May 27, 2008

by

Dave Hardin

Public Information Officer

Catawba County recently made some subtle changes to our web site at www.catawbacountync.gov. If you haven’t visited our site in awhile, you’ll probably notice the addition of some blue shading on both sides of the page, from the edges leading inward. What you may not notice right away is a new feature that’s designed to make it easier for you to find a specific service or kind of information.

Catawba County’s Technology Department leadership looks at our web site as a constantly evolving and expanding source of information. They are continually keeping up with the latest trends in web based tools to provide information to the public. In just the last few years, we’ve been using internet technology to provide information about the County in many new ways, including our e-mail newsletter and RSS feeds.

One of the issues that came under discussion, as the County’s Web Design Team was considering needed improvements to the site, was that research shows most people want to know information about a service but may not know which department provides that service. Previously, our site often required the user to know which department to search in order to find a service.

For example, many people may not realize that a wide range of permits, some related to building and others to health inspection, are issued by our Permit Center. Or that the very popular real estate maps are also known as our Geospatial Information System or GIS. Or that job openings are handled by our Personnel Office, since some organizations call that “Human Resources”. Each of these services may still be reached by going through a specific department’s web pages, but they may also be found by some new methods.

The recent changes to our web site include something relatively new that’s called a “tag cloud”. If you visit www.catawbacountync.gov, you’ll see a list of services, in both large and small letters, on the lower left hand side of the page. That’s our tag cloud and it includes links to more information about those services. The larger the lettering, the more people are interested in those services.

At the moment, our tag cloud includes links to the Animal Shelter; the Board of Commissioners page; our Community Alert System; court calendars; our deed search; our “green initiatives”, those programs and services designed to protect our environment and promote environmental awareness; job openings; library services; online tax payments; the Permit Center; a list of our phone numbers and e-mail addresses; real estate maps; a tax bill search; a general search of our site; the Sheriff’s Office; and a page that lists persons currently in the jail in Newton.

One of the cool things about tag clouds is they change over time. As people search our website and we get more feedback about the kinds of services they’re looking for or the areas they’re most interested in, our tag cloud will change to reflect those areas.

The latest evolution of our web site also includes a change in the links that display our site in a variety of foreign languages. We previously used flags of foreign nations to show links that will translate our pages into other languages. We got some feedback that citizens don’t necessarily know which flag is which. So now, if someone wants to translate our web site into, say, Japanese or German, they will find a link with the Japanese script and one with the word “Deutsch” on our front page, along with words or characters leading to links to translate in seven other languages.

Our web site at www.catawbacountync.gov remains the best source of information about Catawba County Government. And it’s always evolving and growing. If you haven’t visited in awhile, I hope you’ll return soon and come back often!

For more information about tag clouds or www.catawbacountync.gov, you may call the Catawba County Public Information Office at 828-465-8464.