GOVTalks Spring 2023

On May 23, we hosted our 16th GOVTalks, a daylong virtual conference on digital government best practices for all public organizations in Georgia, including state agencies, local governments, and educational institutions.

Here’s a recap of each session, along with a video.

Keynote: A Tipping Point for the Web

Nikhil Deshpande
Chief Digital Officer, State of Georgia

AI is revolutionizing the way public sector organizations create and use content. In this keynote address, Chief Digital Officer Nikhil Deshpande explores how AI has become increasingly advanced, reaching a tipping point where machines are performing tasks as well or better than humans.

This shift has significant implications: With the emergence of new generative AI tools the web is shifting from a focus on consumption to a focus on communication.

Content Governance for GPT 

Will Alford 
Director of Content, DSGa

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools become increasingly prevalent in the workplace, there is a need for governance and oversight to ensure that we use these technologies responsibly. Director of Content  Will Alford  covers several ways to do this, emphasizing the need to be transparent and accountable at every level for the information we produce, the products that we create, and the policy decisions that we make.

For government websites, this can mean using .gov domains to bring authority to content policies and guidelines for using generative AI tools, and advocating for public oversight.

Content Strategy is Organizational Change

Greg Dunlap
Director of Strategy, Lullabot

Modern web content must work in multiple contexts, across multiple devices, for a wide variety of users and roles. So how are your agency's subject matter experts supposed to create quality web pages that work the way your users demand? Lullabot Director of Strategy Greg Dunlap presents a talk that draws on years of state government experience to look at your content needs and propose solutions that will radically transform your site's content and your users' experience of it.

Greg highlights the importance of identifying, classifying, and structuring content to make it easily searchable and filterable for users. He also emphasizes the need to hire dedicated content professionals to manage the content from idea generation to publishing, ensuring that it meets internal agency guidelines and web standards.

Less is More - User Research Findings for Complex Agencies

Julie Fay
UX Analyst, DSGa 

Mary Liebowitz
Lead Content Strategist

Creating user-centered, friendly digital experiences can challenge any state agency. For the Department of Revenue, this task is multiplied by the extensive content of four very diverse divisions and 2 million monthly visitors. UX Analyst Julie Fay and Content Strategist Mary Liebowitz take you through a collaborative UX study they conducted with the DOR to secure the clearest, easiest paths for users based on their needs.

By conducting card sorts, interactive tasks, and website menu tests to identify how users traveled through the website, they identified where users clicked on pages to complete various tasks. They then used this data to inform their website reorganization decisions, ultimately leading to higher rates of successful user journeys.

GovHub - What's New and What's to Come

Jasmyne Epps
Product Manage, DSGa

Product Manager Jasmyne Epps talks about all the recent changes and what's on the horizon for GovHub, including improved security, seamless content creation and access, and better support from the Drupal community.

On this year’s roadmap are more productive workflows for content editors with clear moderation states and, informative revision histories. The new Bloom design theme further improves  inclusivity, maintainability, and performance. And the Orchard design system will bring enhancements to embedded displays and language support.