Little Rock – The Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) today launched a new Web site that has new, improved features to help visitors quickly find what they need related to public health in the state.
“It is now much easier to quickly locate the wealth of important information on the Web site. The site uses navigation and search tools that internet users expect to have available when they visit any Web site today,” said Paul K. Halverson, DrPH, FACHE, Director and State Health Officer. “It is easy to use and the content is relevant and up-to-date.”
With the launch of the new site, the Department also has a new Web address: www.healthy.arkansas.gov. “It’s almost the same as our former address, www.healthyarkansas.com, but the use of a ‘.gov’ domain, instead of ‘.com,’ should reassure anyone that this is a credible, official government Web site when they spot it in a Google search, for example. And, not to worry, if anyone happens to use our former URL, they’ll get redirected to the new site,” Dr. Halverson pointed out.
“There are features we will continue to build on and add to the Web site in the months to come. These are things that will make the site even better, but weren’t considered make-or-break items that had to be in place for launch. That’s the beauty — and the challenge — of a website: it is always changing and evolving. Now that we manage content updates and additions internally at the Department, we can be much more nimble in getting important information posted timely,” Dr. Halverson added.
“Use of the Web and social media has grown at an incredible pace over the last several years and now they have become major communications channels in public health, as well. Social media like Facebook® and Twitter® provide us ways to reach a new audience in a lively,
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timely and interactive medium. The kickoff for our official ADH Facebook® page took place in April during Public Health Week. We also have begun to tweet messages on Twitter®. It just makes good sense that we rely more and more on innovative ways to get our messages out. Our ability to communicate has taken a big leap forward,” he said.
An internal ADH internet committee conducted research, reviewed best practices and worked with the Information Network of Arkansas (INA) to create the new site. The site uses standards and guidelines adopted by the state Department of Information Systems to produce a more cohesive look and easy, consistent navigation for the Web sites of Arkansas’s government entities. INA assisted with the Web site design, site architecture and design integration. INA also will provide hosting, security, support and service upgrades. ADH will use a content management system provided by INA to develop and maintain Web site content ongoing. The ADH Web site meets and exceeds Arkansas’s accessibility standards.
Arkansas.gov is the official Web site of the state of Arkansas (http://www.arkansas.gov/) and a service of INA. Arkansas.gov was named one of the best state government sites in the nation last year by the Center for Digital Government in its annual national competition, Best of the Web, which evaluates sites based on their innovation, Web-based delivery of public services, efficiency, economy and functionality.
