Odd juxtapositions

Directgov’s website architecture also leads to some odd juxtapositions, making the site feel less like the ‘superstore’ it claims to be, and more like an online bric-a-brac stall.

• The ‘home and community’ do-it-online page has a link to voting at the top, which makes sense, but this is followed with a link to buying a map from the Ordnance Survey²¹
• The area labelled ‘find out about your neighbourhood ²²  has links to statistical profiles of public census information, which may be interesting to some but these are given prominence over more primary concerns such as, for example, finding the nearest post office.

Much content duplicates the work of existing trusted sources and is, arguably, at odds with consumer expectations. For example, in the parenting section²³ , the information on statutory maternity pay is relevant, but consumers are unlikely to turn to the Government for information on how to conceive as there are so many other trusted sources such as NHS Direct, or self-supporting parenting sites like netmums²⁴.

The architecture of the website is even more confusing for people in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland than in England. They are told there are different services for the devolved administrations but there is not any clear signposting to them. While there is information about different governance structures, there is not any specific information relating to specific themes. 

The amount of content brings us back to an earlier point in chapter 1: information is included if it is easily available and possible for Directgov to provide, rather than because consumers expect or demand it.

21. http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Diol1/DoItOnline/DG_4017525 [Accessed 9 September 2009]
22. http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Diol1/DoItOnline/DG_4017923 [Accessed 9 September 2009]
23. http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/HavingABaby/index.htm [Accessed 9 September 2009]
24. Netmums. Available at: http://www.netmums.com [Accessed 9 September 2009]