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GCN Home > 05/26/08 issue

Widgets to the rescue

USASearch.gov aims to make agency info easier to find with new spotlight tool

By Wyatt Kash

The rise of widgets on the Web has spawned a virtual industry of plug-in capabilities. Now a Web services group in the federal government is entering the fray with a new set of search widgets aimed at improving government Web sites.

The new plug-in applications, developed for USASearch.gov by Vivisimo, are in final testing and due for release next month. They are designed to address a frequent failure of search engines tethered to agency Web sites: getting often-sought government information and services to appear prominently in the search results.

The widgets aim to solve that problem by giving agency Web managers new tools to spotlight selected information and extend the capabilities of USASearch.gov, a customized search engine launched three years ago by USA Services, a unit of the General Services Administration’s Office of Citizen Services and Communications.

“The old paradigm was to deliver brochureware — come see us online,” said John Murphy, director of USA.gov Technologies at USAServices.

“For years, USA.gov [the government’s portal] has been like a directory,” he said. “We’re still asking them to come to us,” but now the vision is to provide added services — reference data, forms, frequently asked questions, maps, news and other information — and make them easy to find, regardless of which agency Web site people are searching.

Delivering on that vision requires a sophisticated search engine. Since its inception, USASearch.gov has added a powerful dimension to USA.gov and more than 200 affiliated agency Web sites. The service primarily benefits federal sites, although pilot projects are under way at state and local agencies, such as Broward County, Fla. The search engine relies on two applications working in tandem: Microsoft’s Live Search, which has been set to index government agency Web sites and deliver the filtered results, and Vivisimo, which sorts and displays the search results into keyword clusters based on underlying themes.

USASearch.gov’s structured results simplify access to the contents of more than 50 million federal, state and local government documents.

More news on related topics: IT Management, Software Applications, Web Strategies



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