Our research focuses on studying the needs of citizens regarding the Bangkok Open Policy website to enhance public participation. While the website has been a valuable resource for accessing information on government initiatives, it has limitations that prevent it from fully meeting the evolving needs of Bangkok’s citizens.
Through our research, we found that citizens desire more detailed data and better tools for tracking the progress of government projects. To address this, we conducted a thorough study and provided recommendations for improving the website. By closing these gaps, the platform can better meet public needs and increase effective citizen engagement.
Feedback gathered from citizen interviews, summarized by 'Humanice,' revealed key pain points:
- The provided information was already concluded into the infographic format but the website lacks raw data people can analyze or generate new contents.
- Unable to track the status of each projects in details.
- Unable to track where the project had happened and see the actual results.
Government officers also noted:
- The general public does not fully understand government policies as expected.
- Apart from Active citizen, the general citizen can’t relate how government operations affect or improve their quality of life.
Our research recommendations focus on finding a balance between delivering transparency through detailed information and ensuring the website is user-friendly and engaging. The goal is to make the website a tool that enhances citizens' understanding of government operations while allowing them to easily access and analyze the data.
Research-Driven Suggestions for Improvement
Based on our findings, we recommend several improvements:
Enhancing Recognition of the '9D' Policy
Our research showed that citizens find it difficult to understand the 9D policy due to insufficient explanations of its relevance to their lives. The minimal explanations, combined with a uniform color scheme, made it hard to differentiate between the policies. For example, the old design used a single color for all policies, which didn’t effectively communicate the distinct importance of each one.
Old Version Example : The 9D policies were listed in a grid format, all sharing the same color and icon size, with limited textual explanation.
Suggested Version Example : We propose a more visually distinct design by using separate colors for each policy, along with expanded explanations about how each one impacts citizens' daily lives. This will help users better recognize and understand the policies' relevance.
Enhancing Data-Driven Content
Summarizing information into infographics is helpful, but citizens need access to raw data to draw their own conclusions. We suggest integrating tools that allow users to interact with and analyze district-level data, which will encourage public engagement and open new perspectives.
Adding a Geographic Dimension
To help citizens better understand how government projects affect them, we recommend enabling searches by district and including project maps. This will help people see how budgets and projects are distributed and impact their local areas.
Conclusion
Through our research, we’ve gained a deeper understanding of the gaps in the current Open Policy website and have provided insights to address these limitations. Our recommendations aim to make the platform more transparent and user-friendly, empowering citizens to participate more actively in government processes. We hope these insights will lead to meaningful changes in how government data is presented and accessed in the future.