USA.gov Blog

For nearly 50 years, USAGov has been working to serve every person and every government agency. Our history has been full of change, and never static as we improve people’s lives by connecting them with the government services and information they need.

One of our core principles behind the USAGov chatbot is consistent, iterative improvements. We recently released our newest batch of small changes and wanted to share them with you.

USAGov and USAGov en Español offer a wide range of government information and services organized by topics to make it easy for people to find what they’re looking for. But navigating through different sections within our sites could be challenging and overwhelming for our visitors, especially first-time users.

We’ve wanted to try out artificial intelligence (AI) for a few years. We get tons of questions from the public, and wanted to see if automation could help us answer them quicker. We also knew that scams are one of the top tasks for our website and contact center audiences. In late 2018, we blended our exploration of AI and expertise in scams to launch our chatbot.

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 requires federal agencies to create products and information that give employees and members of the public with disabilities access that’s “comparable to the access available to others.” But 45 years in, many teams and organizations across government still struggle to meet this mandate.

After 15 years, GobiernoUSA.gov, the trusted source of government information in Spanish, begins a new era. As part of our fifteen year celebration, we are announcing our new name: USAGov en Español.

The Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) at GSA is a two-year Pathways program for recent graduates to transition from college to a career in government. Each participant rotates through up to seven different offices within the agency, working closely with team members and learning about the work before being permanently placed. The program offers networking opportunities, in-depth trainings on technical and leadership skills, and previews a variety of career tracks.

When the content team wrapped up researching and drafting the Disability Services section, our UX team did two usability tests to determine how the new information should be organized in order to make it as easy to find as possible.

The mission of USAGov is to make vital information and services accessible to the American people, and we’re always seeking innovative new ways to further that goal. Last year, we initiated an effort to explore methods of getting feedback from the public about their experiences accessing key government services.

The USAGov team wants to share our 2017 predictions with you! We asked staff members about their goals for USAGov and all of government digital services and we got plenty of great  ideas. Here are six of our favorites: