The Coast guard - an accessible authority
Accessibility refer to a lot of different things depending on the context and who you are asking. For the coast guard, two aspects of accessibility were fundamental when developing their new website. The first requirement was a site, accessible for as many people as possible regardless personal limitations and computer environment. The second requirement was an easy and user firendly editing tool for the web editors.
The solution for the Coast guard was a completely new website, developed by Meridium and based on EPIServer. The new site was launched in june 2006 and has so far fulfilled all the expectations.
The next step is an intranet built on the same platform. Currently the Coast guard's conditions are examined and one challenge is how to make the intranet available to all the ships when out to sea.
The Coast guard is an authority and therefore has to follow WAI-rules and W3C:s standard. However, the Coast guard follow the regulations for other reasons as well.
- I think a well constructed website is equivalent to a functional site that's easy to maintain and update in the future.
When the organization began looking for a new editing tool they knew that many other authorities used and were satisfied with EPIServer and it did'nt take long for the Coast guard to chose EPIServer as well.
The reason for Meridium to be mandated the implementation process was a combination of price and competence and perhaps also attitude.
- We saw the difference already in the quote. Meridium really took the time to embrace our needs. They gave us constructive proposals on solutions and pointed out possible areas of problem early in the process. During the project we also noticed that Meridium really enjoys to build at full scale with correct standards, Anki Bäckman says.
The Coast guard's website is an important information tool, especially when it comes to recruitment.
Another important function is also that the officer at duty have the ability to publish pictures and information which then are brought onboard boats and aircrafts. When something happens at sea, for example algal bloom or oil leaks, media are very interested in information and pictures.
Earlier we mentioned that accessability can be a lot of different things. Anki mentions another example of just that - their relation with the developers on Meridium.
- I am really not interested in the technology behind the solutions and shut my ears whenever the technology talk starts. But the developers at Meridium always speaks plainly and explains things in untechnical terms. This is something that we informants appreciate a lot and you can really refer to that as true accessibility.
About the Swedish Coast guard
In 1988 the Coast guard became their own authority since the Swedish government wanted to streamline the civil operations at sea and at the same time create a greater cooperation between different authorities with responsibilities at sea.
Today the Coast guard is an authority which supervise, rescue and assist at sea. They have a close cooperation with police, custom, maritime administration and other authorities.
With a growing EU and an increase in sea traffic, new challanges are facing the staff of the Cost guard. Future coast guards will face a multicultural society and the work process for security at sea will require more common and international efforts.
