Provide useful automated guidance to citizens in common, recurring situations
Lists of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) can be useful to address common problems and issues. But FAQs often require people to read through lots of text in the hope of finding an answer relevant to their situation -- a problem that worsens as FAQ systems grow. Even when an apparently relevant answer has been found, the user then needs to figure out how to adapt the standard/general answer in a FAQ to his or her particular ...more »
Lists of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) can be useful to address common problems and issues. But FAQs often require people to read through lots of text in the hope of finding an answer relevant to their situation -- a problem that worsens as FAQ systems grow. Even when an apparently relevant answer has been found, the user then needs to figure out how to adapt the standard/general answer in a FAQ to his or her particular situation. FAQ systems also tend to be Web-only, with no access via phone, thus excluding many if not most citizens from participation. Government can and should do better than this.
Technology now exists to create systems that ask a few questions to identify and distinguish among commonly encountered situations. These systems then provide relevant guidance, automatically tailored to the particular identified situation. Such systems can deliver relevant guidance to citizens more quickly and efficiently than Web-based FAQs, and can do so via phone as well as via the Web. Government agencies should be encouraged to build such systems and to make them available for free to citizens.
Each government agency might start by identifying and addressing the most common situations where citizens request guidance from the agency. As usage of the system grows, and as citizen feedback is received and incorporated, more and more situations could be addressed. The ultimate result of this incremental process: systems that provide situation-specific guidance to citizens, via web or phone, at any time, and from any location, to handle the most common, recurring problems and issues in a reliable and cost-effective way.
Here are just a few examples where systems providing situation-specific guidance would likely prove popular and useful:
- Taxpayers seeking help to comply with various IRS requirements
- Small businesses seeking financing from the Small Business Administration (SBA)
- Veterans seeking benefits guidance from the Department of Veterans Affairs
- Workers trying to determine how OSHA safety and health requirements apply to their workplace conditions
- Students looking for federal loans, grants, or scholarships to help finance their education
Many, many more examples could easily be provided.
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