Paper presented to the Metadata Australia Conference in Canberra May 2010

1. Victoria Online: Seek and ye shall find
Vanessa Scott
Content Manager
Information Victoria
Dept of Innovation, Industry & Regional Development
26 May 2010

2. Victoria Online – 4 new features
• Got a Question?
• Use of Google CSE
• VisualPlace – proof of
concept
• Contacts & Services
Directory – COMING SOON

4. Victoria Online – www.vic.gov.au
• Provides Victorians with a single entry point to
online Federal, Victorian State and Local
Government information and services
• Key project of the State Government’s
eGovernment policy Putting People at the
Centre
• Launched September 2003

5. Victoria Online – Before
• Typical portal – one-stop shop for government
information
• Over 3,000 links to state, federal & local
websites
• Browse/search options
• Metadata informed browse/search
• Use of thesaurus

6. Victoria Online – Now
Increase engagement with users:
• Events Calendar – Suggest an
event
• RSS feeds, Twitter
• Info Vic Newsletter –
subscription
• Aggregation of social media
• Steady increase in visitors

7. Got a Question?
• Launched September 2009
• Citizens can ask questions using their own words
• Immediate answer in most cases
• New questions get added to the knowledge repository
• Repository of knowledge – built up over time
• Used in our state government call centre

9. Got a Question?
• Questions increasing each
month
• Reporting
– Total questions asked
– New answers created
– Answers taught
– Top match answers given
– Email responses
Month #
Questions
Sep 09 191
Oct 09 456
Nov 09 751
Dec 09 467
Jan 10 771
Feb 10 863
Mar 10 1,356

10. Got a Question?
• Technology used – aQtual - http://www.pacsis.com.au/
• Ongoing training
• Email notification of new questions

11. Victoria Online – search history
• September 2003 – used proprietary application
integrated with Funnelback. Search results a
combination of +3,000 links and a HCL of these
links. Preference given to metadata records.
• September 2007 – proprietary application
discontinued. Open source product used. Only
searched +3,000 links that were catalogued –
limited result set

12. Victoria Online – search options
• Purchase new proprietary software – expensive
• Replace search with Google CSE – no fees
• Use other free search tools available

13. Search – Google CSE
• Introduced December 2009
• No licence or support fees, no bandwidth cost
• Configurable under Google account
• Unlimited number of sites can be included
• Easy implementation

14. Google CSE – Pros & Cons
Pros:
• Better search result
• Google search interface
familiar to end user
• Additional features eg.
Promotions,
autocompletion of
queries, etc
• Custom Search Blog -
http://googlecustomsearc
h.blogspot.com/
Cons:
• Need to add new
domains for inclusion in
search
• Dead links
• Not using thesaurus for
search

16. Google CSE – other Vic Govt websites
• www.health.vic.gov.au
• www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au
• www.consumer.vic.gov.au
• www.parkweb.vic.gov.au
• www.skills.vic.gov.au
• www.rbg.vic.gov.au
• www.invest.vic.gov.au
• WoVG workshop with web managers from above sites to discuss
use of Google CSE – 2 June

17. Search – some quick stats
• 8.9 % of total visitors use site search (Pre Dec 2009, ~ 11.7%) –
Possibly dropped due to ‘Got a Question?’
• Average 35,000 unique searches per month (~ 333,000 unique
visits to site per month)
• Unique searches steadily increased since Dec 2009
• Search exits steadily increased
• Popular search terms have not changed much
• Ongoing evaluation required – at least 12 months

18. Search – some quick stats
• 8.9 % of total visitors use site search
(Pre Dec 2009, ~ 11.7%)
• Does ‘Got a Question?’ feature have
impact on searching
• Average 35,000 unique searches per
month (~ 333,000 unique visits to site
per month)
• Unique searches steadily increased
since Dec 2009
• Search exits steadily increased
• Popular search terms have not
changed much
• Ongoing evaluation required – at least
12 months

19. VisualPlace
• A Proof of Concept mapping tool (January 10 – July 10)
• Demonstrates how mapping applications can support and develop
improved access to government information and services
• Delivery of a GIS enabled tool to allow users of VO to map and
visualise government data
• Provide a user-friendly functionality to non-GIS experts to easily
create, analyse and visualise location-based government
information, services and data.

21. VisualPlace PoC – Primary outcomes
• The delivery of a GIS enabled tool to allow users of VO to map and
visualise government data
• To test the appetite for online GIS tool to visualise govt data
• To evaluate user feedback to inform potential future releases of GIS
enabled tools
• To demonstrate the value of GIS enabled tools to both government
and users of government information
• To recommend the development of full production model

22. VisualPlace PoC – Secondary outcomes
• To test, develop and identify the priority datasets for any future
production versions of a service locator type functionality
• To develop awareness of the value of GIS-enabled, public facing
tools to data owners within government
• To encourage data owners within government to release datasets
for users of such tools
• To encourage VO users to access and manipulate Government
information and services.

23. VisualPlace – data used
• ABS census data – demographics includes education, transport,
households, employment, health
• Services
– Health – hospitals,
– Education – schools,
– Transport – trams, train stations, train lines
– Emergency – police, ambulance, fire
– Administration
• Supplied from various govt departments

24. VisualPlace - Evaluation
• Currently seeking feedback from users
• VisualPlace blog - collects user experiences from a range of
perspectives such as usability, dataset requirements, functionality
etc.

25. VisualPlace – user feedback
“I believe that gaming (gambling) and liquor data could and should be made available.
These are two areas that have a major impact on the amenity of communities and have a
number of effects in other areas.
The data can be used by researchers, the public and even the industry themselves.”
“Brilliant. Love to see school zone boundaries on there and perhaps rolling in data from
land.vic.gov.au too.”
Would expect to be able to forward a URL to someone so they can view the map as
“configured”

26. VisualPlace - analysis
• Technology used – utilises Microsoft Silverlight
• Surveys
– General – available from VisualPlace
– Detailed – highlighted dozen people
• Feedback from overseas providers who provide similar service
• Going forward? Expansion of data sets?
• Further information: Simon de Sousa, Project Officer -
Simon.de_Sousa@diird.vic.gov.au

28. Contacts & Services Directory
• New online directory (similar to gold.gov.au)
• 4 key areas:
– Departments and Other Bodies
– Parliament of Victoria
– Governor of Victoria
– Courts & Tribunals
• Includes key contacts (eg. MPs, Secretaries, Ombudsmen, etc)
• Includes services
• Browse and search (including advanced search)

29. Contacts & Services Directory
• Technology used is View DS - www.viewds.com
• Approximate matching in directory
• Algorithms developed for View500
• Coming soon!

35. Contact info
Vanessa Scott
Content Manager
eServices, Information Victoria
Department of Innovation, Industry & Regional
Development
e: vanessa.scott@diird.vic.gov.au
p: (03) 9938 0517
Follow InfoVic on Twitter: twitter.com/InfoVic