THE GAZETTE
Wednesday, October 9, 2013 g
Local governments are going mobile. Here is a selection of smartphone apps that can make it easier for residents to interact with local agencies.
BOOKMYNE n Cost: Free n Cost to develop/ongoing costs: No additional cost; is included in contract with SIRSI
Page A-17
WSSC
The website for the Washington Suburban Sanitation Commission – like websites of other government agencies – has seen a steady increase in pageviews.
n Available for: Android, iPhone
PAGE VIEWS: 2011
n Bookmyne connects users to their library’s catalogue and library account remotely. It also lets them download books from Project Gutenburg, a site with free ebook versions of works with expired copyrights. The app also lets users receive an array of recommended book lists from a variety of sources, including Goodreads.com, a book reviewing and cataloguing site.
MYLUNCHMONEY
Jan. Feb. March April
n Cost: App is free; transactions within it have a fee n Cost to develop/ongoing costs: There is no cost to the school system for being part of MyLunchMoney n Available for: Android, iPhone n MyLunchMoney is a national app and website that the Montgomery County school district has chosen to participate in that lets parents review what children are purchasing at school lunch, see the balance on their account and put more money into the account.
MOBILENOW!
May June July Aug. Sept. Oct.
Peak: 422,559
Nov.
n Cost: App is free, transactions have a cost
Dec.
2012
n Available for: Android, iPad, iPhone n MobileNOW! lets users pay for parking meters in certain areas with their smartphones or iPads. Some meters in Bethesda, Silver Spring, Wheaton, Montgomery Hills and North Bethesda use MobileNOW!.
SERVICES
Continued from Page A-1 more services to taxpayers by expanding what’s offered online. Rockville spokeswoman Marylou Berg said the city launched a redesigned website in June. Some of the top-visited pages on Rockville’s website are those for city facilities, career opportunities and special events. In a one-year period, the site drew a little less than 3.4 million page views, an average of about 280,000 page views per month. In addition to general information about the city, Rockville’s website includes an option to sign up for notifications and newsletters on a variety of topics. Visitors can watch video recordings of city meetings, report potholes and pay bills. “We have a button right on the home page for paying online, so you can pay your tickets, your water bills, [your] sewer, your stormwater utility,” Berg said. “Those are all done with a third-party vendor.” Arts enthusiasts can order tickets for shows at the F. Scott Fitzgerald Theatre in Civic Center Park online. Rockville’s staff produces
1899084
and maintains content, and a Kansas company hosts the site. This year, web hosting cost $8,600; that figure is expected to go up 3 percent per year, Berg said. The city also employs a Web administrator.
Digital innovations Montgomery County government has a decentralized system of websites, said Donna Bigler, assistant director of the Office of Public Information. The website launched in 1995, she said. For the first nine months of 2013, the county tallied more than 10.7 million page views, according to a Google Analytics report of the county’s website traffic. Its most popular pages, besides the county home page, were the careers page, the library catalog and the Ride On route schedules. Recently, the number of people accessing the website from mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, has increased, Bigler said. Now, about 11 percent of the site’s visitors are using mobile devices. Kyung Lee, the county’s Web content manager, said residents and county agencies also are us-
ing social media more. “I think everyone, including Montgomery County, is more open to resident interaction through the Web,” Lee said. A few years ago, many government agencies were wary of letting residents post comments directly on the governments’ websites. Now, they tend to see social media as platforms to share information and receive comments from residents, Lee said. “We still moderate, but we let people comment and use the comments to let others know about the information,” he said. By responding to comments on social media, county employees can let others see the answers to questions they might have had. The county debuted online open data initiatives last year, so the public can search for things like permits, budget records and salaries themselves, Lee said.
Different approaches to the Web Operating costs for local government websites vary. Chevy Chase Management Assistant Eric Glidden, who helps operate townofchevychase.org, said the annual cost of hosting
the town’s recently updated site is about $2,000. Traffic follows seasonal patterns. Abbi Irelan, marketing and public affairs manager for Montgomery Parks, said in an email that the number of visits to the website tends to spike in the spring and summer. The most popular pages also vary, but the pages for Brookside Gardens, picnic shelters and activity buildings, and regional and recreational parks tend to be some of the most visited. The site costs about $5,000 a year for hosting, fees, and addons such as forms and comment tools. Most of the operating cost goes to the development and design of new content areas or tools. Montgomery County Public Schools employs five people to focus on the development and maintenance of its website, though individual schools update their own websites, schools spokesman Dana Tofig said.
Growing importance of connecting online County departments and local utilities also are seeing higher traffic numbers. The domain Montgom-
Jan. Feb. March April May June July
Peak: 576,930 0
100,000
200,000
300,000
400,000
500,000
600,000
Average time on site 2011: 2 minutes 57 seconds Average time on site 2012: 3 minutes 41 seconds Average time on site varies 2013 (Jan – July): 3 minutes 40 seconds
eryParks.org launched in 2008, Irelan said. The website originally started as part of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission’s Montgomery County website, which debuted in 1995. In 2011, MontgomeryParks.org had a little more than 630,000 unique visitors. In 2012, that number reached 740,000. The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission, which provides water and sewer services for much of Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, offers online bill paying, water quality advisories and utility work information at wsscwater. com. The current site launched in 2010. The commission plans to launch a new site in 2014, according to Lyn Riggins, a WSSC
spokeswoman. In 2012, between 57,000 and 86,000 unique visitors came to the site each month, meaning more than 300,000 to 400,000 monthly page views. Last year, visitors spent an average of three minutes and 41 seconds on the site per visit. Riggins said in an email that a map on the site lets customers see if their area is under a boil-water advisory or mandatory water restrictions. Last July, when Prince George’s county was experiencing water restrictions, the site had 77,783 visitors in a five-day period, compared to 21,180 visitors during the five previous weekdays. scarignan@gazette.net ewaibel@gazette.net