This is a collaboration. All the way!

According to an analysis for the City of Hafnarfjörður, traffic on the city's website has increased significantly in the first half of this year, as has the readership of news and announcements. Furthermore, the new feedback portal has been very well received, and the number of general enquiries has increased significantly. There has been a greater focus on digital services to make them more accessible and interactive for the general public. 

The town newspaper Hafnfirðingur He spoke with Garðar Rafn Eyjólfsson, who has been the town's webmaster for the past 12 years.

„There has been a complete revolution in e-services here. I've been working for the council for 12 years, and the past year has been the most enjoyable since I started. There are so many new developments happening that bring us more into the modern age.“ says Garðar Rafn, but extensive needs analysis has been carried out on the City of Hafnarfjörður's website, based on a Capacent report on what could be improved so that as many issues as possible can be resolved on first contact, either digitally or via the call centre. „The town's residents, the users of the website, should be able to get the greatest possible service at a time that suits them, at their home computer or on their phone. This is in line with the policy that various large companies have adopted and which people are becoming familiar with.“ 

^{In the feedback portal, you can upload a photo and mark the exact location, which makes it easier for the council to process issues. Photo/screenshot}

Suggestion with location and picture

In this regard, Garðar Rafn points out that the feedback portal is certainly proving its worth. „For a long time, we received feedback mostly by email or via various Facebook pages where the town was tagged in posts, or then via Facebook messages. Traffic on these Facebook pages is high and managing them has proven difficult. Today, we advise residents to log a suggestion directly in the suggestion portal, which then immediately enters a formal process and is responded to by the relevant department. There, you can also enter a location and share a photo where applicable, thus providing all necessary information from the very first contact. This has greatly improved the process and the service, and we are extremely pleased with the response, as we receive feedback from all quarters about all sorts of things. In 3 months, tips proved to be correct in almost 400 cases.

^{More people are using smart devices to look up content on the Hafnarfjörður City website. Photo/OBÞ}

More people, younger people, read the news – on smart devices

Garðar Rafn says that in one year, the City of Hafnarfjörður's website has developed into a powerful medium, with an emphasis on active information provision and announcements about the city's activities and collaborative projects. „Web traffic has increased significantly, including the reading of news and announcements about 49%. It is particularly noteworthy that the average age of those who read the news is much lower, and it is also being read more on smart devices than ever before. Our Facebook page is very lively. We also have an Instagram page and have only been active there since the summer.“ says Gardar Rafn.

^{From Better Hafnarfjörður. Photo/screenshot}

The town's website will cover all the activities of the local authority, with an emphasis on simple and good access to information, including through a powerful search engine. „There is a great deal of work underway with My Pages – the resident portal – and we want to improve the content, accessibility and feedback there. We have also recently launched a simple lookup for the next rubbish collection date, and we aim to add a similar feature for snow ploughing this winter. Also, our new calculators are proving popular, as they are making the council's tariff structure more accessible and understandable.”. Calculators for nursery fees, after-school clubs and property taxes have now been launched.

^{The English version of the town's website went live a short while ago. Photo/screenshot}

Other websites also in development

An English version of the Hafnarfjörður website has been launched, and Garðar Rafn says that traffic to the new site has already become considerable and that, shortly, it will be possible to translate content on the English website directly into numerous other languages. The implementation is part of the important project to ensure that residents of foreign origin immediately feel that they are part of the community. Work is underway to translate the resident portal into English, and the City of Hafnarfjörður's recruitment website is also being translated. These are relatively small projects but extremely important in the grand scheme of things, ensuring that residents who do not have Icelandic as their mother tongue experience continuity in services and can also see the opportunities. „We are also finishing programming a website for the Hafnarfjörður Folk Museum and are starting work on a brand-new website for the library, in collaboration with the town's residents and the museum's staff. It's exciting work that lays a foundation for a forward-thinking approach to the municipality's web presence.“ When asked what qualities a good webmaster needs to have, he says that the key is to approach the job with an open mind and to be a good listener. „This is collaboration, all the way!“

An interview with Garðar was published in Hafnfirðinginn on 10 October 2020.