We get all sorts of customers using Citizen Space. Some of them specialise in the digital realm, and they’re happily creating consultations as soon as they first log in. For others, it’s one of the first digital tools they have used, because their job role up until now didn’t involve much online activity. These people are learning digital skills as they go when they create consultations in Citizen Space.
Most of these skills are transferable, so the tricks people learn using Citizen Space can be used for other applications and platforms, like WordPress and SharePoint to name just a couple. That means more members of staff in an organisation developing the skills to work confidently online.
Here are 5 transferable digital skills that people have learned using Citizen Space…
1) Working with rich media
To create innovative and engaging consultations, some of our customers choose to embed rich media like images, videos, maps and audio. In order to add this content effectively, our customers need to gain confidence with image manipulation and embedding rich media content. Since it’s so important to add images that are an appropriate size for consultations, we find Citizen Space users becoming more and more adept at image editing and uploading too.
2) Building ‘readable’ web pages
People read differently on the web, and the government jargon you use every day is unlikely to mean much to your audience. The skill of translating complex documents into accessible, readable online content can take some practice – but if the public doesn’t understand what a consultation is talking about or what they’re supposed to do, the response rate will be low. Writing with a specific audience in mind is a very useful skill that Citizen Space customers learn to master in order to make their consultations successful.
The Government Digital Service have some handy guidance on writing for specific audiences on the web, which we like to signpost our customers to as a starting point. Citizen Space also includes a number of set and optional headers which can be used to help promote best practice on structuring a consultation in a user-friendly way.
3) Using basic HTML
You don’t have to know any HTML to use Citizen Space, but there’s easy access to the ‘source’ button in the text editor for customers who’d like to take a look at the code. People who are learning some basic HTML can practise and use their new skills to make simple changes like adding tables, line breaks or padding around images.
4) Building accessible content
Building accessible content that everybody can use is an important skill when working with any web application. Citizen Space meets W3C, WAI, WCAG 1.0 & 2.0, Level AA and aims for the enhanced AAA accessibility standard where practical. It also prompts users to add some vital accessibility elements to the content they input themselves. Our customers become familiar with these, along with learning some other tips and tricks that will come in handy for other digital projects. For example:
- Adding in accessibility labels
- Using alternative text with images
- Using videos and other media to help people with low literacy levels
5) User testing
User testing is an important step in designing any website or online service. We encourage Citizen Space customers to do all the testing they can, from using the preview function while designing a consultation, to sending the preview link out to other people, and setting aside a testing period with some real users from the target audience before going live.
We see our customers coming to appreciate the value of user testing in making their consultations more successful, and learning how to best carry out this process. That knowledge will serve them well in any future projects to develop online services.
We like to help teams tool up
Our account managers frequently help Citizen Space customers with all these little functions and many others, talking them through how to do things and proudly watching them develop a good repertoire of digital skills. We provide a lot of user-friendly written guidance too that doesn’t assume any prior digital experience. Our quick start guides and comprehensive knowledge base allow users to work through the steps they need, while soaking up best practice guidance and teaching themselves some simple skills that will come in handy beyond Citizen Space.
