Written in partnership with ProudCity. Communication is critical to emergency management. When disaster strikes, government must share content in ways that meet the moment. Why it matters Effective disaster communications: Lets you update faster, frequently Builds trust in government Removes confusion Keeps people safe How they get it People get disaster updates from many sources: … Continued
There’s a big election in November. While the news focuses on the presidential election, you most likely have local ballot measures and open seats on your City Council. Our communities are stronger when more people run for local office. But getting people interested in running for City Council can be hard. The process can feel … Continued
Most people learn about your government services and programs online. They don’t typically start on your homepage – they start with a Google search. This now means, they start with Gemini. AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity are answering questions about your services. Are they getting them right? This depends on how good your … Continued
Information on your government website is the foundation of your customer service. If it’s easy to understand and accurate, you’ll save time and build trust. Government website projects typically focus on a new content management system and a new design. Content is often an afterthought. Departments are usually left on their own to manage the … Continued
Clear communications – for internal or public consumption – is at the heart of good government. Writing better content eliminates confusion, saves time and resources and delivers a better overall government experience. Department of Civic Things and ProudCity are proud to collaborate on new training to support local governments in plain language, both for online … Continued
It’s that time of year again – business license renewals. If your renewal cycle is based on the calendar year, you are probably sending out reminders to hundreds or thousands of business owners right now. There’s usually quite a bit of customer service involved in this program. Business owners often: Get confused about what they … Continued
We created a custom ChatGPT called Service Thing. It helps you write government services content that focuses on tasks and is easy to understand. Custom GPTs are currently only available to ChatGPT Plus subscribers. This will hopefully change in early 2024 and be open to everyone for free. Service Thing If you don’t have a … Continued
Generative AI can create content based on patterns it has learned from existing data. A prompt for generative AI is a set of instructions that tells it what kind of content to create. This post explains the steps for preparing a generative AI prompt you can use to create draft government service content. An action … Continued
A government website often feels like a firehose of information. It’s overwhelming to read long paragraphs of text, especially on your phone. Content editors struggle to keep things up to date, especially when the same information appears on multiple pages. Structured content is a way to organize and present information in a way that makes … Continued
Generative AI (gen AI) is a useful tool that can help you write draft content for your government website. At this point in time, you can’t completely trust it to write perfect and accurate content. But using it can save you time. There are several free gen AI tools available. The most common ones are … Continued
