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Democratized Navigation

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Democratised Navigation

Definition:

Democratised navigation includes automatic generation of links to the most popular website content (downloads) over various time frames such as the last week, month, year, or all-time.


Summary:

Democratised navigation is a technical feature available with a database-driven website. Unlike most links on a site in which the site owner chooses links based on editorial judgment, usage-based links are presented to users based on the end point content or downloads sought be previous users. This a typical feature in a software download site or an online news site with "most viewed" or "most e-mailed" pages. In a political sense, what is popular today, this week, or an item with a dramatic rise in popularity means it is important content even if it is actually well buried on the site.


Rationale and Objectives:

What can you use this feature for?

  • Accessing important information on a timely basis via dynamically generated section of a home page or a special page linking to popular content.
  • Leveraging the aggregate online usage patterns of "in the know" users for the benefit of casual citizen users who often do not know which content is compelling or of high importance.
  • Increasing usage of the most valued content and therefore raising user satisfaction with the site.

Why use it? (Compared to other options)

  • Automate the task of manually creating lists of popular content which can easily get out of date.
  • Utilize the full power of investments in database-driven content management systems.
  • Limit the editorial notion that if certain "hot" public information is buried on a website it will not become well known or widespread, even though it is politically useful to citizens.

Benefits - Describe the top benefits for each group

  • All Users: Convenient access to what's important or interesting today or this week/month/year.
  • Citizens: Promotes a level playing field by presenting quick access to public information that those on the inside or "in the know" utilize.
  • Councillors: Site usage statistics of any specific detail are normally not presented to elected officials. This feature allows them to get a sense of what types of content are most important to site visitors.
  • Local Administration: Reduce website information queries on where to locate new and specifically popular information.
  • Others (list special audiences): Media - Thought to be obscure issues may demonstrate unexpected content popularity and therefore warrant news coverage.


Limitations and Cautions

  • Must be designed to rank "end" content based usage and not navigational pages.
  • Choice of time frames or user ranking options is very important. "This week" and "last year" are recommended at a minimum along with an ability to view secondary screens of rankings below the threshold to appear on the first page.
  • May limit the ability of a government organisation to bury legally public information that is required online from politically undesirable wide or timely distribution. This may hinder support for technical implementation.
  • Some caution is needed when equalising the quantity of visits to a page, with the importance of that page for lives and needs of a community.

Successes collected projects

- Successful Implementations

Two or three key examples from at least two countries.

  • Example 1: U.S. Department of Transportation - Top 25 Rulemaking Docket Requests
    • Link: http://dms.dot.gov/reports/topdock_rpt.htm
    • Usage and Results: This site feature allows a user to quickly view the top 25 out of hundreds of rulemaking dockets on this site. From "Occupant Crash Protection - Air Bags" receiving 11,468 views at number 25 to a request for comments on "Glare from Headlamps" receiving 75,542 views, one can quickly ascertain the major issues facing transportation policymakers.
  • Example 2 Title: "Discourse Machine"
    • Link: kulturforum-dialog.de
    • Usage and Results: The senate of Berlin, Germany launched an online consultation about the architectural development of the Kulturforum, a quarter of the town, next to the former east-west border and location of many famous cultural buildings. The online consultation was part of a larger consultation effort with exhibitions, public face-to-face meetings, and expert-workshops.
      The online forum used the forum technology of the discourse machine, which features the ranking of articles and comments through a flexible system of criteria. These criteria (hits, number of comments, internal user links, quotes...) can be set by the moderators or by the users themselves. The discussion showed that this system allowed an effective but transparent filter for the contributions and fostered a more effective and result-oriented discussion.
    • Contact Information: Hans Hagedorn, Zebralog

The top three items are the street map of Chili, the map illustrating the different school districts that serve the town and the 2010 Plan Sub-Areas master plan. Much of the longer list includes meeting minutes.


Further Information

Top Related "How-to" Online Resources

Ask your web staff or provider to activate modules with your content management system that allow database-generated listings. Consider creating categories of end content and avoid listing directory pages, which automatically generate more traffic.

A number of examples from software download and news sites exist. Here are some samples.


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