Maine.gov Wins Two Awards

By Kelly Hokkanen, General Manager, InforME

The official Web site of the state of Maine ( www.Maine.gov ) has again been named one of the best state government sites in the nation. Maine.gov received a fourth place award from the Center for Digital Government in its annual Best of the Web national competition. The state of Maine has received nine top-five awards in this competition since 2000, making Maine.gov the most consistently honored Web portal in the country.

As part of the 2009 Best of the Web competition, Maine.gov also earned a Digital Government Achievement Award in the government-to-citizen category for the new DataShare online service ( http://www.Maine.gov/data ). This new and innovative service is an online library of free, available to the public Maine government data sets that can be downloaded and used for research, analysis and application development.

DataShare promotes transparency and encourages public participation and collaboration by encouraging users to submit information about web applications they have created. These applications are included in a gallery of examples on the DataShare site. Maine is among the first states in the nation to develop an open data repository, following the lead of the federal government's new Data.gov service.

Maine also received an honorable mention in the government-internal category for the Public Improvement Project Request online service of the Bureau of General Services. This application allows Maine state agencies to submit construction project initiation applications electronically to the Maine Bureau of General Services.

"We are honored that the Center for Digital Government has once again recognized Maine as a leader in electronic government services," said Governor John E. Baldacci. 'In these tough economic times, providing services online is more important than ever, bringing convenience and cost savings to both citizens and government."

Maine.gov is continually delivering cutting-edge content and features, including a number of enhancements in 2009. Two noteworthy additions include a sleek design change giving Maine.gov a lighter, updated look; and a Media Gallery, the one-stop location for state government audio and video content. The Media Gallery is the nation's first fully accessible state government multimedia solution – all media files are automatically closed-captioned or transcribed.

"Maine is constantly working to ensure that the Web portal is using technology effectively to serve citizens and businesses. Our key goals of Maine.gov are to be accessible, user-friendly and provide efficiencies for agencies and constituents," said Richard Thompson, Maine 's Chief Information Officer. "We are very proud of the recognition of those efforts."

The Center for Digital Government conducted the 2009 Best of the Web competition to evaluate government Web sites based on their innovation, Web-based delivery of public services, efficiency, economy and functionality. Representatives from the Center for Digital Government, state and local leaders from around the country, and officials from the 2008 Best of the Web first-place winning state served as judges for the 2009 competition.

About Maine.gov

Maine.gov is the official Web portal of the state of Maine and a repeat winner in the Center for Digital Government's “Best of the Web” competition. Maine.gov is a service of the Information Resource of Maine, a collaborative effort between the State of Maine and Maine Information Network, LLC., a wholly owned subsidiary of eGovernment firm NIC (NASDAQ: EGOV).

About NIC

NIC is the nation's leading provider of official government portals, online services, and secure payment processing solutions. The company's innovative eGovernment services help reduce costs and increase efficiencies for government agencies, citizens, and businesses across the country. NIC provides eGovernment solutions for more than 3,000 federal, state, and local agencies that serve 97 million people in the United States . Additional information is available at http://www.nicusa.com .

Article posted on: September 15, 2009
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