PolicyOptions.org Pilot Site Development

PolicyOptions.org Pilot Site Development

As part of its pilot, the PolicyOption.org initiative used a wiki (see http://policyoptions.pbworks.com) where college students researched issue briefs as a start for their network of local community think tanks. PolicyOptions.org engaged CivicActions to create a Drupal site that built on what they had learned during the wiki phase to establish a news and research-focused website. The issue briefs will be integrated into this site in a future phase. CivicActions and PolicyOptions.org agreed that the best plan was to start with something simple and continually iterate as user feedback is collected.

Information Architect Zoey Kroll worked with PolicyOptions.org creating a content plan which initially focused on engaging the student users and later will expand to include the general public. She also helped PolicyOptions.org lay the groundwork for location specific content. Working from the wireframes that Zoey created, Jozef Toth created a custom Visual Design and Theme and Robin Barre then developed the site. The next step is for PolicyOptions.org will be to add a location-focused structure and additional user testing to understand how the site should iterate in future phases.

Project Start Date: 
October, 2009
Launched: 
January, 2010

About PolicyOptions.org Initiative

The Policy Options Initiative seeks to establish a network of local community think tanks that will make policy information, news, and research available on websites, weekly email news updates, and research. These community think tanks will feature local, state, and national policy news and analysis on topics of local interest that draw upon policies and program models from around the country and world.  

The goal of the PolicyOptions.org is to fill an important gap in our public life: the availability of accurate, balanced, comprehensive information and analysis about the issues that we care about and hope to impact through public policy and civic engagement. We believe that this information is critical to informed citizen action in shaping policy and planning program improvements.

They will tap the underutilized research capacity of institutions of higher education to create local and state level community think tanks, which will be housed in participating college or university public policy or community outreach centers or institutes. These locally-focused bureaus will be linked through an affiliate structure to cover state issues and to a central national office that will cover national and international policy and program activity.

Services