Michigan.gov continues enhancements; adds content in other languages

Contact:  Kurt Weiss, (517) 335-0050
Agency: MI Dept. of Information Technology

January 4, 2007

Lansing - To better serve Michigan's diverse population, the Michigan Department of Information Technology (MDIT) has announced the addition of eight more languages to Michigan's government web site.  Michigan.gov was recently recognized as the best web site of its kind in the nation by the Center for Digital Government, having won the coveted "Best of the Web" award.

"We know we must continue to enhance and develop our site in order to give the citizens of Michigan the type of access and information that they need," said Teri Takai, Director of MDIT and CIO for the State of Michigan.  "We are honored to have the Best of the Web award, but we remain committed to continuous improvement.  We know that the job is never done.  We have to keep making improvements and responding to the needs of the citizens."

The Michigan.gov team within MDIT works with all the State of Michigan agencies to encourage and create content for non-English speaking customers.  Many agencies have translated content into a variety of languages to help their customers participate in programs and processes.

With the addition of eight more languages, there is now greater access to vital online services and documents translated for use by the Albanian, Chinese, French, Hmong, Polish, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, and Vietnamese speaking populations of Michigan.  Michigan.gov already featured links to Spanish and Arabic content, bringing the total number of languages now available to ten.

All foreign language content is available in one place on Michigan.gov as well as within agency sites.  As State agencies provide more translated content, new links will be added to the Foreign Language Theme.
  
The e-Michigan Web Development team within MDIT originally designed the multilingual theme based on results from a focus group assessment and census data.  The ten foreign languages are accessed by selecting "Foreign Language Content" on the left side of the Michigan.gov home page.

http://www.michigan.gov/som/0,1607,7-192-39925---,00.html