Website Focus Group

The City of Saskatoon would like to invite you to participate in a Focus Group meeting on Thursday, January 5, either at 9:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. or 6:30 p.m.

The City of Saskatoon has embarked on the first phase of the Website project. The purpose of the project as a whole is to redesign the City’s webpage, making it function better for all users including the public, business community, civic staff and City Council.

The purpose of the Focus Group meetings is to ask you, the user:

• What are you currently doing on the existing City website?
• What would you like to do on the City website?
• What are the priorities to consider when changing the website?

Enhancing the effectiveness of the webpage as a communication tool is of prime importance to this project. Phase One of this project audits user experience and sets the future course of the City’s website for the later implementation phase. Working with website consultants, Infusion, some of the tasks involved in this exercise are:

• A review of municipal websites sites
• Observation of how our online visitors interact with our website
• Focus groups and stakeholder interviews
• Click-path analysis, to understand how users move through system
• Content and functionality
• Best practice analysis
• Generation of ideas for next steps in the realization of the webpage re-design
• Creation of terms of reference and budget guidelines for Phase Two

Phase Two is the implementation of the redesign of the City’s webpage, subject to funding availability. Redesign of the site is to ensure that it meets or exceeds best practices for interactive civic websites and is included in the scope of this project. This project will also make the City of Saskatoon webpage compliant with the World Web Consortium (W3C) standards in order to make the site more accessible to people with disabilities.

Once the first phase is complete, we will have a better understanding of the costs required to proceed with a complete redesign of the City’s website so that it meets the needs of City Council, Administration and most importantly, our citizens, and utilizes the best practices and accessibility standards mentioned above.

Please contact Jeanna South by email (jeanna.south@saskatoon.ca) or by phoning (306) 934-0938 to indicate your interest in participating in a Focus Group meeting. Include your name, contact number, email address, a paragraph explaining your reason for wanting to participate (no more than 100 words) and a time preference by December 30, 2011.

NOTE: There are a limit number of spots available and only successful applicants will be contacted. However, an online survey will also be posted on http://www.saskatoon.ca/ in the upcoming weeks for all citizens who wish to provide their feedback.

Jeanna South

Website Project Manager
Corporate Projects, City of Saskatoon
(306) 934-0938
jeanna.south@saskatoon.ca