Hong Kong redesigns youth portal for better engagement

The Hong Kong Government’s Efficiency Unit has commissioned Unisys to help redesign its Youth Portal using public social networks and new mobile computing capabilities to better engage with Hong Kong’s young people.
Mr. C.C. Hui, Youth Portal Executive Director told FutureGov, “Unisys will help us conduct a consultancy study; to map out the technical requirements of the youth portal. The portal has been operating since 2007 and the technical infrastructure needs to be updated, it needs to cope with the latest technology requirements.” Under the six-month consulting engagement, Unisys will assist with the future development of the portal to fully leverage Web 2.0 technology. A key objective is to further encourage two-way dialogue with Hong Kong’s young people using the types of technologies that they like to use, including social networks and applications, or “apps,” for mobile devices, in the most efficient and cost effective manner.
“One of the major improvements we are looking at is web publishing. The portal has integrated content from approximately 190 organisations as well as content created by the local youth themselves including 3,100 exhibits, 675 videos and 140 blogger articles, we need to update content sharing systems in social platforms. We want to be more efficient to engage young people and enable co-creation but are constrained by the current technical infrastructure and architecture,” Hui added. The Youth Portal is an initiative of the Efficiency Unit and public broadcaster Radio Television Hong Kong. It provides a one-stop, easy-to-use multimedia platform for young people to access integrated government services and information as well as showcase their own creations such as artworks and designs, videos, inventions, photos and articles. The portal is targeted at youth aged 15-24 years old and receives approximately 65,000 visitors a month.

---