Scotland launches propotype public service website
Its own version of England's Alpha.gov.uk
By Anh Nguyen | Computerworld UK | Published 09:01, 10 January 12
The Scottish Government has launched DirectScot.org, an experimental prototype website to show how citizens can engage with government services online.
It follows in the footsteps of England's Alpha.gov.uk website, which the UK government's digital champion Martha Lane Fox launched last May.
A note on the new DirectScot website states that it "aims to be simple, intuitive and to put the needs of users first".
"The aim of DirectScot is to enable you to find what you are looking for as quickly and easily as possible, based on aggregation of content and powerful, location-based search technology," the DirectScot team wrote in a blog.
However, it stressed that the website is in an experimental stage and is therefore "neither comprehensive nor is it fully robust".
Users are being invited to provide feedback on the site by submitting a consultation response here, until the end of February.
After Alpha.gov.uk, the Government Digital Service is now working on a beta version of the single gov.uk domain since August 2011.
As part of this project, GDS will develop a public beta test of the site that delivers the citizen-facing aspects of gov.uk.
It will also develop a private beta test of a shared gov.uk corporate publishing platform to be used by government departments.
