Electronic Image of the EU Institutions

Alina AndreicaFaculty of European Studies,

Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, ROMANIA

alina.andreica@ubbcluj.ro

Focus

Framework of knowledge based and media society

Electronic communication becomes of utmost importance Global accessibility -> relevance

EU institutions – major role within the EU An interdisciplinary study on the electronic

image of main EU institutions

Topics

1. Introduction and Working Framework

2. EU Institutions

3. Analysis of the Electronic of EU institutions 1. Functional and Content Analysis

2. Technical analysis

4. Conclusions

5. References

Introduction and Working Framework Knowledge based society – electronic

communication Global impact and accessibility Increased information relevance Promotion importance

Web 1.0 – Sites – WWW system Web 2.0 – social media facilities

Facebook, Twitter, My space, etc.

EU Institutions

European Parliament – EP Represents EU citizens, being elected by them

Council of the EU – CEU represents the governments of each member state

European Commission – EC represents the interests of the Union as a whole –

EU “government”

Site Analysis – EU Parliament http://www.europarl.europa.eu/portal/en

Language access

Site Analysis – EU Parliament 3 column layout with relevant news and redirecting

facilities into the institution’s social media accounts: facebook, twitter, flickr, linked-in, Youtube, as well as access to the EU Parliament TV

Site Analysis – EU Parliament

About EP section – accessed October 2014

Site Analysis – EU Parliament

Committees section – accessed October 2014

Site Analysis – EU Parliament

Complete web site list - the site content is quite large, the alphabetical content list is very useful

Site Analysis – EU Parliament menu & sections are structured on: Elections 2014,

News, MEPs, About Parliament, Plenary, Committees, Delegations, EP TV, and additional sections: Institutions, Consultative Bodies, Inter-institutional, Complete website list

A suplemental menu appears also horizontally, : News, Video, Think Tank, Committees, Plenary, MEPs, Organisation, Parliament and you The European Elections menu is also included some of these links are redundant with ones the top menu

sections have 2 two-column layout, with a larger content column and another one dedicated to social media access, news and interactive facilities Each page displays supplemental detailed menus, horizontally

displayed

Site Analysis – EU Parliament Visual identity: a white, accessible background and

navy blue banner with the EP’s logo Text is very readable in black and dark blue for highlighted

titles or sections Accessibility: Content is accessible and there is no

need to download special software for accessing the content. A dedicated Accessibility section displays the technologies that are used within the site

Contact facility is provided by means of Citizens’ enquiry service - http://www.europarl.europa.eu/portal/en/contact/

a special section is dedicated to terms of use and protection of personal data http://www.europarl.europa.eu/portal/en/legal-notice/

Site Analysis – EU Parliament Information density Information is appropriately

displayed on the main page and secondary pages some overlaps may be noticed as described above A search engine may be used to find information within the site

– functions correctly Texts and multimedia information are appropriately balanced news are “supported” with appropriate multimedia information

– usually images All links function correctly and the visual design is adequate in

order to emphasize the information that is displayed Information accuracy Information is accurate, relevant

and up-to-date Interactivity The site contains multimedia objects but

adequated to the content. As a reflection of its public EU institution, the site keeps a

rigorous and “classical” image; obviously, no commercial ads are included

Site Analysis – Council of the EU

http://www.consilium.europa.eu/homepage?lang=en – home page – accessed October 2014

Site Analysis – Council of the EU

The home page displays news and highlights in the content area the upper side of the page offers the site menu: Home, Council,

Policies, Documents, Special Reports, Contacts, Press a quick link access section is available in the bottom side of the

page

The design uses white background and light blue in the banner, with the Consilium logo

Information is readable and well balanced with texts and images

The site does not display links to social media accounts

Site Analysis – Council of the EU

Accessibility: Content is accessible and there is no need to download special software for accessing the content the design uses white background and light blue in the

banner, with the Consilium logo The site contains a special section dedicated to

protection of personal data and terms of use http://www.consilium.europa.eu/toolbar/legal-notice?lang=en including FAQ, RSS

A copyright section is also included - http://www.consilium.europa.eu/toolbar/copyright?lang=en

Site Analysis – Council of the EU

Information density Information is appropriately displayed on the main page and secondary pages Information is logically structured and can be found fairly easy

within the site A search engine may be used to find information within the site -

it functions correctly Texts and multimedia information are appropriately balanced,

news are “supported” with appropriate multimedia information – usually images

All links function correctly and the visual design is adequate in order to emphasize the information

Information accuracy Information is accurate, relevant and up-to-date

Site Analysis – Council of the EU

Interactivity The site contains multimedia objects but adequated to the content As a reflection of its public EU institution, the site keeps a

rigorous and sober image; no commercial ads are included Within the page sections, a horizontal-type menu opens

in the top hand side

Site Analysis – Council of the EU

Council section

Site Analysis – Council of the EU

The document section contains document search facilities

Site Analysis – Council of the EU

Contacts section

Site Analysis –European Commision

http://ec.europa.eu/index_en.htm – home page

Site Analysis –European Commision

The site is very well structured, contains search facilities and a large volume of information

Visual identity: The site uses a white, accessible background and navy blue banner with the EC’s logo Text is very readable in dark blue and black for highlighted titles

or sections Quick links sections on main page: Policies and

legislation, Public contracts and funding, About the European Commission, Contact the European Commission, Life, work and travel in the EU – with additional sections (quick links)

A vertical menu is available in each section, which guides the user within the whole site structure

Site Analysis –European Commision

Accessibility: Content is accessible and there is no need to download special software for accessing the content A site map is also available for assisting information access The site contains a special section dedicated to terms of use and

protection of personal data http://ec.europa.eu/geninfo/legal_notices_en.htm

Information density Information is appropriately displayed on the main page and secondary pages Information is logically structured and can be easily found within

the site A search engine may be used to find information within the site; it

functions correctly Texts and multimedia information are appropriately balanced News are less highlighted than in the other studied sites, but a

Press section is also available All links function correctly and the visual design is adequate in

order to emphasize the information that is displayed

Site Analysis –European Commision

Information accuracy Information is accurate, relevant and up-to-date Interactivity The site contains multimedia objects but adequated to the

content As a reflection of its public EU institution, the site keeps a rigorous and

sober image; obviously, no commercial ads are included

“About EC” page

Site Analysis –European Comission

Policies section

Site Analysis –European Comission

Business section

Site Analysis –European Comission

These pages contain a supplemental vertical menu, with options corresponding to subsections of the quick links from the main page

About EC site

Site Analysis –European Comission

Research – EU portal http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/page/home

EC research portal

Site Analysis –European Comission

Alphabetical site index – site complexity is noticeable

Site Analysis –European Comission

Site map – site complexity is noticeable

Traffic Analysis – www.alexa.com

in October 2014 europa.eu domain ranked 735 in the world – in a positive trend, compared to 784 in October 2013, among web domains, and 284 in Germany (the country which has generated the highest site traffic) also in a positive trend, compared to 321 in October 2013

Traffic Analysis

Sites where visitors come from and keywords that lead to site access

Traffic Analysis – www.alexa.com

Geographical audience - October 2014

Traffic Analysis – www.alexa.com

Most visited subdomains – europa.eu the most accessed is the site of the European Commission

ec.europa.eu – with an impressive 54.57% visitors (rising from 53.13% in October 2013) , followed by europa.eu – 18.39%, eur-lex.europa.eu – 6.89% and the site of the European Parliament europarl.europa.eu – with 5.77% visitors (decreasing from 7.47% visitors in October 2013)

In October 2013, the Consilium web site consilium.europa.eu occupied the 13th place in the europa.eu domain, with a traffic percentage of 1.27%

Web optimization – EP site

Weboptimization site analysis – speed websiteoptimization.com – accessed October 2014

Web optimization – EP site

Weboptimization site analysis – page objects details Source: websiteoptimization.com: good HTML site compliance; some problems regarding the high number of objects and images per page, and script size, which delay page download,

To be improved: the number and size of css files, the total page dimension, the number of external script files. As warnings, the following remarks are generated: a big page size - ~450KB (compared to ~130 in October 2013 ), a big total number of page objects – 30 and images – 27, a big total images size - ~409KB, elements which induce a certain delay in page loading , external scripts, with a fairly big dimension

Web optimization – EC site

Weboptimization site analysis – speed

Web optimization – EC site

Weboptimization site analysis – download time the site of the European Commission

http://ec.europa.eu , with a total size of ~205KB (compared to ~268KB in October 2013 – see (Andreica, 2013)), is downloaded, on a GB connection, in only 2.49 seconds, significantly improving from 7.02 seconds in October 2013

Web optimization – EC site

Web optimization recommendations

Color contrast analysis – EP site

Color contrast analyzor – accessed October 2013 http://www.accesskeys.org/tools/color-contrast.html

Color contrast analysis – EP site

Color contrast analyzor – accessed October 2014 http://www.accesskeys.org/tools/color-contrast.html

Color contrast analysis – EP site

Color contrast analyzor http://www.accesskeys.org/tools/color-contrast.html

Results are better than the ones obtained in October 2013 in October 2013, 69.33% of the total text displayed within the site

did not meet W3C site readability requirements for either color difference or color brightness

in October 2014 both color difference and color brightness meet the recommended standard for 66.7% of the total text

We conclude that the site has improved some of its readability problems but some others still remained and color contrast can be further improved

A complete list of warnings or “non visible” messages is provided by the Access keys analyzer for all sections with readability problems or warnings

Color contrast analysis – Consilium site

Color contrast analyzor – October 2013 http://www.accesskeys.org/tools/color-contrast.html

Color contrast analysis – Consilium site

Color contrast analyzor – October 2014 http://www.accesskeys.org/tools/color-contrast.html

Color contrast analysis – EC site

Color contrast analyzor – 100% met requirements Oct 2013 http://www.accesskeys.org/tools/color-contrast.html

Color contrast analysis – EC site

Color contrast analyzor – accessed October 2014 http://www.accesskeys.org/tools/color-contrast.html

Conclusions The importance of “electronic communication” and promotion

The EU institutions site appropriately comply their target and

goals, to present and promote the EU institutions and their activities

The visual identity reflects the characteristics of the EU institutions and emphasize the information they provide

The most complex is the EC site Information, content and facilities point of view has the highest traffic is the fastest from the download speed point of view – 2.49s on a Giga bit

speed connection, considerably optimized since Oct 2013 (7.02s) It meets all necessary requirements form the readability and color

contrast point of view

Conclusions

The EP site ranks next From the traffic point of view It also has a complex structure and a large volume of

information download speed is good, but fairly slower than EC

site: 8.39s on a Giga bit speed connection (decreasing speed from 7.69s in October 2013)

color contrast requirements have minor observations Both EC and EP sites include links to social

media accounts

Conclusions

The Consilium site ranks next – in complexity, as well as in efficiency criteria Color contrast may be improved Another proposed improvement refers to the

integration with social media facilities The analysis reveals that the studied sites

adequately reflect the image of their institutions and reach the corresponding organizational goals

Efficiency rank: EC site, EP site, Consilium site

Conclusions

The electronic environment highly increases information accessibility and sites, as well as social media accounts, become main information sources within a globalized information dependant world the importance of developing and maintaining these tools according to the organizational goals

Selected references Alina ANDREICA, IT Management. Cluj-Napoca: EFES, 2009 ANDREICA, A (2013) European Institutions and Their Electronic

Image, paper presented at the Cultura Eurpaea Congress, Catalunya International University, Barcelona, Spain, October 2013

Avinash KAUSHIK, Web Analytics. An Hour A Day. Indianapolis: Wiley Publishing Inc., 2007

Nicolae PAUN (coord.), Instituţiile Uniunii Europene, Editura Fundaţiei pentru Studii Europene, Cluj-Napoca, 2004

Gwen SOLOMON, Lynn SHRUMM, Web 2.0: New Tools, New Schools. International Society for Technology in Education, 2007

Alexa Web Traffic Analyzer www.alexa.com , Accessed October 2014

Web site optimization www.websiteoptimization.com , Accessed October 2014

Color contrast analyzer http://www.accesskeys.org/tools/color-contrast.html , Accessed October 2014