34 Thousand Participants in the Voluntary Crowdsourcing Campaign to Develop the Official UAE Government Portal

Within the concept of digital participation

Mobilk - The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) announced that the number of participants in the crowdsourcing campaign aimed at developing the official portal of the United Arab Emirates Government (u.ae) has reached more than 17,300 contributors during 2019. The total number of participants in the campaign over two years exceeds 34 Thousand contributors.

The customers contributions included comments and suggestions about the overall content of the portal. The portal team in TRA analyzed the comments and used them to develop the portal content.

The crowdsourcing campaign aims to activate the participation of the UAE Government portal users in providing information on the portal with mentioning the official source of that information, as well as providing comments on the current content, and correction of any errors if existed, whether related to the information accuracy, language or others. TRA published a survey to facilitate customers participation in this campaign, and used the hashtag "#ParticipateandGetaReward" to promote the campaign via social media.

The campaign went through several phases, starting by inviting the public to suggest new topics for the portal, receiving suggestions and inquiries, and listing and analyzing suggestions. TRA awarded the best customers who had active role in developing the portal digital content.

On this initiative, H.E. Salem Al Housani, Acting Deputy Director General for Information & eGovernment Sector, said: "The UAE Government official portal aims to provide complete and comprehensive information and data on all the services provided by the government. Moreover, as part of TRAs efforts to achieve happiness of all the portal users, we had to involve the users in the ongoing development process of the portal, by receiving their feedback and suggestions on the published topics, or the topics they wish to add. To encourage participation, TRA distributed prizes to the most active contributors, who made suggestions that had effective impact on developing the portal content."

Al Housani emphasized that TRA will maintain the development process of the portal digital content to achieve the public ultimate benefit. He added: "The portal is in constant development, with daily publication of important information and data, and the portal team updates the published information consistently with the countrys development. Despite these efforts, it will always remain incomplete if the customers do not participate in its development through their suggestions and inquiries. We, as Emirati community, represent one team that works hard to contribute to achieving the countrys visions and future goals."

The UAE Government official portal consists of four main sections that include the information and services, information on the UAE, e-Participation, and media. The information and services section includes many topics such as labor, investment, tourism, infrastructure, and visa, in addition to a complete list of all government services in the UAE. The second section covers the history of the UAE through its different eras. It also covers the UAE plans and strategies on future shaping and comprehensive development. This section also covers the UAEs efforts to achieve the UN sustainable development goals. In the e-Participation section, multiple channels are provided for communication with the UAE Government, as well as platforms for consultation and live chat, among others.

The portal (u.ae) reflects the electronic presence of the UAE Government. It includes massive information of interest to researchers on government services, policies, decisions and projects, as well as links to electronic and smart government services. The portal also embodies the principle of positive interaction between the government and the public through the various communication channels that contribute to developing content and improving portal features based on public opinions.