It is about time, but finely USFK has updated their website. Some of you may remember that I have been critical in the past of the USFK website. The new website is a big improvement over the old though some of the old issues I had with it are still valid now.

Sustain:

• Usable in Multiple Web Browsers: The old USFK website worked fine in Internet Explorer but if you used another web browser such as Firefox not all the features on the site would work. There are still some minor problems on the site when using Firefox but overall it works much better.

• Site Design: This is an area I found to be a huge improvement. USFK news releases are shown in the middle of the screen with useful links such as newcomer, family, and Good Neighbor links easily viewable on the side of the page. The Good Neighbor site has also been upgraded and an improvement off of the old site.

• Updated News Links: The news links for the site are being updated more frequently then the old site. However, I think the site can have even more news links. See my criticisms in the improvement category.

• RSS Feed: The new USFK site even has an RSS feed. This is of course a good thing though the feed button should be displayed more properly so people instantly can find it. Now USFK just needs to get more news links and updates to make in worthwhile for people to subscribe to the RSS feed.

Needs Improvement:

• Have a Bilingual Link: My biggest criticism of the old USFK site and still my biggest criticism of the new site is that it does not have a bilingual link to change the page from English to Korean Hangul. The USFK webpage needs to be accessible and usable to not only an American audience but Koreans as well. The MNF-Iraq website has the bilingual link prominently displayed for Arabic readers to translate the site with. The upgraded Good Neighbor site has a prominent bilingual link but the entire USFK website should be bilingual.
• More News Links: There is plenty going on in Korea and USFK and there should be many more news links for people to read every day. For those with Army Knowledge Online access, think of it as the USFK version of the Early Bird that is put out over AKO.
• Start A Blog: I have always felt that the USFK PAO should have an official blog running to put out information while at the same time receiving feedback from people in USFK. A few years back the 2ID PAO had a blog called Warrior News that updated daily and was a pretty good site to visit which unfortunately stopped when I believed the PAO person running it PCSed.
• Indexed Listing of Court Martial Results: The site still does not have an indexed listing of its court martial results. It just puts out the current listing of court martials from the current month. Let people be able to see the court martial results at least for the past two years. USFK should then also provide statistical totals based off of the results for people to see what the actual crime rate is for USFK. I have been doing this analysis myself but I shouldn’t be the one doing it.
• Official YouTube Channel: USFK needs to start their own YouTube page and actually publish videos people want to see. USFK a few months back had their subordinate commands start their own YouTube channels which is a start but these sites are not being updated. If you look through the various sites they haven’t been updated in three months.   IMCOM-Korea & AFN-Korea are the only ones updating their sites regularly. Operating a YouTube channel is just like running a blog, you have to update it regularly to build a viewership. Most of these sites aren’t doing it and it may be best for USFK to wrap these sites all into one channel in order to ensure regular updates are happening to create a larger viewership.
• Pages Dedicated to Addressing USFK Myths: USFK really should have pages in both Korean and English that address myths many Koreans believe about USFK. A good example of this is the US-ROK SOFA issue and perceptions about GI crime. It would nice to be able to show Koreans a page on the USFK site that clearly lays out the facts about some of the widely held perceptions Koreans have about USFK.
• Target Korean Media: Besides webpages addressing Korean perceptions, USFK needs to also target Korean user created content sites and publish videos about USFK that are in Korean and can be shared among Korean Internet users. YouTube has recently penetrated the Korean market but it is far from being a dominant force. That is why USFK should also target the major Korean online video sharing sites as well.

There is still many improvements that can be made with the site, but at least some positive steps particularly in site design have finally been made. USFK is looking for feedback on the site’s new redesign and hopefully they take my posting as constructive criticism because I want the site to not only be a source of information for USFK servicemembers, but for Koreans as well. There is no reason why the site cannot do both. Currently the site seems focused more on providing information to USFK servicemembers which the site is currently doing an average job at best with. The Good Neighbor site is not to bad, but I think it has not reached its full potential of what the site could and should be. So if anyone else reading this has an opinion of the site feel free to forward your comments to USFK at this link.