Comparing usability of government web portals during governor change of terms

Abstract

During the last years, we have been assessing the development of Internet State Portals in Mexico. These observations suggest that in many cases, the transition between governor terms is not always easy to manage, and in several cases we have observed important reductions of functionality in the new versions of the portals. In this poster we compare the performance of the Web Portal of the State of Puebla in Mexico, through user-centered design techniques, specifically usability testing. Results show that, contrary to our expectations, the Puebla portal improved its usability from this point of view. Further research will involve interviews with the main actors in the transition process to better understand the main factors involved in this successful transition.