Modernizing FCC.gov Focus of Our Research Understand what FCC.gov visitors want from our site. How to optimize how they search, use, and interact with our website. Our areas of our research included: 1.Analyzed web content + web analytics 2.Card-Sorting 3.User experience interviews 4.Prototype validation-testing 1. Web-Content + Analytics 2. Card-Sorting Card-Sorting - Two Methods 3. User Interviews 4. Prototype Validation-Testing Our Findings 1.Current FCC.gov lacks a clear information architecture, making content difficult or impossible to find. 2.Typical visitors do not come to FCC.gov to browse content, they want the information theyre looking for in as few clicks as possible. 3.Typical visitors prefer a clear separation of consumer content and practitioner content, to meet practitioners daily need for cut and dry info and consumers with content most appropriate to them. 4.Practitioners prefer for content to be organized and categorized based on FCCs day-to-day work. Check out a prototype of what our new website will look like at Modernizing the FCCs Electronic Comment Filing System Background The Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) was first created in The current ECFS makes sense when you think about the time in which it was built. Core users were FCC and inside/outside council (often from big companies) that needed to work with the FCC. ECFS was originally designed to provide a relatively simple way to log on and submit a formal comment, usually through a multi-page PDF attachment. Changes Over Time Functions have been added to the original mission of allowing the public to submit comments online. Litigation of formal complaints Submission of petitions for rulemaking Transfer-of-control applications + more Current Users Recent years theres been a dramatic change in the ECFS user base. Primary users until the recent past: communications practitioners with official business before the FCC, telecom- focused consumer/public interest groups, and members of the press. New user base in recent past: general members of the public, mainstream advocacy groups, wider array of mainstream press, in addition to increased utilization by our core user base. Current Traffic Levels For most of its lifetime, a typical proceeding on ECFS received a small number of comments (tens up through hundreds) with relatively heavy attachments. In the past couple years, however, some particularly controversial proceedings like Open Internet, received nearly 4 million for Open Internet with usually very lightweight submissions (simple text, no attachment). In addition to increased utilization by our core user base. Improved layout and design - easy to file comments, check filing status, and conduct research. Reliable technology designed for up-time - even under heavy usage. Elegant and intuitive navigation - find what you're looking for and complete tasks faster. Cost efficient model - saving taxpayer dollars. Same features as the old ECFS but w/ improvements to usability for the general public. The New ECFS Check out a prototype of the FCCs new ECFS at Have a question?