Redesigning of Contextual Items of Iranian State Portals

Web sites represent the most important springboard for development of E-government, as/ bacause they serve as a link between the government and the citizens. These websites serve different functions during the various stages of E-government development. Primary function is to offer government information and to secure communication between the government and its audience. If developed independently without any coordination, setting up websites for government agencies would present the risk of facing an asymmetrical and unbalanced collection of such sites over the course of time that not only prove of limited functionality but would not have the performance commensurate with the investment. In a type of websites, known as State or Provincial Portals, such coordination was promulgated through issuance of the directive “Subject Headings for State Information Portals and Minimum Software Requirements and Qualifications”. The directive was issued in 2004 by the now defunct Management and Planning Organization. The present paper reports the research outcome of a project that compared the status of existing state portals with the subject headings indicated in the above directives. Following a detailed study, it provides pointers regarding the revision of contextual and information items in the said portal through literature survey and comparative study of similar E-government portals in three developed using as well as the Delphi method.