GobiernoUSA.gov

GobiernoUSA.gov is the official Spanish-language web portal of the United States Government. "Gobierno" is Spanish for "government." The portal provides centralized access to free and trustworthy U.S. government information and services in Spanish on a wide range of topics such as immigration, employment, health, education and more. In addition to federal information and services, this portal also provides information from state and local governments, as well as the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and other territories.

GobiernoUSA.gov is the Spanish-language counterpart of USA.gov, the official web portal of the U.S. government in English, and part of the Office of Citizen Services and Communications in the U.S. General Services Administration. GobiernoUSA.gov is not a direct translation of USA.gov; rather, but rather an adaptation that was specifically created to address the unique government information needs of its Spanish-speaking audience.

Background

GobiernoUSA.gov is an outreach effort to inform Spanish speakers about official and free U.S. government resources and programs available to them. The website was launched on October 16, 2003 to support the President's Management Agenda and Executive Order 13166, which mandates the Federal Government provide meaningful access to programs and activities for people with Limited English Proficiency. [ [http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/cor/Pubs/eolep.htm Executive Order 13166] ]

As a web portal, GobiernoUSA.gov centralizes access links to relevant U.S. government information and services for Spanish speakers. According to the U.S. Census Bureau there were 44 million Hispanics in the U.S. in 2006 and Spanish is now the most spoken language in U.S. homes after English. [ [http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-ds_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_&-mt_name=ACS_2006_EST_G2000_B03001 U.S. Census Bureau] ] The Pew Hispanic Center estimates the Hispanic population will triple in size and will account for most of the U.S. population growth from 2005 through 2050. [ [http://pewhispanic.org/ Pew Hispanic Center] ] Hispanics are predicted to make up 29% of the U.S. population in 2050, compared with 14% in 2005. Furthermore, Hispanics are not only the fastest-growing demographic group in the U.S., but also the fastest-growing group using the Internet—18 million online in 2008 according to ComScore Media Metrix. [ [http://www.comscore.com/ ComScore Media Metrix] ] In 2007, GobiernoUSA.gov had an estimated 2.7 million visitors.

tructure

GobiernoUSA.gov is a directory of federal, state, and local resources organized by topic and by audience such as General public, Newcomers, Visitors to the United States, and Businesspeople. The site also provides information for students as well as kids and youth. Visitors can access government information organized by over 20 topics such as employment, immigration, housing, and health resources as well as complete government transactions on-line in Spanish. These online services include verifying the status of an immigration case, applying for student financial aid, filing a consumer complaint, or registering to vote, among others. Visitors are also able to access information in Spanish through a search engine; a directory of agencies divided by federal, state, and local governments; as well as international organizations and embassies. Visitors can receive updates via e-mail alerts and subscribe to the site's RSS feed.

Features

earch engine

GobiernoUSA.gov's powerful search engine crawls millions of web pages from federal, state, local governments and U.S. territories in order to provide visitors with the most relevant, official government search results in Spanish. Visitors can initiate a search from any page on the website or directly on BuscadorUSA.gov and select to search all government websites, images, or the GobiernoUSA.gov website only. In addition to the standard search results format, results are also grouped into categories through which visitors can access official government information and images. In the search results page, visitors can preview the web page to verify that it contains the information they are seeking or open a new web page while viewing their search results.

Online tutorials

In March 2008, a series of online tutorials were added to help Spanish speakers find official U.S. government information and services online. The tutorials utilize a multimedia platform that provides audio and visual instruction, which allows visitors to pinpoint their specific areas of interest and experience a guided exploration of what GobiernoUSA.gov and the U.S. government have to offer. The online tutorials (available in Flash and HTML) cover topics that were selected to meet specific needs of Spanish speakers.

E-mail alerts

GobiernoUSA.gov enables Spanish speakers to receive updates regarding new content added to the site via free e-mail alerts. Visitors can choose their favorite pages from a selection of categories corresponding to the site's topics. Visitors can also create a profile which enables them to add, delete or change chosen categories, add a password, change subscription preferences and unsubscribe.

RSS feed

Visitors to GobiernoUSA.gov can also sign up to receive updates via the site's RSS feed. Subscribers will automatically receive a notification once the site's relevant news and features are updated.

Contact the Government

GobiernoUSA.gov also provides a Contact Us page for visitors to send their comments or questions about the government and its services. Visitors can choose to make their inquiries by e-mail, telephone, or mail.

E-mail this page

Visitors to GobiernoUSA.gov can share their favorite pages with friends and family by using the site's email this page feature. This feature is available on all site pages in the upper right corner so that visitors can easily share the information on the website with others.

Toggle

GobiernoUSA.gov enables visitors to view the corresponding English page on USA.gov when applicable through its bi-directional toggle feature. For example, if a certain topic on GobiernoUSA.gov is also available on USA.gov, a user can access the information in either language by clicking on the "View this Topic in English" or "Vea este tema en español" button, respectively. This enables visitors of both sites to access official government information and services in English and Spanish.

Accessibility

GobiernoUSA.gov is accessible to all visitors and provides them with the ability to change the font size on any page. This feature is especially helpful for those with vision impairment or other disabilities which prevents them from reading small font sizes.

Web best practices

Federal Multilingual Websites Committee (FMWC)

The Federal Multilingual Websites Committee (FMWC) works to meet the growing demand for government information and services in other languages and to share ideas, challenges and best practices for managing multilingual content and websites.

As a member of the Web Managers Advisory Council, GobiernoUSA.gov shares web management best practices with the FMWC. These best practices are developed through lessons learned regarding most efficient and user-friendly techniques to deliver information to online Spanish speakers, and are shared to improve the overall quality of multilingual government websites.

Federal web requirements and guidelines

GobiernoUSA.gov strictly adheres to all requirements and guidelines for federal websites, including those established by the E-Government Act of 2002, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Policies for Federal Public Websites, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 regarding website accessibility. The site also strictly follows requirements of the Privacy Act of 1974, the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002, and other privacy and security requirements.

Crisis response initiatives

GobiernoUSA.gov is the designated destination for the Spanish-speaking public looking for official information during national disasters. In times of crisis, this portal has provided its visitors with comprehensive news and information about resources and government services available to them in Spanish.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 GobiernoUSA.gov centralized all Spanish language information across government agencies on a page dedicated to this hurricane. It also worked with other agencies to determine what information was needed and collaborated in the review of materials that had to be posted immediately, such as how to find missing relatives, replace lost documents, etc. The page on Hurricane Katrina later became a page about Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma within the Disasters and Emergencies section of the website. This page contains information about U.S. federal and state benefits and assistance programs for hurricane victims. In the unfortunate event that the country suffers another hurricane of catastrophic scope, GobiernoUSA.gov will continue to lead a Spanish language interagency response to provide relevant and updated information to the public.

In 2007, a new page was created on GobiernoUSA.gov to address the wildfires in Southern California, which burned more than 1500 homes. This page contains updated information on how to find loved ones, how to get help from federal and state agencies, and how to volunteer.

In 2008, information about tornados was added to the Disasters and Emergencies section of the website. Visitors to GobiernoUSA.gov were directed to FEMA to request assistance from state and local government programs. [ [http://www.fema.gov/spanish/news/newsrelease_spa.fema?id=42480 FEMA] ]

The GobiernoUSA.gov team also works with other federal agencies to communicate the latest information related to a national crisis requested by the public.

References

External links

* [http://www.gobiernousa.gov GobiernoUSA.gov]
* [http://www.usa.gov USA.gov]
* [http://www.buscadorUSA.gov BuscadorUSA.gov]
* [http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/channelView.do?pageTypeId=8199&channelPage=%2Fep%2Fchannel%2FgsaOverview.jsp&channelId=-13326 Office of Citizen Services and Communications]
* [http://www.usa.gov/webcontent/community/groups/fmwc.shtml Federal Multilingual Websites Committee]