Department of Information seeks to be outward looking

The Department of Information is introducing a direct mailing service via internet, a new project that, in the words of director Emanuel Abela, will render it more outward looking and make more information accessible to the public.

"The department daily processes a great deal of information that is all meant for public consumption; however, only a fraction of this information actually reaches the public.

"What we will be attempting to achieve is that, by exploiting the electronic medium, we literally mail this information for free to whoever is interested," Mr Abela said.

The service will cover job vacancies in government departments and their agencies, which are at present regularly published in the Government Gazette.

"This information is certainly of particular interest to school leavers seeking a job. It is a known fact however, that young people do not normally subscribe to the Government Gazette, which is obtainable against payment. The result is that very often they miss out on such opportunities," he said.

This problem can now be solved simply by registering a request with the Department of Information. Registered recipients will regularly receive via e-mail, all calls for applications for the filling of posts within the public sector, published in every issue of the Government Gazette.

In the same way, all scholarship announcements published in the Gazette will be e-mailed to students as well as to all those who are interested.

Members of the business community, upon registration, will be able to receive on a regular basis extracts from the Government Gazette, advertising all calls for tenders issued by government departments, parastatal companies and local councils.

Recipients will then only have to take note of the tenders in which they are interested and make further enquiries with the respective department or entity.

The service will also cover DOI press releases, which are issued daily to all media organisations.

"However, only a fraction of them find their way in the print media, and fewer still make it to broadcasting stations. Moreover, when published in the media, they only appear in summary form.

"This is all very understandable as nobody expects to find the full texts of press releases on newspapers. To those who are actually interested, this will now be possible free of charge, upon a simple request.

"Recipients will not only receive full texts of all press releases, but also of official speeches made by the President, the prime minister, ministers and parliamentary secretaries," he said.

The department will now be giving the opportunity to all those interested, to receive photo images taken during government activities, in jpeg format. It will also be possible to reproduce these images in printed publications as well as on the Internet, provided prior DOI permission is obtained.

This service should prove to be beneficial to editors of various publications, including periodicals, magazines and newsletters published by local councils, local communities and other entities.

Every month, persons who apply for this service will also receive a copy of a diary of government activities and events, which can be very useful for reference purposes, especially by using the search facilities available on computers.

"Judging by the type of requests for information we receive, we think that these services will be filling a great void.

"Admittedly, the services being offered are tailor-made for e-mail users. However, non-users are most welcome to call at our Customer Care office recently set up within the department, and request the required printouts for collection from the DOI.

"Alternatively, they can call us on Freephone 153. We will certainly not let digital divides hinder our efforts to provide information. We`re here to give a service to all the public," Mr Abela said.

All e-mail users can apply for any of the above services which are all free of charge, simply by accessing the DOI website.

On its part, the DOI is committing itself to acknowledge every registration within one working day, and to start delivering the requested services within three working days.

www.doi.gov.mt