Mayor Kevin L. Faulconer held a hackathon event on Saturday to modernize an old city website with 100 volunteers at the NewSchool of Architecture and Design in San Diego, according to a media report.
The hackathon gathered groups of volunteers each with different topics, said the release. One of the main objectives was to make the website more user-friendly.
The civic design workshop was hosted in partnership with the San Diego Experience Design (SDXD) meetup group, said the release. That’s a professional network consisting of 1,000 members who specialize in creating the most effective, user-friendly websites.
According to the Union Tribune, the city website was in desperate need of renovation, describing the site as “nearing extinction” with its outdated design. The UT said the event was attended by about 50 professionals including a brief visit from Faulconer.
“Attendees divided into groups, with each focusing on a single type of site user, or persona, such as a hyper-local retiree who is jaded by past experiences with the city,” said Jennifer Van Grove in the UT.
“Groups were asked to determine the most relevant material for their personas, and to figure out how best to present content to accomplish a specific goal, such as using the site to report a broken street light.”
The UT said that the new SanDiego.gov is scheduled to go up in a few weeks, at the price of $646,000 for taxpayers. The revamped website should be far more efficient and straightforward to use.
It includes a “Get It Done” module, according to the UT, which allows people to select a simple objective from a drop-down menu, which then sends them on a direct pathway to accomplish that