HELP for the OpenAustin City Directory Suggestion Page
The City of Austin Web site has a
directory of nearly 800 City of Austin services. This directory is also used the 3-1-1 operators.
This OpenAustin software application allows volunteers to make comments about the entries, in the hopes of improving the usability of the directory by citizens and city staff.
The directory entries you find here are the same as those on the City Web site. This application allows you to make suggestions about the directory.
To make suggestions, you must register. All registration is done via third-party account validation using whichever
third-party you choose (e.g. Google, Yahoo, Twitter, Facebook, etc.). You should always use the same third-party each time you return. That is, if you register with Yahoo, use Yahoo every time you login subsequently. Your username and
(sometimes) e-mail address are obtained from the third-party.
You can browse through the city services, which are in alphabetical order. You can find all the services that have a particular tag or set of tags, using the Tag search box at the top left. There is no text search yet, but you can skip ahead or back to the page
you think most appropriate.
To see suggestions about a service that have been made by other volunteers, click he "Show suggestions" link for that service. This link will NOT appear until someone has made the first suggestion about that service.
If you want to make a suggestion, click on the "Make suggestion" link to the right
of the service. You will see a page that allows you to do three things:
- Make a general comment. You can use this space to offer edits to the description of the service if you want to. Or you can make any other comments or suggestion about the service and how it is presented.
- Add or remove "tags" from this service. Tags are descriptive words or two- or three-word phrases that help people locate services that have a given attribute. For example a park that has a softball diamond might have the tag, "softball". The Keyword column on the directory page shows the current tags on each service. On this suggestion page you can remove tags or add one of your own.
- Finally you can provide some specific feedback using two selection boxes. Some services are sub-services of others. For example, each park is a sub-service of the Parks Department. So we have created a "parks" tag and indicated that each park is a Secondary service. Back on the directory page, try typing "parks, secondary-service" into the tag search field at the top left.
The second selection box lets you tell us how well that service is implemented online. Consider a service where you fill out and submit a form. If you can fill it out and submit it at the Web site, you "Can act online" with that service. If the form is offered as a file that you have to print, fill out, and fax; then that service "Should act online", but does not today. Some other services, like aluminum can recycling, may not be online services.
When you finish making your suggestion, press the Submit button, or click on Cancel if you have changed your mind about commenting.