Digital Engagement team wins a Government Experience Award

As the onslaught of snow dumped on Seattle earlier this year, there was a new resource residents could turn to. The Winter Storm Response website developed by Seattle IT's Digital Engagement team provided all the information residents needed to navigate the storm. Launched in late 2020, the new site was just in time for our record snowfall.

The Center for Digital Government recognized the strategic approach of the site and the team's ability to leverage human-centered design methods and engage ten departments during the site's development. It received a Project Experience award for its ability push the boundaries of communicating about public services.

"We are honored and excited to be recognized for this project, which paved the way for other major event websites, like Wildfire Smoke and the upcoming Earthquake Response site," said Digital Engagement Senior Manager Michal Perlstein. "We felt that our partnership with the related City departments was very successful, even though interviews and design sessions were completely virtual, and it helped us solidify a collaborative process for this type of digital hub."

The site launched in December 2020 and received heavy traffic during Seattle's record-breaking snowfall in February 2021.

"The snow was headed our way and then it was all-hands-on-deck! We launched the site before the storm hit. It's been well received, and we're thrilled with the results," said UX Designer Michelle Ringgold.

"This was a fun and challenging project for the development team to tackle. It is the first project of its kind within the Web Content Management System in which we are supporting and encouraging collaboration from numerous departments for the sole purpose of creating a single site to provide important information to our Web site users. This was created in way that will scale for other similar purposes and we look forward to exploring this model further," said Senior Technical Product Manager Jeff Beckstrom.

The Center for Digital Governments gives awards out annually to recognize the achievements and best practices of states, cities and counties. The Center for Digital Government held a virtual award ceremony to honor Seattle IT's Digital Engagement team members for their work, along with all the winners in 2021.