Analyzing GOV.PH using dialogic communication principles

Dialogue is an essential process in communication and transactions, and it refers to "any negotiated exchange of ideas and opinions (Kent & Taylor, 1998, p.25)" that demonstrates the organization's willingness to engage in an open and honest give and take with its public. It is crucial to establish and utilize platforms such as websites to show its openness to feedback, questions, and suggestions in an organization. 

The Gov.PH, a one-stop-shop for all government needs and services, is a tool to engage and reach the public through the Internet. In today's world, where people heavily rely on the Internet, the government needs to be at par with global ICT standards that will meet time demands. The standards, however, are not only limited to ICT infrastructures and systems. The goal for any ICT development is to serve the organizational members better, and in the case of our government, to better serve our citizens. This essay will examine the governmental website using a public relations lens through Kent and Taylor's dialogic principles. 

The GOV.PH is consistent with the dialogic loop principle's surface-level characteristic since it allows feedback to be embedded in the platform. There is a mechanism where the public can send their feedback on the website, which is a good starting point for dialogic communication. However, if we are going to be strict with the dialogic principles, feedback mechanisms do not necessarily translate into dialogic communication. The feedback form must have an immediate response to the public; if this is not present, the GOV.PH does not comply with the requirements of a dialogic loop that needs a holistic approach, trained members, and the real commitment to respond to the public's concerns (Kent & Taylor, 1998).

In the latest Kaspersky cybersecurity survey, 85% of Filipinos are worried about making online transactions. Hence, building trust is essential, especially when dealing with critical governmental requirements that require assurance that my request or payment may enter the system, unlike face-to-face transactions when you have a paper trail. 

With this, it is recommended through the lens of dialogic principles that the website should be a repository of information and space where citizens can engage with the government for questions and feedback. This can be achieved by establishing a centralized chat center that will cater to the people's real-time questions on the website.

The second and third principles are the usefulness of the information and the generation of return visits (Kent & Taylor, 1998). The information is just a summary of all the government websites since it still redirects you to other government websites, which you will need to log in credentials. The information is useful for consolidating the services across different government agencies but does not offer coherent and comprehensive information on all the services and details. Additionally, the website cannot be translated into Filipino, which is a negative mark.

There are no FAQs present on the website where users can ask questions that undermine return visits' principles.  

The fourth principle is the ease of interface (Kent & Taylor, 1998), the GOV.PH successfully maintains text on their websites because it maintains the website's faster loading even if people are using mobile data. There is also a site map; however, it is not relevant anymore because, by design alone, ease of interface can already be achieved. The home page also contains the summary of services offered which are labeled according to the user's need. It is easy to navigate when we judge the GOV.PH website alone, but since the website's goal is for a one-stop-shop, it does not tick the box for ease of interface since you will still be redirected to other government websites with a different design, with a different arrangement and different words used which can bring confusion. Again, it defeats the purpose of the initiative. 

 The GOV.PH website still has a lot to improve both in terms of infrastructure and dialogic communication. Today's government websites are still scattered and do not have a cohesive design which makes it difficult for Filipinos to trust and shift their transactions in the digital world. Admittedly, the Information and Technology department put a disclaimer on the current website they have, saying that it still redirects you to different agencies and does not offer the "one-stop-shop" goal.

Today, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, where physical contact is not encouraged, the government must improve our digitalization so that when the next disaster hits the country, government transactions will not anymore be fully affected. A resilient country does not rely alone on the strength of its citizens. Resiliency should also be present in government offices. This resiliency means that no disaster can halt government functions, and this can only be achieved through continuous establishment and improvement of our system as we shift into e-government.

 Helpful reading/s:

• Kent, M.L. & Taylor, M. (1998). Building dialogic relationships through the World Wide Web. Public Relations Review, 24(3), 321-334.