Botswana: Botswana Speaks

Botswana Speaks

http://www.botswanaspeaks.org

1. Implementation procedure

Name of the institution running website/application:Parliament of Botswana, Stockholm University
Type of the institution running website/application:

an implementation execute by a government institution

Source of financing:

public resources - state budget

Year of launching the website/application: 2013
Service's/application's rating:

2. Implementation's characteristics

Botswana Speaks is a portal, which was created as a forum for public consultation and communication between the parliament and the local communities. The idea of the portal initiators and organizers was for the portal to refer, in construction and functions, to tribal traditions, which in key matters put forward their representatives (e.g. chiefs) so they could discuss on their behalf on a larger forum. The portal was largely financed by such organizations as the University of Stockholm, the Swedish Chamber of Trade and Investment, as well as Gov2u foundation.

Users, who are not logged in, can browse a content-rich blog, as well as descriptions of activities carried out so far. The users can take advantage of ‘Speak4Yourself’ function, which enables to browse through ongoing voting: on an integrated map of regions, a user can check where voting is currently being held, as well as view results. Unfortunately, at the moment of analyzing the portal, no voting was held, and therefore, there was no possibility to look at its conduct.

A logged-in user, in addition to an activated option of active participation in voting (‘Speak4Yourself’) can also submit their own proposals for discussion using the ‘U-Speak’ function – which enables a user to report or edit their issues (‘cases’), as well as can quickly go to voting section.

Every Internet user can create an account. In order to register, a user needs to provide basic data, including region of residence (selected from the map). There is also an option of selecting notifications via e-mail or SMS.

 

Homepage

Homepage

Blog

Blog: http://www.botswanaspeaks.org/main/news-events

View accessible for logged in users

View accessible for logged in users, after going to ‘U-Speak’ menu

U-Speak 1

U-Speak – adding new topic (case)

U-Speak 2

U-Speak – adding new topic (case) #2

http://www.botswanaspeaks.org/s4y/index.php/Users/closedPolls

3. Detailed description categories

Type of the service's/application user:
  • G2C: citizens
The application service's usage area:
  • participation and opinions ("we inform and talk")
  • services: cooperation of institutions and citizens in the implementation of public tasks ("we inform, talk and cooperate")
A communication - an indication of all the media and dissemination
  • A website of the institution that provides application / solution eGov; includes a thematic section of the application
  • Independent website dedicated to the application / solution eGov
Access to the full functionality of the service
  1. Access to the service requires you to register your account on the site - registration requires a specific data
    • Name
    • Surname
    • email adress
    • postal code
    • password
    • other poll's question
    • newsletter subscription
Tracking of user's activity:
  • verification via a link sent to your email
The service's/application's usage areas
  1. Initiative: draft laws and new solutions proposed by citizens
  2. The public consultation the government dialogue with citizens, eg. On infrastructure solutions
Forms of interaction with users:
  1. Blog
  2. Social networks (connected with Fb, Twitter, etc.)
  3. Petitions
  4. Online voting
  5. Comments
  6. Interactive maps/maps integrated with Google Maps
Service's/Application's integration to social networking sites
  • Yes
Availability of service/application use instruction
Is the connection encrypted?
  • No

4. Service's/Application's integration with social networking sites

As for:
Facebook number of fans: 1298
Twitter number of followers: 390, number of tweets: 754

5. Screen gallery