City websites and digital government services

We offer public sector consulting services for city websites and digital government services.

Learn about our services »

Department of Civic Things is proud to be a Certified ProudCity Service Partner.

ProudCity is a platform that makes it easy and cost-effective for local governments to launch and manage digital government operations, including websites, meetings, online forms, payments and more.

Learn how we can help you build a ProudCity website »

Your website underpins your customer service. When people understand your programs and services, they call and email you less.

This saves them time (and yours too). It also increases their confidence and trust in your organization.

Content design helps people:

• Find what they are looking for
• Understand information easily
• Take actions in the right order
• Complete forms correctly
• Know what to expect

People want to interact with your agency easily and quickly. The experience doesn’t have to be delightful, it just has to work.

The more you can tailor your content to specific actions and audiences, the more successful your services will be.

We can help you:

• Create an inventory of your services
• Find out how good they are
• Improve your service content
• Reduce user errors
• Create a feedback loop for future improvement

Contact us to find out how we can help »

Rebecca Woodbury worked in local government for over a decade and was the City of San Rafael’s first director of Digital Service & Open Government. She also served as the City's public information officer. Rebecca developed the City’s digital strategic framework and led an organization-wide human-centered design training program.

In 2017, Government Technology named her one of the Top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers and in 2014 she received the Rising Star award at the Municipal Management Association of Northern California’s Women’s Leadership Summit. She has a BA in Public Policy and an MPP, both from Mills College in Oakland, California.

Meet our team »

Working with Department of Civic Things dramatically enhanced our online presence and improved service delivery. Rebecca and her team are skilled in translating complex government jargon into user-friendly content.

Our website saw significant improvements in accessibility, readability, and search engine optimization. Additionally, Rebecca's leadership style and approach to collaborating with staff made reaching our goals an enjoyable endeavor.

-- Liz Payne, Digital Services Manager for the City of Walnut Creek

When the City of Santa Ana built our new city website, Department of Civic Things was critical in making sure we did it right by focusing on user needs.

Rebecca guided our cross-departmental team of City employees through user-centered design principles, plain language, and accessibility. With these priorities in mind, we took a content-first approach and built a new City website that is easy to use and works for everyone.

-- Daniel Soto, Principal Management Analyst for the City of Santa Ana

‘Thing' / 'ting' / 'þing'

A Norse form of local, democratic governing. The people of a village would gather to discuss matters and everyone could voice their opinions.

Things »