GobiernoUSA.gov

GobiernoUSA.gov

Type of site	e-Government
Available in	Spanish English at USA.gov
Website	http://gobiernousa.gov
Commercial	No
Launched	October 16, 2003
Current status	Online
Content license	Public Domain

GobiernoUSA.gov is the official web portal of the United States Government in Spanish. It is the sister site of USA.gov, the official web portal of the U.S. Government in English. "Gobierno" is Spanish for "government."

GobiernoUSA.gov provides official U.S. Government information and services in Spanish in a user-friendly way. It gives Spanish speakers access to government information and services, original articles, and social media channels.

GobiernoUSA.gov is not a direct translation of USA.gov, but rather a social and cultural adaptation designed to address the unique information needs of Spanish speakers. It reaches out to readers by using the latest Internet communication tools as well as through community collaboration.

During natural disasters, GobiernoUSA.gov provides official, centralized U.S. Government information for Spanish speakers. In 2005, the portal aggregated official information in Spanish in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, offering information about federal and state benefits as well as assistance programs for disaster victims. The site adopted a similar response during the 2007 Southern California wildfires, which burned more than 1,500 homes.

GobiernoUSA.gov is part of the Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies in the U.S. General Services Administration.

History

GobiernoUSA.gov is part of USA.gov. USA.gov links to every federal agency and to state, local, and tribal governments, and is the most comprehensive site in—and about—the U.S. government.

GobiernoUSA.gov was launched on October 16, 2003 to support Executive Order 13166, signed by President Bill Clinton in 2000, which requires federal agencies to provide meaningful information and services for people with limited English proficiency (LEP).

The portal is the key part of an integrated outreach effort created to address the unique government information needs of the estimated 35 million U.S. residents who speak Spanish at home, or about 12% of the population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.^[1]

Hispanic online visitors have been growing faster than the total U.S. Internet audience.^[2] The Hispanic online audience grew by 3.3 million users between April 2009 and March 2010. There are now more than 23.6 million Hispanic users online.^[3]

The portal was initially called FirstGov En Español but was renamed GobiernoUSA.gov in 2007 to reflect more accurately that it’s the federal government’s website in Spanish. It was redesigned in the summer of 2010 to keep up with advancements in technology and to better respond to its audience needs. Among the new features is a clear and easy to navigate design, mega drop down menus in all pages, and a rotator box featuring the most relevant information for Hispanics. On February 23, 2011 the portal rolled out a mobile version of the site, allowing users to access a wide range of government programs and services on mobile devices.

Originally conceived as a directory of federal websites, the portal now includes robust state and local government directories. It also offers a variety of online services and original content about government programs and services with the Spanish-speaking user in mind. In 2008, GobiernoUSA.gov launched a social media outreach campaign where users can receive updates on a variety of topics and interact with the government through Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Features

GobiernoUSA.gov offers a directory of federal, state and local resources in Spanish organized by topics in which users can easily find information. Additionally, the following features allow users to find the information and services they need, and to stay updated with changes and new information.

• Original content: Users can read articles highlighting government programs and services. These articles feature interviews, video, and audio (with transcripts) with government officials on important topics such as immigration, education, health, and many others.
• Online services: Visitors can download and submit forms, perform searches, and find a large number of Spanish language government services at the federal, state and local levels.
• Search engine: A powerful search engine provides users the most relevant and official government search results in Spanish from millions of federal, state and local government pages. The search capability is available from any page or directly from buscador.gov.^[4]
• Subscription services: Users can sign-up to receive free e-mail alerts and RSS feeds whenever information on the site is updated.
• Bi-directional toggle: Users can view the corresponding English page on USA.gov where applicable.
• Accessibility: GobiernoUSA.gov is accessible to all users, providing the ability to change font size on any page, an especially helpful feature for the visually impaired or those with other disabilities.

Outreach

To reach Hispanic audiences online, GobiernoUSA.gov has a proactive outreach program. This includes:

• Social networking services: Users can engage with GobiernoUSA.gov on Twitter and Facebook and watch official Government videos in YouTube.
• Key partnerships in the Hispanic community: GobiernoUSA.gov disseminates information through some of the most popular Spanish-language websites, including Univision, MSN Latino, AOL Latino, Terra, and others.

Federal web requirements, guidelines, and multilingual committee

GobiernoUSA.gov adheres to all requirements and guidelines for federal websites, including Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, which gives people with disabilities the same access to information as the rest of the public.

The portal strives to preserve government information as outlined in the E-Government Act of 2002. It also follows policies set forth by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget Policy for Federal Public Websites.

The site complies with the Privacy Act of 1974 and the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002.

GobiernoUSA.gov leads the Federal Multilingual Websites Committee,^[5] a group of federal, state, and local web managers working to expand and improve web content in languages other than English.

References

External links

• Official website
• USA.gov
• BuscadorUSA.gov
• Federal Multilingual Websites Committee
• Office of Management and Budget Policies for Federal Agency Public Websites