live in. Furthermore, it is often difficult to find a simple clear statement of which political party is in control of the council, Better connected 2015 will say.

Get the trailer

 

Channel website: https://www.socitm.net/

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