Governor Kaine Announces Partnership with Google to Improve Citizen Access to Digital Government
RICHMOND – Governor Timothy M. Kaine today announced a first-of-its-kind partnership between Virginia and Google Inc. that makes it easier for citizens to search and find relevant Web-based information and services on Virginia’s state government Web sites.
State webmasters, Virginia.gov and Google staff have worked together since January to implement a Sitemap protocol, a standard that enables a Web site owner to better communicate the contents of a site to search engines so that more pages on the Web site are searchable.
“Transparent government is a high priority in Virginia,” Governor Kaine said. “Our goal is simple, intuitive and quick citizen access to every government resource. Our partnership with Google is one example of our many citizen-focused initiatives to simplify government and provide greater access to its services.”
Virginia has also upgraded the search tool on the state portal to encompass the full range of government information citizens may be seeking. Using the Google Custom service, Virginia now provides visitors to Virginia.gov the ability to search for information from all sectors of government, whether provided by a federal, state, or local government source.
Google has assisted state officials in implementing these Web site improvements at no cost. The states of Arizona, California and Utah also have partnered with Google in this pilot initiative.
“Connecting citizens with their government by offering the public better access to public sector information and services is consistent with Google’s broader vision – to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful,” said Eric Schmidt, Google Chief Executive Officer. “As these partnerships contribute to better information exchange between state governments and citizens, we will be fulfilling our mission. These partnerships are among many that government agencies are pursuing with Google to better serve the public.”
Almost 80,000 URLs from 27 Virginia.gov domains have already been added to the Google search engine through the initiative, and that number will continue to increase as others in state government join the project. The net result of the Google initiative is an increased ability for a citizen in need of service or information to quickly and intuitively find that information, even and especially if the citizen doesn’t know which agency provides it.
Secretary of Technology Aneesh Chopra secured a wide range of state agency participation in the Virginia pilot program on behalf of the Governor. The agencies represented in the pilot provide a wide range of services and information of value to citizens across the state.
Virginia participants in the Google pilot program include:
- Office of the Governor
- Office of the Lt. Governor
- Va. Information Technologies Agency
- Governor’s Office for Substance Abuse Prevention
- Auditor of Public Accounts
- Council on Virginia’s Future
- eVa (the state’s electronic procurement system)
- Library of Virginia
- Va. Assistive Technology System
- Va. Board for People with Disabilities
- Va. Department for the Blind and Vision Impaired
- Va. Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control
- Va. Department of Game and Inland Fisheries
- Va. Department of Health Professions
- Va. Department of Emergency Management
- Va. Department of General Services
- Va. Department of Environmental Quality
- Va. Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services
- Va. Department of Accounts
- Va. Department of Forestry
- Va. Department of Social Services
- Va. Department of Labor and Industry
- Va. Tourism
- Va. Department of Transportation
- Va. Department of Housing and Community Development
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