At Milan’s central registry office on Via Larga, the “Mettiamoci la faccia” (Face Up) initiative goes into action today. The Telecom Italia-supplied “Emoticon” service allows people to give feedback on their satisfaction with local government services.
During this initial trial phase, citizens can use the three “Emoticon” touchscreen terminals installed at council offices to express how satisfied they are with electronic ID card services, funeral services, and registry office services.
Sending feedback is a straightforward process. On the touchscreen terminal, citizens simply press on the icon of the service they are interested in, and then choose one of the three emoticons to express their level of satisfaction: negative (red-face), satisfactory (yellow face), or positive (green face). Citizens who express a negative opinion can subsequently choose from four options as to why they are dissatisfied.
The “Emoticon” service is a software and hardware platform that records user responses and then transmits them via a Wi-Fi network to a processing centre, where statistics are extracted for the Milan town council to use to improve quality of service.
The scheme is the brainchild of Government and Innovation Minister Renato Brunetta, and was brought in under a protocol signed with Milan Mayor Letizia Moratti on March 9 as part of the “Mettiamoci la faccia” project.
“Milan is the first major city in Italy to trial this system, which, we are proud to say, we have got up and running in record time,” says the Councillor for Civic Services and Simplification, Stefano Pillitteri. “The trial will run for nine months. After that, we’ll assess the most effective method for fully rolling out the service.”
This project confirms Telecom Italia’s commitment to building innovative information and communication technology services for government, to benefit citizens and enhance Italy’s competitiveness.
Milan, March 23, 2009