Kelly LaForest (Alumni)
I’m really proud that our team at itgroove is helping the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia with various projects and initiatives to increase citizen engagement in our province using technology solutions. Here are two recent examples of work we’ve done to get things working for LABC:
The LABC Public Website
One of the most interesting parts of working with the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia for me was learning about how we as citizens can get engaged in the provincial political process. The more I explore the LABC public website, the more I discover our Legislature. The LABC public website offers a wealth of information for political novices and subject matter experts – and its new, search-driven, responsive design makes locating information quick, despite the site containing over 200,000 pages of content, and having the content team publishing hundreds of updates daily.
Fun Fact: Did you know that you can access digitized transcripts dating back to 1972 through the LABC public website?
Check out the LABC website.
The LABC Consultations Portal
Learning about the parliamentary process and history of our provincial government is a great first step to engagement. The next step is to make sure your voice is heard.
The Committees that make up the Parliament give citizens the opportunity to share their views in a number of ways. Before making decisions, Committee members go out across BC and talk to the citizens to engage with them on the topics that matter in their community.
In the past, people and organizations could upload their written submissions to the government committee through the LABC public website. Now, with the addition of the new Consultations Portal that itgroove built for LABC, the public can do the following through the public site:
- Upload a written submission.
- Upload a video submission.
- Register to appear at a public hearing. *
* Not all Consultations include a public hearing component.
For LABC staff, the new Consultations Portal has sped up the review and processing of Consultation request submissions through automation.
For BC citizens, the newly designed Share Your Views submission form is official, yet lightweight, to encourage citizens to engage and make their voice heard without a tedious, laborious, process.
Fun Fact: Did you know that LABC can receive over 5,000 submission requests from citizens in a single day to engage in the political process?
Check out the Share Your Views page on the LABC website to check out Open, Closed, and Recent Consultations.
To see images from these two projects, check out our February 2017 video Newsletter.