DESPITE the much hyped digital leap the country has embarked upon, official websites of many institutions remain inadequately developed, failing to provide users with valuable information and services. A case in point is the web page of Jahangirnagar University, one of the largest and best public universities of the country where important information about its physical facilities, research, publications and extracurricular activities are either missing or not upgraded. Also, many faculty members reportedly do not take the trouble to update their profiles online. Will any foreign, well-reputed university be interested in exchanging knowledge with an academic institution that has little or no information about its research work on its site?

But why single out JU when many other public universities and key organisations show the same level of incompetence in designing and maintaining their websites? For instance, many of the research centres of Dhaka University offer litde insight into what kind of research is being carried out there. The list goes on. At the official website of a ministry the “tender" and "contracts" sections lie bare although the site contains two nice pictures of the minister and the secretary.

A well-designed website gives an organisation a consistent brand identity, distinction from competitors and reliable partnerships which improve the quality of services it provides. In order to make digitisation meaningful, authorities should have a well defined policy on what information official websites must contain. And heads of institutions should take measures to monitor and update their web sites.