Granicus Media Coverage

El Monte Council is 'On-demand'

Fri, 03 Feb 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Web service offers real-time access

EL MONTE - Beginning today, El Monte City Council meetings will be streamed free through the Internet, where Web users worldwide can log on and access Tuesday meetings - live - via the city's Web site.

"Anyone will be able to watch it, whether you're taking a vacation, or you're in another part of the building, or you're a developer in Nebraska or wherever you're at," said Matt Weintraub, administrative services officer for the city.

El Monte joins a slew of municipalities and agencies nationwide working with Granicus Inc., a San Francisco-based provider of streaming media software, to make their webcasts possible. Local city governments Baldwin Park, La Puente and Pasadena - as well as the Pasadena Unified School District - also are listed as Granicus clients.

Weintraub said his city's latest partnership comes with a $62,000 price tag, which includes $50,000 in startup costs and a $1,000 monthly maintenance fee.

The bulk of the tab will be covered by local government access funds, he said, and general funds also have been designated.

Via the system, El Monte will host live council meetings on its Web site the first and third Tuesdays of the month.

Those who miss the live version can access the week's agenda, as well as archives, to electronically link to portions of the video regarding a specific agenda item, Weintraub said.

"If you want to see what happened on council item 6a, you click on 6a and it'll jump you there," he said. "Even if you have cable access, you still would have to watch the whole \ to get to item 5a. This is like El Monte City Council 'on demand.' "

The transition into streamlined City Council meetings is expected to be smooth, Weintraub said. Some added responsibilities will be given to the City Clerk's Office, but Lorene Gutierrez, newly elected city clerk, and Chief Deputy City Clerk Helen Lopez said they don't mind.

Lopez described the added tasks as an opportunity to do her job "accordingly."

"It's more accurate when you have actual computer technology and \ have to do the old pencil-and-paper routine," Lopez said.

City meetings and community events are currently broadcast on KELM-TV, channel 3, the city's local cable access station. But not every El Monte resident is a cable subscriber, and council meetings are usually not aired until days after the meeting's adjournment, Gutierrez said.

"With this new technology, if \ don't have cable, they could go into the Web site on their computer and see their own council meeting," she said.

Weintraub said he also hopes eventually to load videos of local events and other broadcasts on the streaming video service.

About Granicus
Founded in 1999, San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. helps government reach staff and constituents without barriers. Public agencies trust our webcasting solutions to enable vital improvements to public access, staff efficiency, and government accountability. In addition, the combination of webcasting with public meeting management technology into a single workflow decreases administrative costs and simplifies public recordkeeping tasks. Granicus serves more than 400 governing bodies in 44 states, building close connections with more than 30% of the American population.

Contact
Lauren Alexander
Corporate Communications Manager
415-357-3618 x1788

Sunnyvale Council Meetings Hit the Web

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Starting this week, Sunnyvale city leaders may want to make sure their hair is combed just right and they speak a little more articulately.

That's because for the first time, the Tuesday city council meetings will be available as live Internet webcasts at webcast.insunnyvale.com. Next week, the webcast versions of the every-other-Monday planning commission meetings will launch.

The Web-based programming complements Sunnyvale's government access television broadcasts on KSUN-15, which have been on the air since the late 1990s for city residents with Comcast cable.

Sunnyvale joins a host of other cities, including San Jose, Milpitas, Cupertino and Mountain View, that webcast their meetings.

"This was a matter of budgeting priorities," said city spokesman John Pilger. "We've now decided we can do this and sustain the cost over the long haul. We're happy to do it now."

Sunnyvale, like many other cities, contracts with Granicus. It cost Sunnyvale taxpayers about $70,000 in one-time start-up fees, and will cost about $43,000 a year in ongoing annual costs.

For the public, the service is free and can be viewed from anywhere in the world. One of the benefits of the webcasting service is that the meetings can be archived. Then, instead of watching an hours-long meeting to find the topic you're interested in, Web viewers can use the "jump to" command to find a specific point in the meeting.

Pilger said the archived meetings typically will be available online the Friday morning following a Tuesday council meeting, and the Thursday morning following a Monday planning commission meeting. The archives will remain available for online viewing for three years.

Council Advances Open Government

Fri, 13 Jan 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Our Views

The Olympian

Score a victory for open government. The Olympia City Council, which already televises its meetings on local cable access channels, will begin broadcasting those same meetings through the Internet to home computers later this spring.

The advantage of streaming video is that viewers can see the council meetings at their leisure. Viewers won't be locked into the televised council schedule - live Tuesday nights with replays Friday mornings. On their computers, viewers have the added advantage of pausing the recording or skipping ahead to the part of the meeting that they are most interested in.

Credit City Councilman TJ Johnson for raising the issue of how city government could be more accountable to the public. It was at that open government forum in January 2000 where the streaming video idea surfaced. Jeff Jaksich, president of the East Bay Drive Neighborhood Association, was one of the advocates for council meetings via the Internet. "People are very busy," Jaksich said. "By making it more convenient, it enables people to get more involved."

That's why council meetings via the Internet are such a good idea - it invites greater public participation in democracy. Maybe interactive programming, where the public could ask questions of council members, is the next step.

Glendale Launches New Online Library for Council Meetings and More

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Residents can now watch current and past meetings through the City's website

Glendale, AZ - Glendale residents can now watch their favorite shows from the award-winning Glendale 11 television station, as well as current and past city council meetings, online and on-demand thanks to a new video library on the city's Web site.

This new video archive aims to keep residents informed, with the convenience of watching what they want, when they want it. The library can be found at www.glendaleaz.com/video and features a variety of video content about the city of Glendale, including city council and planning & zoning meetings, regular Glendale 11 programming, and special features like festival shows and the popular "The Making of the Stadium."

Powered by Granicus, an online video streaming tool, the video library also allows users to search city council meetings for specific agenda items and then click immediately to that part of the meeting that interests them. The video archive is Glendale's latest effort to use technology to reach citizens, and it joins the city's growing family of multi-media and social media offerings. The city currently shares information, photos and videos with the public via YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.

"In today's world, people expect convenience, and this is just one more way we can bring information about the city of Glendale and its programs and services to the public," said Julie Frisoni, Glendale Assistant Deputy City Manager. "We know that this is how people are getting their information. They want it when they want it, and this online library allows us to provide even greater access to public meetings and Glendale 11 programming."

To view the city's online video library, visit www.Glendaleaz.com/video. For more about Glendale 11 TV, visit www.Glendaleaz.com/Glendale11.

###

Sonoma County Board Meetings to Begin Live Streaming on Internet

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

County is committed to making government as transparent as possible

SANTA ROSA, Calif. - Beginning on January 26th, Sonoma County residents will be able to watch Board of Supervisors meetings live on the internet. Viewers with internet access will be able to watch live meetings, view the Board's agenda, and access relevant support documents such as staff reports and board resolutions. The internet streaming will include live captioning for the hearing impaired. In addition, meetings will be archived and available for replay at the viewer's convenience. This project is a continuation of the County's commitment to making government transparent and accessible to its residents.

"This will enhance the public's access to their county government," said Board Chair and 1st District Supervisor Valerie Brown. "This is a smart use of technology that moves the county closer to being paperless, and also complements our sustainability efforts."

Residents interested in using this new service may visit the Board of Supervisors website at http://supervisors.sonoma-county.org/meetings/. The meetings will be listed by date. The meeting archive will begin with the January 26th meeting, and will grow over time as future Board meetings occur.

The new online service is provided through a contract with Granicus, Inc., a San Francisco company and a leading provider of government webcasting and public meeting management solutions throughout the U.S.

The County of Sonoma comprises 26 departments and agencies that provide a full range of services to the community. It encompasses over 1600 square miles and is home to almost 500,000 residents. Sonoma County government has a history of providing excellent and responsive public service while operating under sound fiscal principles.

Located less than one hour north of San Francisco, Sonoma County combines in one location the beautiful Pacific coastline, award-winning wineries, majestic redwoods, historic towns, fine dining, and a wide variety of entertainment and cultural activities.

Contact: Jim Toomey (707) 565-2188 jtoomey@sonoma-county.org

City Meetings are Now Online

Fri, 27 Jan 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Streaming Web casts feature council, other bodies

Thisweek Newspapers

John Dahl, a Burnsville resident since 1974, actually enjoys watching City Council meetings.

"I just like to stay up on what's going on," Dahl said. "There are so many that are apathetic."

Dahl lost his live local fix a few years ago after dropping cable TV for satellite. But a new service put him back in touch.

The city now provides live Web streaming of all televised city government meetings. On-demand viewing of past meetings beginning with Jan. 17 will also be available. The video and audio feeds are at the city's Web site, www.burnsville.org.

Service started with the Jan. 17 City Council meeting. Also available online will be meetings of the Planning Commission, Parks and Natural Resource Commission and Burnsville/Eagan Telecommunications Commission.

"Council members have always been interested in the widest possible audience for their meetings," said Jim Skelly, Burnsville's communications coordinator. "Cable television came into play in 1989, and we've had good success with that. When this project came along it was a chance to kind of broaden the audience for City Council meetings and all the government meetings at a relatively reasonable cost."

The service is provided by Granicus, a San Francisco company. The city paid $9,000 for training and software and will pay Granicus $725 a month for hosting.

The money comes not from taxes but from the franchise fee paid by cable-TV subscribers. Franchise fees fund all the city's communication programs.

City officials hope to widen their TV audience to include vacationers, snowbirds, satellite users and Burnsville business people.

"Most of the businesses don't have cable television, and many of (the owners) don't live in Burnsville," Skelly said. 'We feel like that's really going to be an audience that will get in touch with the city better through this system."

A 2005 survey of Burnsville residents indicated that 79 percent have Internet access, with the majority using a cable modem or DSL connection. Visits to www.burnsville.org grew by 40 percent in each of the last two years.

"I think this year you'll see Web streaming is just one part of an overall improvement plan for Web communications for the city," Skelly said.

The streaming content is accessible via Windows Media Player, software pre-installed on nearly all computers. Even dial-up users with 56K modems should be able to get both audio and video, Skelly said.

"The picture degrades with however slow your connection is," he said.

The service allows viewers to choose only parts of a meeting through a drop-down menu of agenda items. The full printed agenda is also available online. In the future, the city plans to make entire meeting information packets available online, Skelly said.

Through tracking software the city will know often the system is used.

"We had 510 sessions on our first meeting," Skelly said. "That's beyond what anybody expected."

Dahl checked out the meeting on his computer.

"The close-ups of some of the documentation were tough to see, but I'm sure that will be solved in short order," he wrote the city in an e-mail. "That is a nit. The fact that this is now available is terrific."

Government Might Soon be a Mouse Click Away

Tue, 01 Nov 2005 00:00:00 GMT

Waukesha considers streaming live meetings on Web

WAUKESHA - Meet the future of government.

You may soon be able to kick back, eat dinner or a snack, perhaps watch a movie - all while keeping an eye on the most important debates and decisions unfolding at city hall.

A proposal is on the table to stream live video and audio broadcasts of city meetings through the Internet - and, while doing so, join other communities across the country in using the latest technology advances to make government access more open and convenient.

If eventually approved by the council at an estimated first-year cost ranging from $12,000 to $70,000, Waukesha would be among a scarcity of Wisconsin communities using such technology.

Although on the backburner for now, technology officials also have broached buying a program, called Granicus, which would allow for real-time updates of meetings, such as vote counts or actions taken, said Information Technology Director Bret Mantey.

At a projected starting cost of $53,000, Waukesha would be the first community in the Midwest to use that system, which is gaining popularity in Western and Southern states, Mantey said.

"If we spend a little we might get a lot back," said Alderman Steve Panozzo, who works fulltime as a field engineer for IBM. "It's all about moving into the future."

Panozzo added that he would understand, especially with the city's tight budget, if the council passes on the two ideas for now.

"It's around the corner," he said. "If it's not this year it could be next year or two years down the road."

Eric Ludwig, who handles the city's TV 25 cable coverage of city meetings, proposed the streaming of video and audio after getting requests from people living outside Waukesha, with interests here, asking for access to government meetings.

Mantey said the advisory committee pursued the idea as a way of making government more accessible to the public.

"That's the main, core reason we looked into it," Mantey said.

Mantey and other officials also lauded the Granicus program because it would allow for more immediate access to meeting minutes - under the program, largely written during meetings - and a more universal format to them as well.

The council likely would have three choices for how to broadcast meetings, Ludwig said. They could be streamed live, taped and posted at later dates, or a combination of both.

If approved, Mantey said, the streaming likely would include just council and plan commission meetings, with eventual coverage of other government panels as well.

City Broadcast Center Set, Web Site Upgraded

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Surprise has just put the final touches on its $1.2 million broadcast center in the city's new Public Safety Facility.

Residents are seeing the results online from the city's new video-driven Web site that covers a range of city issues and activities. The site can be accessed at surpriseaz.com/surprise11.

"I'm really excited," Mayor Lyn Truitt said.

"This is going to be a great communication tool for the city to let our residents know what opportunities are available."

Shows on the site include:

. Council Conversations: The program features discussions with elected officials on matters in their districts and in the city.

. Council meetings: This feature allows residents to watch City Council meetingslive or on demand via the archives. Residents also are able to search through agenda items, skipping ahead in archived meetings to the issues they care about most, be it Bell Road or pickleball courts.

. Community events: These programs allow residents to watch a variety of community activities. Examples already include the Memorial Day Parade and the 2008 graduation ceremonies for Dysart and Willow Canyon high schools.

With a newly completed TV and Internet broadcast studio in hand, Surprise is planning other program ideas to bring more residents into the city's policy-making process.

The city's new studio setting will allow City Council members to conduct interviews with area officials and also to speak directly to city residents. Mayor Lyn Truitt also has envisioned longtime residents sitting down to provide "moments in history" and describing what life in Surprise used to be like.

All these programs would then be available on the city's new Web site and its television station, Surprise Channel 11.

Before the online site was launched only cable subscribers were able to access these programs through television. While Surprise Channel 11 will continue, anyone with Internet access can now see the programming as well.

Residents visiting the Web site have the opportunity to watch Channel 11 as it appears on television or sort through the specific shows that interest them.

The Web site also provides access for people around the world, whether the viewers are residents, family members of residents or simply people curious about Surprise, city spokesman Ken Lynch said.

Truitt also said the Web site should help open local government to the residents. Surprise has been criticized in the past for not providing such openness.

"It has the potential to really allow the residents of Surprise into the decision-making process, because that's really our job," Truitt said. "We're here to represent the will of the people."

Truitt said there might be opportunities to informally poll residents about various issues through the site.

The Web site operates using an outside company called Granicus, Inc. The cost of using Granicus is about $1,800 a month. Other Valley cities using Granicus software include Glendale, Goodyear, Scottsdale, Tempe and Apache Junction.

Truitt said while other cities have similar setups, Surprise is trying to offer a Web site with more features and more options for residents.

City Council meetings to stream live on the Web

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

COLUMBIA - Citizens and other interested parties with high-speed Internet access will be able to watch City Council meetings live on the Internet, effective May 4, 2009.

Dubbed "City Stream," the new service will also provide archived meeting video within 24 hours of a meeting's end. The viewer may choose to watch the entire meeting or click on a link for a specific agenda item to see only the pertinent video. Supporting documents will be available at the same location on the city's Web site, according to a city press release.

Televised broadcasts of City Council meetings on the City Channel will not be affected by this new service.

"Council members have asked for this service for citizens for several years," City Manager Bill Watkins said. "But the cost of buying broadband capacity was excessive, considering the small number of users that could be accommodated at one time."

Newly inducted Second Ward Councilman Jason Thornhill said the new service was timely.

"People have been missing the broadcast on the City Channel since Mediacom changed the channel, so this will be convenient for people to find it and watch at their leisure," Thornhill said.

Granicus, the vendor chosen to stream the meetings and store archived footage, brought a product to the table with the right features at the right price and serve other government clients, according to the press release.

Public Communications Director Toni Messina said that start-up costs are less than $15,000. There will also be a monthly management fee. Both costs are supported by funding recommended by the Public Communications Resources Advisory Committee and approved by the City Council.

"We applied for funding through the committee's competitive process earlier this year and were very pleased when we got approval," Messina said.

Messina said she hopes this will help the community's vision for a more transparent government process. She hopes to find out if the Internet is helping more citizens get involved and if the service helps them communicate with local officials.

Effective Monday, a link titled "City Council Meetings" in a black bar near the top of the city's home page will take users to the viewing site.

Sumner residents can now watch sessions on the Internet

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

It was a stroke of luck that the first Sumner City Council meeting to be available online was one in which 150 people crammed into City Hall.

"What a (meeting) to pick," Sumner Communications Director Carmen Palmer said. "But it was perfect. The council discussed a big issue and I'm sure people (who didn't attend) wanted to watch it." In May, Rainier Communications Commission, which provides the televised council meetings for Sumner residents, began offering online archiving to cities who use their television service. Sumner jumped at the chance, Palmer said.

"It's something that I think a lot of the cities were wanting to do and we're always looking for ways to make it more convenient for people," she said. "People can see meetings any time now, instead of just the times it comes on TV. It's just a really nice option for us right now." Even better, she said, is that RCC offers the service for free because it is part of the RCC's new contract with service provider Online Video.

"The amount of storage space we (now) have is sufficient that we (can now) provide that service to all of our member jurisdictions," RCC Director Bill Oltman said. "It's part of the benefits our members get." The meetings are not streamed live, Oltman said, but are archived and can we watched at any time. Each meeting will be available for a year after it's put online.

The commission offers this service free of charge to any of their members, which includes Fife, Orting and Puyallup. Some of the cities, he said, do their own archiving.

"(Puyallup) is going to be doing it on their own I believe, but it's available," he said.

City of Puyallup executive assistant Brenda Arline confirmed that the city is working with a private archiver.

"We are in the final planning stages," Arline said of putting meetings online.

Puyallup is working with Granicus, a private company. It will cost the city no more than $60,000 for the first year they use the service and about $26,400 every year after that.

The next step for Rainier Communications Commission, Oltman said, is to work with Comcast to provide On Demand video for the meetings, which can be watching on television at any time.

"It's not finalized yet, but we are hoping to provide that to customers," he said.

To view meetings, visit www.ci.sumner.wa.us.

Reach Reporter Avani Nadkarni at 253-841-2481 ext 314 or by e-mail at avani.nadkarni@puyallupherald.com.

To see more of Puyallup Herald or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.puyallup-herald.com/. Copyright (c) 2009, Puyallup Herald, Wash.

Something Everyone Agrees On: More Demand = Good Thing

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

While not a new observation it's become more acute in recent weeks that at least on one front in the Great Broadband Debates all parties seem to be in agreement: we need more people using and relying upon broadband to a greater degree.

It's the one issue that unites network, applications, content, and public interest people, both ideologically (we've all drank the broadband Kool-Aid) as well as from a business perspective (more users = more potential customers).

In particular this has been a major point of emphasis among the big-time network operators. I've now heard telcos and cablecos alike strongly suggesting that we need to be pursuing policies that can help stimulate understanding of and demand for broadband.

Yet while it obviously behooves any online purveyor of apps or content to have a larger marketplace to sell into, I have yet to see these overlapping interests turn into a working consensus over what needs to be done to stimulate consumer demand.

Of course, I can see why some might be wary of supporting any initiative that'll result in increasing subscription rates and ultimately profits for multi-billion dollar network operators. Also, there's the issue that apps guys want to talk about network deployment and management, whereas these are topics that network operators would rather just faded away.

But I think what might be really stalling a coordinated campaign to increase demand for bandwidth is that I have yet to see a concise plan or even any specific actions that can be done to improve this situation.

We've got studies showing that part of what's holding back people who don't subscribe to broadband is cost, but even more significant is that many people still don't have computers at home. On top of this, most people without broadband don't see the value it holds; it's a nice-to-have not a must-have service.

And taking this a step further, I'd argue that we've done a poor job of educating even those who already have broadband about how they can use it to improve their lives. The Internet may be this endless sandbox, library without walls, communications nirvana, but it also tends to be a medium that can only be fully exploited by those with the know how and initiative to spend a lot of time finding and figuring out how to use apps.

From a policy point of view it comes down the simple question of: what can the government really do to spur demand for bandwidth?

One obvious answer is to continue making more of their services available online, in particular in ways that add value to the old paradigm in order to incentivize people to shift into the new.

For example, webcasting government meetings through a company like Granicus. Today many of these meetings at all levels of government can be watched on TV, but what's possible online is revolutionary: never missing a meeting, watching at your convenience, easily search through agenda items, look up related materials, and more.

But this alone won't be enough as there's a ton of training and equipping that needs to be done in order to help all Americans participate in this new age of communications.

In order to shift the paradigm in a big way we need big ideas and a coordinated campaign uniting the abilities and interests of all parts of the Internet value chain to stand together and help inspire our country to embrace what a networked life can be.

Spurring demand for broadband and therefore apps and content is an issue we can all agree on. So let's use this common ground to start finding ways to work together on crafting effective federal policy to accomplish these specific goals rather than wasting all of our time bickering over issues we don't agree on.

This isn't to say we can ignore those issues we don't see eye-to-eye on, but I'm hopeful that by working together we can find more common ground that can lead to a more productive dialog and ultimately lead to more effective legislation.

City Meetings Now Available on the Web

Fri, 10 Feb 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Eagan is first in state to offer Internet broadcasts of all city meetings

Sure, you're interested in city government, but you just can't seem to drag yourself down to City Hall to attend a council meeting. Or maybe you missed a meeting on cable and you really want to know if your neighbor got that permit for a chicken coop.

Fear not - catching up on city meetings is now as easy as clicking a button on your computer.

Eagan unveiled its new tool, called Webcast Central, at Tuesday's City Council meeting. Webcast Central allows residents to view any and all live meetings, from those of the Parks and Planning commissions to the City Council, on the city's Web site.

The Webcasts can be viewed from anywhere in the world.

"That means we're going to have to behave ourselves because our families might be watching," Carlson said.

According to the city, four out of ten Eagan residents do not subscribe to cable television and cannot watch televised meetings or video messages from the city. The city hopes that Webcast Central will allow more residents to have access to their local government.

"We know that an informed citizenry will maintain Eagan's position as one of the preeminent cities in Minnesota," said Eagan Communications Director Tom Garrison.

Residents can now view meetings as they're happening with just a 20 second delay, and they can also view meetings for up to a year after they were originally broadcast.

Meetings are available on the city's Web site as soon as the next day. The meeting's agenda appears along side the video, complete with links to more information on any given item.

In addition to a search option for key words, there is also a "jump to" feature that allows users to choose the item they want to watch and the video will jump to that point.

The site also features a promotional video of the city, and will allow officials to instantly broadcast emergency messages over the Internet.

Belle Plaine City Council Meetings Online

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Citizens Can Watch Meetings Live and On-Demand through the City's Website

January 14, 2010

Belle Plaine, MN - The City of Belle Plaine will officially launch new webcasting technology at the January 19, 2010 City Council meeting. This technology provides citizens the opportunity to watch local City Council meetings live and also on-demand after the meeting. Users can instantly replay captured video of all or part of a meeting through the City's web site, www.belleplainemn.com and clicking on the link on the homepage.

The City of Belle Plaine has made open government a priority by supporting initiatives that enhance communication with our citizens. We are excited about this new web site feature as a further example of our ongoing efforts to provide easy access to the City Council process.

Currently, the local MediaCom Cable Channel No. 8 cablecasts each regular City Council meeting at scheduled times. The video recording of the council meetings are also available at the City's website listed above.

With the new technology, citizens will now have access to archived meetings of the City Council and will be able to use key word searches through archived agendas to locate items of interest. They will also be able to click on an agenda item and be automatically linked to the portion of the meeting they are most interested in watching. In addition, citizens will have access to the same background reference documents that the City Council considered in making its decisions. These same reference documents are also available prior to the Council meeting on the City website.

It is hoped that this new program will reach out to a greater number of residents and members of the community. This is one of the enhancements that the City has been looking forward to since the launch of our City website.

Archived meetings will generally be available for on-demand viewing the next day. Meetings will be archived and available for viewing for one year from the date of the meeting. The new on-demand service is powered by San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc.

Please contact David Murphy, City Administrator at 952-873-5553 for questions or comments.

Council Meetings Coming Online

Thu, 15 Dec 2005 00:00:00 GMT

CLEARWATER - Until now, political junkies have had three choices: attend City Council meetings, watch the meetings on the city's C-View 15 cable channel or get the tape from the library a few days later.

But now a fourth option, streaming video, is available on your home computer.

"There are a lot of problems inherent with making streaming video available to the public," Doug Matthews, the city's communications director, told the City Council at its work session Monday afternoon. But those problems have been overcome, he added.

"I'm glad (the technology) has finally caught up with us," said Councilman John Doran, who has advocated streaming video for the past three years. Pinellas County has had streaming video for the past year or two, but very few Florida cities have it.

"We are one of the first in the state of Florida," Matthews said. But many California cities have streaming video provided by Granicus, a San Francisco software firm that Clearwater also will use.

"Some of the other streaming media solutions we reviewed were three times more expensive than Granicus, and didn't even offer the indexed video feature we wanted," wrote Gloria A. Kappe, mayor of Cerritos, Calif., a city half the size of Clearwater that gets 2,000 requests a month for its streaming videos. "Based on the time saved on information management alone, the Granicus solution will pay for itself in a very short time."

"By having our meetings archived and searchable on the Internet, staff and citizens can retrieve the meeting records on their own, helping to reduce the workload on the clerk's office by up to 25 percent," added Johnny Johnston, CEO of Ventura County, Calif.

Streaming video will be available 24/7. And it will be closed-captioned to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

"We can do full text searches on the closed captioning," Matthews said. "It's a very powerful tool."

The video also can be tied to the supporting documentation.

Meetings will be automatically published to the Web and indexed.

"All the indexing you see happens as the meeting happens," Matthews said. "There's very little staff time for indexing."

Meetings will be indexed by agenda item, and the records also can be searched by keyword.

Current plans call for videos to be available online for six months. After that, they can be burned onto a tape for indefinite storage. But those plans may change.

"It's just a management issue," said Dan Mayer, the city's director of information technology.

The monthly service charge paid to Granicus will be divided among the budgets of the various city departments. There will be no extra charge for future upgrades.

"This sounds like a pretty incredible tool," Councilwoman Carlen Petersen said.

The streaming video can be accessed from the city's Web site, www.MyClearwater.com, but it may take some time to catch on. Mayer said that when Pinellas County first instituted streaming video of its meetings, the biggest users were the county commissioners.

Council Plans to Go Online

Sun, 23 Apr 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Program to stream and archive meetings over the Web may soon be available to public.

CITY HALL -- Glendale's city meetings may soon be making an appearance on a computer screen near you.

The council will decide Tuesday whether to authorize funding for live video streaming and archiving of all City Council, Housing Authority and Redevelopment Agency meetings on the Internet, City Clerk Ardy Kassakhian said.

The city already posts most city meeting agendas and reports digitally on the Web, and residents can watch meetings on the city's government access channel, GTV6. But the contract before the council Tuesday -- with Internet broadcasting and archiving firm Granicus Inc. -- would allow anyone in the world with Internet access to watch GTV6 broadcasts whenever they want.

In addition, the archiving feature would allow people to easily access video of any portion of a meeting they would like to review, at the click of a mouse button, Kassakhian said.

"Our goal is to have the meetings broken up and archived so you can click on a particular agenda item and that that portion will immediately be called up and played," Kassakhian said. "That way you don't have to fast forward or go through four or five hours of a meeting if all you want is the public comment from a particular portion of the meeting, for example."

City officials have had access to live video streams of city meetings since late last year as part of a pilot program to test online broadcasting on the city's Intranet, Kassakhian said. While the city's network was able to generally handle the traffic, it could not handle the traffic generated when too many people tried to access a particular meeting.

Granicus has proposed to host all video broadcasts and archiving on its own system, eliminating the impact on the city's network, Kassakhian said.

The contract would cost the city about $40,000 the first year, with an ongoing annual fee of around $14,400, depending on how many people access the system and how much server space is used for archiving. The city would also have to spend about $5,000 more a year to hire hourly workers to upload and maintain the archive material.

The cost is reasonable, when weighed against the benefits of increased public access to government material, Mayor Dave Weaver said.

"It is not as much as I expected," he said. "Any way we can reach the public better is definitely worth it, as long as it is within budgetary constraints."

While other cities like Pasadena already broadcast and archive their meetings online, Glendale has been careful in choosing the most appropriate, cost-effective system to meet its needs, Kassakhian said.

"We had the ability to provide this before, but the question was two-fold: how cost effective would it be, and how could we be certain that the technology available would not be outdated after a few months or years," he said.

"But as the technology has become more affordable and established we felt it was the right time. We are not blindly rushing into the technology here. We are simply walking cautiously toward it and embracing it."

If approved by the council, Internet users will be able to access city broadcasts online for free by May 9. Archives of past meetings would become accessible starting June 22.

Glendale resident Dave Moreno welcomed the possibility of accessing city meetings on the Web.

"This is exactly what the Internet was designed and envisioned for, communicating essential information to a public that is hungry for information on what their City Council is doing," he said. "Other cities have streaming video in place. It is time for Glendale to catch up."

Your City's Political Process, On Demand

Wed, 14 Jun 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Edina residents who were unable to make that last City Council meeting will soon be able to watch it over the Internet - at any day or any time.

This summer, the city of Edina will begin video streaming its public meetings over the Web. This new tool will allow residents who are not subscribers of cable television to also watch video of city meetings.

At present, EDINA 16 - a government access channel offered to subscribers of Time Warner Cable - is one of the few places where citizens can watch city meetings that they are unable to attend. Residents can also borrow DVDs of meetings from Edina City Hall or the Edina Library.

Soon, there will be one more option.

Whatever is currently available on cable, will also be made available via the Internet, said Edina Communications & Marketing Director Jennifer Bennerotte.

Although the meetings will not be aired live, footage will be accessible immediately following the meetings - as opposed to waiting until 10 a.m. on Thursdays to see the Edina City Council meetings, for example.

City Council and Planning Commission meetings are the only meetings aired on cable at present.

"It is just an added benefit," Bennerotte said. "It's one more way for people to stay in touch with the City Council."

The firm Granicus, which will be Edina's video-streaming provider, also offers service for the cities of Burnsville, Eagan and St. Paul - in addition to 120 government agencies across the country.

Minneapolis and St. Louis Park are also cities that offer video streaming, but not with Granicus. "As technology increases, so does our residents' expectations," Bennerotte said.

Granicus' service will cost the city about $13,400 in its first year. The only other company that submitted a bid to Edina came in around $13,600.

Features Granicus will provide include closed captioning and "key word" searches for both agendas and meetings. For example, users will be able to pick exactly the agenda item that they want to see and instantly jump to that item in the meeting.

"The video will start at the beginning of the meeting, unless you choose another link," Bennerotte explained. "It's very user-friendly."

As well as improving public access, city staff members said they hope the video streaming will make creating meeting minutes more efficient. With the City Council's minutes often times reaching 20 to 30 pages, there is hope that the video streaming might be able to reduce that length, said Edina City Clerk Debra Mangen.

"We're hoping that they will be shorter," she said. "Because the video streaming will be out there."

In addition to cable television and the DVDs, the video streaming is "another piece of record," Mangen added.

The city will archive the videos on the Web for one to two years. After that, people will have to rely on the DVDs for old footage of city meetings.

Both Burnsville and Eagan report that their video sites get about 400 hits per meeting. Bennerotte expects Edina will get at least that - if not more, considering the city's politically active populace, she said.

Video streaming works best on high-speed Internet connections. If residents have dial-up, they may have delays, states a city staff report.

The city's new communications tool should be available next month or in early August.

VASD Meetings Are Now on the Web

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Verona, WI - If you like following Verona Area school board news - but don't like sitting through hours-long Monday night meetings - a new option online might be of interest.

Last Tuesday, videos of recent school board meetings were available at the Verona Area School District Web site, www.verona.k12.wi.us, for the first time.

The district plans to post the videos within a day or two after each school board meeting. That's faster than waiting a week or more for meetings to be broadcast on Charter Cable channels 95 and 991, as has been the case for years.

And the best part is that the online meetings are indexed: Viewers can click on a particular item from a meeting's agenda and go straight to that discussion, rather than wading through the entire meeting.

"I think that's really an innovative design," said Betty Wottreng, district director of technology. "If you have one topic you are interested in, the end user can get there very quickly."

The district hired Granicus, Inc., a San Francisco-based company, to implement the new system. It cost VASD about $11,000 for software, hardware, setup and training, and the district will spend $519 for monthly fees, Wottreng said. For now, there are no plans to stream the meetings live on the Internet.

Granicus works with municipalities and school districts across the country, including the City of Fitchburg, which began posting videos of meetings online two years ago and started streaming this year.

But Granicus staff said Verona is the first school district in Wisconsin they've worked with, Wottreng said.

The videos are stored on Granicus' servers. While several years of minutes and agendas are available online, district officials haven't determined how long the videos of meeting will be archived.

Emeryville City Hall Goes Digital with Granicus Inc.

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

A $100,000 digital video system to be installed by Emeryville's Advanced Systems Group LLC in the city's council chamber will help city staff members speed up their work and give community members access to clearer meeting footage online.

San Francisco's Granicus Inc. will receive about $27,000 to set up a digital video server, software, and a laptop for "bookmarking" the meeting video by agenda item, a feature that could be a boon to city staff during routine research, said Karen Hemphill, Emeryville's city clerk, assistant to the city manager and public information officer.

Those employees often hear about city directives second hand, via reports from their department heads who have attended. Now they'll be able to review video of the meetings quickly and easily, Hemphill said.

Advanced Systems, a privately held audio and video systems installer and reseller, is the largest seller of Apple Inc. professional video systems in Northern California, said Garrick Huey, a broadcast sales manager at the company.

It installs and maintains video editing and management systems for advertising agencies, video processing firms and local broadcasters such as KGO, as well as municipalities such as Piedmont and colleges such as CSU-Sacramento.

The company's annual revenue is rapidly approaching $10 million said Huey, though he wouldn't provide an exact figure.

Emeryville's current video system was nearing the end of its useful life, Hemphill said. It uses old security cameras to record meetings and requires city staff members to change a DVD every time it wants to show a new meeting or feature on Emeryville's local government access cable television station, Channel 27. The new system, which the city expects to complete in August, will be managed by Grancicus for about $1,000 a month.

mfitzhugh@bizjournals.com | 925-598-1425

Redesigned County Web Site Wins Plaudits

Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

From "fabulous" to "professional" to "elegant," e-mailed comments from community members and county employees about the recent redesign of the Prince William Web site have been mostly positive, said one public information specialist.

"For the most part, feedback from outside users and internally, county employees, has been good. They like the change and think it's easier to find things," said Nikki Brown, county spokesperson. "The biggest complaint about the old Web site was it was hard to navigate ... and now you can pretty much get to any-thing within two, three clicks at the most."

The county launched its new site, http://www.pwcgov.org, on May 7. Last updated in November 2003, this most recent overhaul came in response to survey comments from 761 participants. Primarily, respondents found it difficult, confusing and time-consuming to use the site search and navigation features, according to background documents presented to the Board of Supervisors weeks ago.

The Web site redesign began in late 2007 and was completed by staff with the county's communications and information technology departments, and did not call for the use of taxpayer dollars to hire contractors, Brown said.

"The scope of the project included redesign and publishing of more than 2,500 pages," the county reported.

Still to come is a video streamlining feature that will allow interested parties to watch Board of County Supervisors meetings as they unfold, live.

"That starts next month," Brown said. "The first board meeting that will be available [via online streamlined video] is June 17."

The video streaming will cost $22,750 as an initial outlay to Granicus, a live streaming and archiving business used by "hundreds of local and state governments," including the cities of Alexandria and Fairfax and the counties of Arlington, Chesterfield and Loudoun, according to background documents for the supervisors. Another $1,184 will be paid to Granicus monthly from cable capital grant funds for archiving and maintenance.

In the meantime, public comments are welcomed, Brown said.

"We want people to let us know what they think," she said. "We are not done with the Web site. We will continue to update it."

Staff writer Cheryl Chumley can be reached at 703-670-1907.

Lake Elsinore: Videos of Council Meetings to be Put Online

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Residents will be able to watch full discussion of specific agenda items

LAKE ELSINORE ---- Lake Elsinore City Council meetings will be broadcast, or "streamed," on the city's new Web site, a months-in-the-works reboot that will be launched later this year.

Streaming meetings online allows anyone with Internet access to watch an entire meeting or punch up the discussion that precedes a controversial vote. And because the information is saved and archived, users can watch the footage live or whenever convenient. The site also will give users the chance to perform keyword searches of the archives for a council decision or discussion.

A onetime purchase price of $10,428 for the streaming software, which includes on-site training, was approved by the council last month.

The revamped Web site is expected to be online by August, said city spokesman Mark Dennis.

San Francisco-based Granicus, a privately owned firm founded in 1999, will provide the streaming technology. The city also will pay $911 per month for hosting services, which means Granicus will be responsible for storing and preserving the large video files.

Before recommending Granicus, a company that has focused exclusively on government applications, Dennis polled fellow information officers via an e-mail blast.

"I asked, 'What have you got? What do you use?' Up and down the coast, Granicus was the preferred vendor," he said.

Dennis said the City Council wanted to offer streaming video because residents who have satellite TV can't watch meetings, which are broadcast by the city's cable providers. Also, having the meetings available for residents at the click of a mouse helps to ease the workload for city administrators, who make audio or video copies of meetings when requested by the public.

The online service also boosts the council's stated goal of transparency in government, Dennis said, because any comment made during a meeting is saved for posterity.

"It's to keep our people informed," said Lake Elsinore Mayor Daryl Hickman, who said the archives can be used by folks with questions about previous meetings.

The audio and video feed that will be streamed online is the same feed that residents with cable will see, said Lauren Alexander, a Granicus spokeswoman.

But, unlike the cable broadcast, Granicus software allows a user to access the backup material for an agenda item while the council's discussion is broadcast.

For instance, if the council is discussing a proposed housing development, someone with property in the area could look at the maps included in the agenda's backup material while listening to the council as it discusses the project's pros and cons.

Granicus has 410 clients nationwide, including 156 in California, Alexander said.

She said the widespread adoption in California points to the state's support of open-access laws and its support for innovation with new technology.

Contact staff writer Aaron Claverie at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2624, or aclaverie@californian.com.

Pushing Governments to Do More on Transparency

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The government services firm Granicus has published a white paper outlining standards for government transparency in the new online world. While their standards are not the be all, end all, they do provide a useful benchmark on which to judge what some of the more innovative local governments are doing nation-wide.

Real Time. Freedom of information laws have required that government meetings be open to the public for decades now. But in the internet age governments can go much further. Rather than simply holding an open meeting and making the minutes available for those who can't make it at the specified time, governments can stream all of their public meetings, live. Cities like Berkeley, California, are already doing this, not only for the City Council, but also for smaller bodies like the zoning authority. Here in Virginia, the city of Alexandria has also been a leader in live-streaming, webcasting meetings for all of their public bodies.
On Demand.As big a step forward as real-time streaming is, it isn't enough. After a meeting has happened citizens should be able to lookup any board meeting that has been recorded whenever they want. Montgomery County, Maryland, for example, has an On Demand program that allows citizens to access recording of meetings on YouTube or download podcasts from iTunes, or get them directly from the county's cable TV channel. In Virginia, Fairfax County has also been on top of On Demand access to public meetings. For every meeting of the board of supervisors they promptly put up a page that summarizes the meeting, with links to videos of the full session, presentations to the public, presentations by board meetings and public hearings held by the board on that date.
Integrated Public Records. Fairfax excels in another area as well. It seamlessly integrates public records from the meeting into one single page. In addition to the video of the meeting, the county provides residents easy access to the official summary of the meeting, the agenda and materials handed out as well as news releases relating to the meeting. Sacramento, California is another jurisdiction doing the same thing. However, whereas Fairfax requires users to find the summary page for the meeting they want, Sacramento has an easy to find page with agendas, summaries and video for all of their recent meetings.
ADA Compliance and Closed Captioning. Unfortunately, in their rush to design attractive, functional websites, far too many people ignore those in the community with disabilities. Every locality in the country is required to adhere to the standards for websites laid out in the Americans with Disabilities Act. Some of this is simple, such as including adjustable font size, text only versions of websites and screen reader compatibility. But there is room for improvement. If governments are providing video, they need to provide closed captioning or some other form of simultaneous transcription, to allow disabled citizens equal access.
Searchable. Just about every county government website has a search function at this point. The question is how far they go and how easy is it for citizens to find what they are looking for. Some places, like Fresno, California, place search front and center on their website. Also important is making sure everything is indexed in the search function. Too many localities leave out .pdf documents and Microsoft Word files.
Downloading and / or Syndication. Public meetings are public. Governments can't censor people who attend them from writing about them, recording them or more generally doing whatever they want with the information provided there. The same should be true for online videos of public meetings. Citizens need to be able to download video files to use as they see fit. Governments should also make it easier to follow the updates of public documents by providing RSS syndication of online videos and other public documents. Places like Alexandria are already doing this, allowing citizens to subscribe to live feeds of video updates and audio podcasts. Other localities provide RSS feeds of press releases and other public documents, allowing citizens to stay up to date with little effort.
Sharing. Social networking is not a fad. Governments need to realize that new platforms like Facebook and Twitter are here to stay and adapt to them. Localities like Montgomery County, with its On Demand center, engage citizens where they already are, Facebook and Twitter, instead of forcing them to come to one central place.
Formats and Data Standards. For text documents .pdf files have become the accepted standard, but there are no similarly accepted standards for web video yet. Some governments use Windows Media Player to stream content, other use RealPlayer and yet others use Flash formats. Until there are widely accepted formats for streaming video, local governments should strive to provide content in the widest range of possible formats, to allow access to the greatest number of citizens.
Free. There is next to no cost associated with putting public documents online for the public access. Governments should resist the urge to hide some data behind pay-walls or to use third-party vendors who charge users fees to access data.

Many governments around the country are going above and beyond the minimum baseline that citizens can expect from them. They are delivering live streaming of public meetings, on demand libraries of past meetings and integrating public records into their presentations. They are syndicating council documents and making it easy to share government websites on social networks. The challenge now, is to get more jurisdictions into this category.

Skagit County Wins Prestigious Digital Governance Award

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

SKAGIT COUNTY - Skagit County Government has won the national Digital Governance Award for Silverlight Excellence. Skagit County distinguished itself in this category by being an early adopter of the Microsoft Silverlight plug-in. This extends its webcasting content across all internet browsers and computers - dramatically increasing its reach. The county also demonstrated excellence in their webcasting capability - producing creative content and maximizing their Granicus tools to foster increased public awareness and involvement. The award will be presented at the Digital Governance Awards Banquet at the 2008 Granicus� User Conference to be held August 6-8, 2008 in San Francisco.

Skagit County, through Skagit 21, the county's government access television channel, now offers broadcasts online at www.skagitcounty.net as well as on COMCAST Cable. Agenda items and other video productions are archived and available to view on demand. "This is a significant development for government access television. It allows an incredible amount of transparency for government, allowing the public access on demand to view government actions," said Skagit County Communications Director Dan Berentson.

The highly competitive Digital Governance Awards seek to honor Granicus clients who display measurable outcomes with technological solutions that:

Improve efficiency in government and public services.
Enhance public communication.
Improve community engagement.
Facilitate government transparency.

A record number of applications were submitted. The competition was close.
The winning jurisdictions demonstrated the most compelling use of Granicus technology. And they accomplished measurable and impressive results.

For further information, contact:
Dan Berentson
Communications Director
360-419-3461

Council Meetings To Go On Internet

Wed, 02 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Video streaming of Novato City Council and Planning Commission meetings is expected to begin in early October. Novatans with internet access will be able to watch the meetings live by visiting the City of Novato Web site, www.ci.novato.ca.us. Video of meetings will also be archived the following day for access by the public whenever desired.

Last week the city council approved a $44,473 contract with Granicus, Inc. of San Francisco to get the technologically advanced system up and running and manage it for the first year, said City of Novato Management Analyst Thomas Adams. Councilmember Judy Arnold spearheaded the video streaming effort in the council. "I had heard from a number of people who do not have cable, so they aren't able to see council meetings," she said. "With video streaming even more people will be able to participate in the public process," Arnold said. The council voted unanimously on July 26 to go ahead with the project.

The city is one of the few municipalities in the area to televise meetings, but video streaming has become more common. Marin Council supervisors' meetings are available on the internet, for example. Pablo Gonzalez, marketing director for Granicus, said the contract with Novato provides for a split-screen, simultaneous video display of the meeting and agenda and staff report on the item being discussed. Granicus is a nationwide firm with 140 clients among municipalities, government agencies and utilities, Gonzalez said. Walnut Creek just began video streaming meetings and San Jose has been utilizing Granicus for some time, Gonzalez said. Gonzalez said closed captioning is an option the city could add later if it desires. If the installation goes as scheduled, the first Novato City Council meeting to be available on the internet would be the meeting of Tuesday, Oct. 10.

While Novato city government has long applauded itself for the openness afforded by televising meetings, critics have charged that councilmembers and others sometimes play to the camera rather than get down to business. Just how much video streaming will affect this situation remains to be seen.

Port of Tacoma Broadcast Viewing Data Released

Wed, 14 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

As the Port of Tacoma was considering televising and Web streaming its meetings last year, a few commissioners questioned whether there'd be much of an audience.

Well, the first numbers are in.

About 200 people have watched the port meetings live via the Web since the agency began streaming them in mid-March.

Web video of the March 20 and April 17 meetings was requested another 840 and 200 times, respectively.

The TV numbers are a bit lower.

Seventeen people watched the April 17 meeting on demand, according to the Click! Network, and 251 people have tuned into port programs, including the Port Report, a port history video and a Tall Ships recap.

The Port Commission in December approved a $170,000 contract with San Francisco-based Granicus to provide the Web streaming equipment and training and help coordinate the televising of the commission meetings.

Hilda Stevens, Granicus' regional sales manager, said she considers the number of people watching the port live online pretty good, especially if you consider the likelihood of fitting all those people in a meeting room.

She said the number of viewers typically grows in the first months of Web streaming as word gets out that the content is available.

Rod Koon, port spokesman, said he's encouraged that people are watching commission meetings and other content produced by the port.

"The main thing is that this stuff is available and readily accessible for people who want to see it," Koon said Tuesday.

You can find Port Commission meetings online at www.portoftacoma.com.

San Franscisco Is Tops in Streaming Video

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The City and County of San Francisco is claiming the distinction of posting more meetings online than any other government channel-some 2,371 archived meetings as of Feb. 20.

The city is using the services of a home-grown company, Granicus, whose software and services help agencies set up online repositories of government Webcasts and digital documents-cross-linked and keyword-searchable. Granicus proclaimed San Francisco the top streamer.

"I am committed to making San Francisco the most transparent government in the country," said San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. "In order to nurture an informed electorate it is critical that government make content easily accessible through video, interactive media, and other relevant programming."

San Francisco also ranked first among government agencies for live views in 2008, with 313,491 viewers. SFGTV, an early adopter of Webcasting meetings in 2004, streamed more than 2,000 public meeting to constituents in 2008.

"I am very impressed with the work that the City and County of San Francisco has done to increase government transparency", said Tom Spengler, CEO of Granicus. "It has been one of the true pioneers of open government over the past five years, and we look forward to working with its staff to put even more public meetings and hearings online."

The City of Los Angeles came in second in archived meetings, followed by the Arizona state legislature.

Founded in 1999, Granicus serves nearly 500 governing bodies in 44 states.

SFGTV, operated by the City's Department of Technology, programs two San Francisco cable television channels featuring governmental meetings and events as well as original programming and information on city events, services and issues.

MORE INFO
Granicus www.granicus.com

Brooklyn Center City Council to be Broadcast Live Online

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Starting Monday, Sept. 8, live Brooklyn Center City Council meetings will be only a click of the mouse away.

The city plans to begin broadcasting council meetings live via the Internet with that night's meeting at 7 p.m.

An archive of previous meetings will also be available online for one year - starting with the Sept. 8 meeting.

City Council meetings will still be broadcast on Brooklyn Center's local cable channel as well.

According to a presentation provided to the council during an Aug. 25 work session, city staff members have been working with the Northwest Suburbs Cable Communications Commission (NWSCC) and its member cities to acquire a contract with Granicus, Inc. - a provider of webcasting solutions for local government agencies.

That partnership is allowing the webstreaming concept to move forward.

Visitors will click on a link on the Brooklyn Center city website at www.cityofbrooklyncenter.org to access a live City Council meeting or archived meeting. That will take users to the NWSCC website, which is where council meetings will be accessed. Windows Media Player will be required to view the meetings over an Internet connection and meetings will be searchable by agenda item.

"It is really straightforward and really easy," Brooklyn Center IT Director Patty Hartwig said. "It is changing how we deliver our services to the community."

Brooklyn Center and Crystal are the first cities in the Northwest Suburbs Cable Communications Commission to implement the technology. Brooklyn Park, Golden Valley, Maple Grove, New Hope, Osseo, Plymouth and Robbinsdale hope to be webstreaming their council meetings by the end of the year.

According to Hartwig, Brooklyn Center has been researching the concept for several years and found that partnering with the member cities in the Northwest Suburbs Cable Communications Commission would be more cost effective - saving 25 to 30 percent - than going it alone. By working with NWSCC, no general city fund dollars being are being used for the project.

According to a memo to the council from city staff, it is anticipated the city will be able to reduce costs of responding to incoming requests for City Council meeting information. The new service is also expected to provide website visitors a "quick turnaround time for information and 24/7 access," according to the memo.

"Webcasting is an alternative method to disseminate information to residents, property owners and business operators who cannot attend the meeting," the memo stated. "Through web technology, we are finding cost effective methods to get critical information to the public and improve customer service in a time of fiscal constraint."

During the council work session Aug. 25, Mayor Tim Willson questioned whether archiving meetings beyond a year would be an option.

Hartwig said that's possible, but the method was still under discussion.

This story was posted here on Aug. 26. It will also appear in the Sept. 4 print edition of the Brooklyn Center Sun-Post.

During the council work session Aug. 25, Mayor Tim Willson questioned whether archiving meetings beyond a year would be an option.

Hartwig said that's possible, but the method was still under discussion.

This story was posted here on Aug. 26. It will also appear in the Sept. 4 print edition of the Brooklyn Center Sun-Post.

Eagan Starts Webcasting Meetings

Wed, 15 Feb 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Whether you are in Pittsburgh and want to check out the Planning Commission's meeting or in Cairo and want to check in on the City Council, Eagan has the answer.

"This is truly online video on demand," said Tom Garrison, Eagan communications director. "That's what we are delivering to the people of Eagan. It's an exciting evening."

Garrison's comments came as Eagan gave its new Webcasting system its first live tryout Feb. 7 with the Eagan City Council's meeting.

As the meeting was being broadcast live via cable television, the city also was offering the option to stream the meeting live over the Internet through its Web site, www.cityofeagan.com

The council approved webcasting in December 2004 as part of its 2005 budget for communications.

The issue came up because of the number of Eagan residents who don't subscribe to cable television. That includes both those who don't subscribe to any television services and those who receive satellite TV.

"It's a priority that came from the community and something the City Council supported," City Administrator Tom Hedges said. "Four out of 10 residents don't subscribe to cable television and don't have the opportunity to view city meetings."

City survey results show that the more residents know about the work of the council and city government, the higher their satisfaction with city services, Hedges said.

Eagan signed a contract with Granicus, the nation's largest provider of streaming video and webcasts of local government meetings, in December 2005. The two-year contract will cost the city $725 a month with an additional setup cost of $9,000.

The webcasts are available through the "Webcast Central" feature at the city's Web site. They can also be accessed by selecting "Watch Meetings" under the "News & Events" and "Council & Mayor" sections of the site.

While the meeting video is playing, the agenda for the meeting also appears on the right side of the screen. By clicking on an agenda item the viewer may access more information about the issue.

Council members were excited about the possibilities the new system offers.

"Technology is just absolutely great as far as the so many things you can do," Mayor Pat Geagan said. "There have been times when I wanted to view something from the past and it's so difficult. This is just wonderful."

Councilmember Peggy Carlson said the webcasts are able to be viewed anywhere in the world and not just in Eagan.

"Does that mean we have to behave ourselves now?" she said with a laugh. "Our families across the country can view us now."

The webcasts aren't limited to council meetings either. Eagan is offering live streaming of all its commission meetings as well.

While Internet users have the ability to watch the meetings live, they also have the option to watch the meetings at a later date. Starting the day after the meeting takes place, the webcast is made available with chapters allowing viewers to skip to particular parts of a meeting.

"It's a tremendous time savings for people who want to watch what they want to watch when they want it," Garrison said.

The meetings will remain archived on the city's Web site for a year, although there is the option to make them available longer for an additional cost to the city, Garrison said.

But the importance of the webcasting system to the city doesn't stop there.

The system also allows the city to put other video features on the Web, allowing it to put up messages from city officials or promote aspects of the city like its Fitness Center.

And, the system would also come in handy during emergency situations, Garrison said.

"We could bring the police chief down to webcast a message in those situations to the community," Garrison said. "It's amazingly flexible."

For PC: You must be running Windows 98 or later operating system with at least a 233MHz processor Pentium II and 64MB of RAM.
Macintosh: You must have at least a G3 processor with Mac OS X installed.
In addition, you should have at least Windows Media Player 9 and a recent version of your preferred browser.
To view video, you should have a broadband connection. Dial-up users may receive an audio-only stream.

City of Naperville Now on Twitter and Facebook

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Several New Online Offerings Let Residents Stay Connected With Their Government

The City of Naperville would like to inform residents and interested parties that there are several new ways they can now receive the latest news from the city, including Twitter, Facebook and RSS feeds.

"The city is constantly seeking new ways to connect with and inform our residents," Community Relations Manager Nadja Lalvani said. "We want to reach the broadest audience possible and that means embracing new technology such as social media platforms and Web 2.0. We encourage all residents who use these online services to sign up to receive the latest city news."

If you are a Twitter user and prefer to receive updates about the city in the form of a "Tweet," visit the city's profile page at http://twitter.com/NapervilleIL and click the "Follow" button. You'll receive updates about when the city issues the latest news and event notifications.

If you are Facebook user, become a fan of the "City of Naperville, Illinois." You'll find links to the latest news releases, photos of the Naperville area and more. You can access this page by visiting www.naperville.il.us/facebook.html.

Recently, the city also began offering Real Simple Syndication, or RSS, feeds for its city news, public safety news, City Council agendas and City Council minutes. Simply put, RSS allows visitors to dynamically retrieve content from a Web site they are interested in without even visiting that site. Users can employ a third-party service known as an RSS feed reader or RSS news aggregator to compile new and updated content from RSS-enabled Web sites and display it all in one place for easy viewing. For more information on RSS feeds, or to sign up for the city's RSS feed offerings, visit www.naperville.il.us/rssfeeds.aspx.

In addition, the city reminds residents that it offers a free, voluntary e-mail service to anyone interested in learning more about city services, activities and events. This service keeps residents informed of road closures, construction alerts and much more. You can decide what type of information you want to receive and can choose to unsubscribe at any time using a link within the e-mails. Sign up at www.naperville.il.us/enews.aspx.

In January, the city also began streaming City Council meeting video online at www.naperville.il.us/granicus.html. Users can view the meeting video live or on-demand and have immediate access to agenda materials that correspond to their agenda item of interest.

"All of these communication methods help with enhancing transparency in government while demonstrating our commitment to the environment," Lalvani said. "Using current technology not only saves taxpayer dollars but also conserves precious environmental resources."

County Hopes Web Option a Net Gain

Sat, 30 Dec 2006 00:00:00 GMT

DAILY NEWS STAFF

Important decisions are made at governmental meetings, but sometimes it's tedious sitting through zoning debates or public comment periods.

So many people just don't go - thereby missing out on votes that personally affect them. In response, Onslow County plans to use the Internet to make regular meetings of the Board of Commissioners easier to access.

A new software system approved unanimously by the Board of Commissioners Wednesday will allow the county to post an interactive meeting agenda on the county's Web site. Residents can click on a particular item - say a vote for a new jail - and pull up streaming video of that segment of the meeting.

"From our standpoint, it's just another way to make the meetings available to the public in another format," said Frank Clifton, the county manager. "It's just another step in technology, in trying to make the business of government more available to the people. That's important, especially at the local level."

The technology will take a bit of time to get up and running. Clifton said residents can expect it about three to six months from now. But once it is, videos will be posted to the Net only a few days after a meeting.

The software for this technological feat is supplied by Granicus of San Francisco. The county will pay the company $26,000 up front and then a monthly fee of $1,100 for the first year.

It's a price the commissioners are willing to pay if it helps better connect the residents with the government.

Commissioner Martin Aragona Jr. said the move is the next step in the board's effort to make information more readily available. He pointed to the return of televised meetings on public-access cable stations and the audio recording of closed meetings as previous steps in the same effort by this board.

"This is going to feed off of that," he said. "I just think it's great that citizens will have that access and be able to just go online and hear what the commissioners said about any particular subject.

"I think it's a big asset to our citizens and shows the commitment this board of commissioners has in making the county government open and more accessible to them."

Aragona said the technology will not be used for closed sessions at this time, but said he hopes it could be in the future.

"Hopefully, one day - if we build the county government complex - we could have a television-capable facility to record us in closed session. Right now, we just don't have the facilities to do that."

According to the Granicus Web site, North Carolina cities Wilmington and Winston-Salem use the technology.

"It's a win-win situation for the price and I hope the public will perceive this as another step in favor of open government," said board chairman Delma Collins. "Its not cutting edge technology by any means, but I don't want to take away from what it will do. Compared to our former capabilities, it really does put us on the tip of the iceberg here in eastern North Carolina.

"We're pioneering with this."

Clifton said with the Internet's popularity, it's important to try to use it to reach out to the community.

"The entire public doesn't have the Web, but there is a growing number that do," Clifton said. "Mainstream newspapers and cable reach a certain segment, and the Web is just as significant. You just strive to make it easier."

McAllen Takes Next Step Onto Internet

Mon, 23 Oct 2006 00:00:00 GMT

McALLEN - Area residents who don't have access to the McAllen Cable Network will soon be able to watch McAllen City Commission meetings over the Internet.

Currently, about one out of every three households in the city doesn't have cable and therefore can't watch MCN, according to Roy Cantu, the city's public information director.

Starting next month, however, those without cable will be able to watch video recordings of the public meetings via the city's Web site, provided they have a fast enough Internet connection.

"Any time you get more information out, that's got to be a plus," said Nedra Kinerk, a frequent attendee at the city's public meetings. "Some people don't have access to cable; some people don't have access to computers, and so I would guess this would give us wider visibility."

The system, from San Francisco-based company Granicus Inc., cost the city $12,900 to install, equip and train employees. The city also will pay the company an $850 monthly fee to manage the service, including storing the video recordings.

The public will be able to watch only those portions of the meetings that interest them without having to search through several hours of video.

The interactive public record is planned to display up to one year's worth of archived meetings with corresponding agendas and supporting documents that are searchable and cross-linked to the video recordings of the public meeting. By clicking on a particular agenda item, the user should be able to directly jump to that portion of the meeting video.

Though the Web-based access to public meetings will be limited at first to City Commission meetings, city officials expect to expand it later to include McAllen Public Utility Board meetings and possibly others. As with the City Commission meetings shown on MCN, the Web video will not include the parts of the meetings reserved for public comment, Cantu said.

The new system won't just be limited to on-demand access to archived video.

The city also hopes to offer 24/7 streaming of its MCN programming, including City Commission and PUB meetings, with only a slight time delay.

Live broadcasting of video over the Web is notoriously trickier than broadcasting recorded video, however, and working out all the kinks may take some time.

The city will conduct an in-house test of the live streaming Nov. 13 during the City Commission's regular meeting.

Even if the test proves that part of the service isn't ready for prime time, the city expects to make the recorded version of the meeting available online beginning Nov. 16. The three-day delay will give staff in the City Secretary's Office time to review the electronic indexing of the video that they will have done while the actual meeting was in progress.

One potential drawback to the overall system is that it won't be possible for users to download the recorded video to their computers, for example if they want to maintain their own archives. The limitation also means users won't be able to transfer the video to a portable device such as a video iPod if they want to take it with them to watch later.

"It's another tool we have to make folks know what's going on and let them have the ability to keep up with the decisions that are made here," said deputy city manager Brent Branham. "I think it's going to have a great benefit to us in spreading information during a disaster or a crisis, particularly those folks that can't be right at their TV."

Eagle County Offers Web Streaming of Local Meetings

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Residents, second homeowners and other stakeholders are now able to view local government meetings at their convenience thanks to web streaming provided by ecoTV-18, Eagle County's government access channel. In partnership with Public Access Channel 5, regular meetings and other content from the towns of Vail, Avon and Minturn as well as the Eagle County School District, Eagle River Water & Sanitation District and Vail Recreation District are now available online at www.ecotv18.com. Eagle County Commissioner meetings have been available for online viewing since August 2007.

Cable channel 18 and www.ecotv18.com are funded solely through cable franchise fees, which may not be used for any other purpose. The channel was the recent recipient of two national awards, a Savvy Award and an Award of Excellence, from the City-County Communications and Marketing Association. The awards were in recognition of the county's news magazine show, "Inside Eagle County."

Meetings are typically posted within one hour of ending and are archived for up to six months. For more information, contact Eagle County Video Production Manager Scott Fifield at 328-8603 or scott.fifield@eaglecounty.us.

City of San Carlos Videos Available on Google Video Search

Tue, 28 Jun 2005 00:00:00 GMT

Brian Moura

The City of San Carlos announced yesterday that a number of its video presentations are now available for viewing via the new Google Video Search Beta program. The videos have been made available on Google through the work of Granicus, a San Francisco based firm that San Carlos has hired to make the information on the city's TV Channel -- the San Carlos Channel -- available on the Web both live and on demand.

In the past, San Carlos residents could watch the San Carlos Channel live by tuning in Cable Channel 27 on Comcast Cable. They could also watch this material -- both live and on demand -- via the city's Web Site using the San Carlos Channel and Video Archives feature.

Today, these options have expanded with the addition of Google Video Search. To use the Google system, Web viewers will need to visit the Google Web site and download the free VLC Video Viewer. Once that has been done, they can use Google Video Search to look up and play videos from the City of San Carlos.

Assistant City Manager Brian Moura credited Javier Muniz, Chief Technology Officer and Tom Spengler, Chief Executive Officer at Granicus for their work in bringing the City of San Carlos video material to the Google Video Search program. San Carlos was interested in having its videos made available through additional options, such as Google, and the Granicus staff provided the technology and the work to make that happen.

News Staff

Arcata Goes High-Tech

Tue, 18 Apr 2006 00:00:00 GMT

ARCATA -- With a nod to new technology, City Council and Planning Commission meetings are going live over the Internet starting Wednesday.

The city partnered with Granicus Inc. of San Francisco to begin streaming the meetings and archiving them on the Internet. To view a webcast, go to the city's website at www.arcatacityhall.org and click on "Meetings -- Live and Archived."

Meetings will continue to be broadcast on Cox Cable HCTV Channel 12.

During webcasts, the meeting agenda will be posted and the item currently under discussion will be listed directly below the screen.

Webcasts will be archived for one year and include special features such as the ability to go to specific portions of a meeting by selecting an agenda item. There will also be key word search options.

To access meetings from the city's website, computers will need Windows 2000 or XP with 128 mb ram minimum, Windows Media Player 9 or newer, 1.2 MHz processor, sound card, and a highspeed Internet connection.

Computers below these specifications or using dialup connections may still be able to connect, but could experience choppy or no video.

Commissioners Meetings to be Shown on Web

Sun, 02 Apr 2006 00:00:00 GMT

STAFF REPORTS

NEWS RELEASE - Beginning with Monday's Onslow County Board of Commissioners meeting, all regularly scheduled meetings of the board can be viewed live via the county's Web site.

People can watch live meetings and view archives of past meetings 24 hours a day. The archived meetings will be searchable using keywords to make it easy to quickly research and view specific topics.

There will also be a "jump to" agenda and meeting minutes allowing users to select a specific agenda item and go directly to that point in the video.

Onslow County is the first county in North Carolina to partner with Granicus Inc., based in San Francisco, which provides web streaming video services to local governments.

"The ability to view board meetings via the Internet enhances open government and provides connectivity to all county residents," said Onslow County Manager Frank Clifton.

Windows Media Player Version 9 or better and high speed Internet is required to view the streaming video. The Website address is www.co.onslow.nc.us.

Park District of Highland Park Launches Webcasting Technology

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Residents can now watch board meetings over the internet, on-demand

Highland Park, IL- Park District of Highland Park residents are now able to watch local Board meetings on the Internet. Users can also instantly replay all or part of the meetings at their convenience through a link on the District's website (www.pdhp.org and click on the tab titled "Park Board & Staff", then click on "Meetings"). RSS feed is also available for users. If a user signs up for RSS feed they will be alerted when board meeting, agendas, or minutes are published on the website.

The Park District officially launched the new webcasting technology for the November Board Meeting allowing residents to view meetings 24/7. This new webcasting option is taking the place of Comcast channel 17 and is allowing more people to view the Board meetings at their convenience.

"The Park District of Highland Park is excited to share this new technology with residents. Webcasting will make it easier for the public to stay current on District issues from the comfort of their homes. Those who do not have the Internet can borrow a DVD copy of the current meeting from the Highland Park Public Library or contact the Park District for a copy," stated Park Board President Lorry Werhane, Jr.

Park Board meetings will be available online within 24 hours after the scheduled meeting. To view the dates and times of upcoming Board meetings please visit www.pdhp.org or call 847.831.3810.

The new online service is powered by San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc., the premier provider of government webcasting and public meeting management solutions to over 600 government agencies spanning all 50 states across the nation.

For more information about please contact Kelly Huegel at 847.579.3136.

About the Park District of Highland Park
The Park District of Highland Park, founded in 1909, operates and manages over 600 acres of land in 44 park areas, and offers approximately 2,800 recreation and seasonal programs. Facilities include an indoor ice arena, indoor tennis and racquetball complex, two recreation centers, a nature center, an 18-hole golf course, driving range, adventure golf, aquapark, beaches, boat launch ramp and yacht club on Lake Michigan.

On-Demand Webcasts Debuted in March

Sun, 13 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Missed the latest City Council meeting? Look no further than the World Wide Web . The 'Net has been cast on Beverly Hills so the City is able to offer On-Demand Webcasts of archived television programs to the public.

City Council meetings, as well as an array of other educational and entertaining city programs are available for viewing 24 hours a day to broaden the audience. The new, on-demand system, which began a few months ago, offers online access to award-winning City productions such as "It's a Wonderful City" and the monthly news magazine, "Beverly Hills in Focus."

City Council meetings will be broadcast live with additional replays on BHN-10 and webcast on the City's Web site. Following a live meeting, both formal and informal meetings will be archived and indexed by topic, so that
viewers can view them on the Web site at any time and are able to skip to the agenda item of interest.

"Since launching the service in March of 2006, nearly 4,000 streaming requests for video programs have been delivered. As the program archives continue to grow and people become more familiar with the service, we expect the number of streams to increase accordingly," said Mark Geddes, multimedia/cable TV manager for the city of Beverly Hills.

Geddes also mentioned that the service also includes a powerful keyword video search to target topics people want most.

The new system features four major offerings: Live BHN-10 channel feed, City Council meeting archives, City Commission meeting archives and BHN-10 program archives. Eventually, two years of archived programming will be available online. For a complete list of on-demand programming, go to video on demand under the Cable TV section at BeverlyHills.org. Additional information can be obtained by calling (310) 285-1178.

"The City continues to leverage existing communication tools and develop innovative approaches to share important information with the community," Geddes said.

Highlands County Commission Meetings Go Live On Web

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

SEBRING - Open government in Highlands County has become more open.

Every county commission meeting now can be viewed not only on cable television, but also streaming live on the Highlands County Clerk of Court's Web site, www.hcclerk.org.

Citizens can view a meeting or any portion of it at any time, as the video and audio records now preserve every minute of every meeting.

Probably the most convenient aspect of the new system is that people will be able to go to a particular item on the agenda and get a complete audio/video record of it, and call up the documents related to that issue.

Barbara Stewart, chairman of the county commission, applauded the clerk's office for upgrading its computer system to expand public access to the decisions and deliberations of the commissioners.

"This is the public's business being conducted, and the better access the public has to it the better off the whole community is," Stewart said.

The clerk's software was upgraded at a cost of $32,000 to launch the new system, said Debra Williams, director of recording for the clerk's office, who oversaw this project over the past year.

"The clerk's motto is, 'Taking the courthouse to the public,' and in that context, that's why we continually try to improve our services to the board and to the public whenever we can," said Bob Jamison, senior director of business services in the clerk's office.

On average, the clerk's office fields between five to 10 public information requests for minutes and/or audio recordings of county commission agenda items every week.

With every issue now recorded on video as well audio, people will be getting much more detailed information and can access it themselves through the Internet with a few mouse clicks, said Antonia Rivera, a deputy clerk.

Hard copy written minutes and audio recordings of county commission will remain available but, Rivera said, getting them online will be quicker and more convenient for many people.

Going online with the live coverage and archived recordings of county commission meetings was delayed for several months because the first firm hired to supply the software didn't live up to expectations, Jamison said.

"We then went to the next (lowest bidding) vendor, Granicus, and they have clearly delivered on their promises," Jamison said.

Meeting minutes have always been paraphrased, but they will be more concise now, Jamison said. The minutes will list each agenda item and the action taken by the commissioners, and all discussion will be available through the video archives, he said.

"There are a lot of advantages to this," Jamison said. "It's making us more efficient and the public is getting a better product."

Three backup copies of the video recordings are being kept, and recording digitally will ensure that the sound and video quality stays top rate, said Tommy Haralson, who works in information technology for the clerk's office.

If the county commission moves a meeting outside of the county government center, as it did for two days early this year for a goal setting seminar, the clerk's office will be able to record those sessions also, Haralson said.

"On a remote location, it wouldn't be streamed live, but we would upload it onto our site and have it available as soon as the meeting is over," he said. The new system, he said, offers "a complete and thorough package to the public."

On working toward making the county's business more accessible to the public, Haralson said, "this is one example of where technology has caught up and it's helping us to do that better."

Township Council to Post Meetings on the Internet

Sat, 03 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Posted by the Asbury Park Press

Web site of Granicus has contract

BRICK - Soon local residents, and anyone else with an interest in Brick government, will be able to keep tabs on the goings-on at township meetings from almost anywhere.

Like many other towns in New Jersey, Brick already televises its Township Council's public meetings. But Brick is taking it one step further. Later this month, the council is planning to start posting videos of its meetings on the Internet.

"I think it really makes the town government more accessible, and it's particularly useful for people who may not be able to get transportation or people who are unable to leave their homes for one reason or another," said town resident Mike Moran.

Stacy Lubrecht, another resident who, like Moran, is a frequent attendee at town meetings, also welcomed the move.

"I think it's something that should have been done a long time ago, since the technology was there," Lubrecht said.

The videos will be posted on the Web site of Granicus, the company Brick has contracted to handle the online videos. They also will be indexed, allowing residents to easily get to which part of the meeting - such as discussion on a specific ordinance - interests them, according to town officials.

Business Administrator Scott M. Pezarras said the service will cost $10,000 a year. The company also charges a roughly $10,000 initial setup fee, he said.

Council President Stephen C. Acropolis said eventually the meetings may even be shown live via the Internet, though not initially.

"This is just another step in the council's wanting to open up government in Brick Township," Acropolis said.

But in the future, Moran would like the idea of posting meeting videos on the Internet to be taken even further. Modern technology could allow people to participate in the public comments portion of meetings from home, he said.

"What I want to eventually propose is that we have a segment where those at home can key in something so that we know they have something to say," Moran said.

City of Midland will Start Streaming Meetings Online

Tue, 02 Aug 2005 00:00:00 GMT

Midland soon will join the growing number of cities that are streaming video of meetings online because of concerns about the possible loss of cable funding.

The streaming video technology will allow users to watch meetings live or from an archive without having to download large files on their computers.

Assistant City Manager Jack Duso said people can jump to specific agenda items or search for topics of interest.

"Once the meeting is archived, then you can access the meeting anywhere in the world, any time of the day," Duso said.

City Council, Planning Commission and other meetings are televised on the city's cable system. Money for these operations might be lost if cable companies succeed in changing federal laws requiring them to provide funding, City Manager Karl Tomion said.

"One thing we need to do is be looking at other technologies because this could happen quite quickly," he said.

The online system, which Tomion called user friendly, will be reviewed after one year.

The City Council approved spending $21,350 from the Cable Communication Fund for startup costs. Granicus Inc., the San Francisco-based provider of the service, will receive $17,950 for software, hardware, training and a $700 monthly fee for unlimited bandwidth for one year.

The additional $3,400 will be spent on a server from a separate source.

Duso said when the system becomes operational will depend on when all of the equipment is received, but he hopes it is in the next couple of months.

Granicus Sales Director Charles Blanchet said the nearly six-year-old company is growing, with eight to 10 cities adding their service each month.

"Midland is our 60th city," he said.

He said Midland still is on the cutting edge in getting the technology, but it is becoming more mainstream to place meetings online.

Aspen Government TV Short on Funds

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

ASPEN - After five years of covering public meetings, CGTV is seeking a raise as high as 50 percent from the governmental entities it broadcasts, but it's been a tough sell so far.

On Monday night, the town of Snowmass Village, one of the station's three funding sources, said it couldn't afford the proposed $11,734 increase proposed by CGTV, a Channel 11 spin-off of Aspen-based GrassRoots Television.

Since 2004, the Aspen and Pitkin County governments have each paid $24,000 to run programming on the station. Snowmass Village's contribution has risen from $10,000 in 2004 to $13,333 in 2004-07, to $24,000 in 2008.

CGTV is seeking $35,734 from Snowmass Village and Pitkin County for 2009. Aspen pays slightly more because CGTV broadcasts its City Council work sessions.

"It's too bad that Snowmass found itself in that situation," said Pat Bingham, Pitkin County's liaison to CGTV, on Tuesday, in response to Snowmass's denial.

So far, said Bingham, Pitkin County has appropriated the additional requested money. But the county's budget has not yet been approved.

Getting more money from the city of Aspen also has been a challenge for CGTV. The station's executive director, John Masters, said the City Council was confused by, and uncomfortable with, the presentation of the funding request. GrassRoots has since rewritten the request with Aspen finance director Don Taylor and expects to present it again soon, he said. Taylor couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday
afternoon.

Masters attributed the need for more funding partly to inflation, but largely to a desire on the part of the station to have Aspen, Pitkin County and Snowmass pay the full cost of the operation. For nearly five years, CGTV has run it at a loss, said Masters. Money raised by the Aspen nonprofit GrassRoots TV has made up the difference.

Masters said that although GrassRoots was willing to make up the difference in order to get CGTV off the ground, it cannot continue to do so.

"We can't lose money serving the governments," he said.

Eventually, he said, money spent on providing government programming affects the nonprofit's ability to provide community programming. Masters also argued that those donating to GrassRoots Television don't necessarily expect their money to subsidize the government station.

Meanwhile, Snowmass Town Council members pointed out that entities such as the Aspen School Board don't pay to run programming on CGTV. Councilman John Wilkinson suggested that GrassRoots ought to charge every governmental entity.

Bingham said that the decision not to charge the school district was made by the representatives from Aspen, Snowmass Village and Pitkin County in an attempt to bring new programming onto the station. She acknowledged that it might be time to ask the school board for money.

"It could be that we're going to have to come up with some kind of fee because we're being charged more," Bingham said.

She also suggested it might be useful to look to other entities that might want to broadcast their meetings, noting that the hospital district, fire district or public safety council might be options.

Bingham also suggested that because of the rising cost of broadcasting on CGTV, it might be time for Pitkin County, Aspen and Snowmass Village to look into other options, noting that the governmental entities have a responsibility to the taxpayers to seek the least expensive option.

"Maybe this is a great opportunity for us to start looking at other providers who might be out there," she said.

On Monday, the Snowmass Town Council also noted that its Granicus program, which offers web streaming and on-demand video, is very popular with its constituents. Granicus costs the council $13,200, according to the Snowmass Village finance department.

Masters said GrassRoots should soon be able to offer on-demand video of government and community programming in addition to television programming. A recent grant from an anonymous donor has allowed the nonprofit to upgrade digital equipment as well as make changes to its facility. Masters expected the equipment to be installed by the second week of December.

In the meantime, both Masters and Bingham said they will have to figure out what to do about the presumed budget shortfall for this year.

"We're working on that," Masters said.

In 2004, GrassRoots created CGTV to separate its government programming from its community-access programming, which is still shown on GrassRoots Television. For roughly four years, the channel has provided Aspen, Pitkin County and Snowmass Village a place to air government programming.

GrassRoots manages the station, and representatives from the three towns, working together, determine the station programming. Programming currently includes government meetings, government talk shows, and a bulletin board of community announcements.Type your content here...

Webcasts Allow Citizens Live and On-Demand Access to City Council and Planning Commission Meetings

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The City of St Helena, CA strengthens government transparency

St Helena, CA - The City of St. Helena is pleased to announce that the City of St. Helena has contracted with Granicus, Inc. to provide residents with access to City Council and Planning Commission Meetings. Anyone with a computer or laptop and internet access can view City Council and Planning Commission meetings live through a link on the City's website. Viewers can also access archived webcasts of previous meetings at their convenience. These archived webcasts are indexed, allowing users to quickly jump to a particular agenda item, and provide easy access to all agenda related documents. This service began with the September 2009 meetings.

Granicus Inc. is a San Francisco based company specializing in webcasting and public meeting management for local government. The Granicus product will contribute to an open government policy and make it much more convenient for the general public to see, hear, locate and review specific meeting information. This system will enhance citizen awareness and engage citizen involvement in local government for the betterment of St. Helena.

To access a City Council or Planning Commission meeting on the internet:

Visit www.ci.st-helena.ca.us
Click on Video on Demand on the left margin.
Click on Agenda of the desired meeting to view agenda and staff reports.
Click on a live meeting that is currently in progress or an archived meeting by clicking on Video for the desired meeting.

City Council meetings are held on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month and Planning Commission Meetings are held on the first and third Tuesday of each month beginning at 7:00 p.m. Meetings are available live and will be archived within a few hours after the meeting is adjourned.

2009 Granicus User Conference

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

2009 Granicus User Conference

The annual event will be held July 22-24, 2009 at the Parc 55 Hotel in downtown San Francisco. This is a great opportunity to learn about best practice techniques and ways to sharpen your Granicus skills. We are excited to offer 22 different classes to choose from! Courses were designed specifically for all levels of experience with Granicus and positions within your jurisdiction.

Learn more about the User Conference

Granicus Announces it's First Annual Virtual User Conference

The Virtual User Conference is designed to allow you to attend classes and keynote presentations remotely. You can get access to all content provided in San Francisco from any location. This is a great opportunity for you to develop your skills and learn best practices techniques at a lower cost and on a more flexible schedule. Following the event, you will also have access to all courses offered at the 2009 Granicus User Conference.

Learn more about the Virtual User Conference

City Meetings To Go Live on the Internet Starting Next Week

Wed, 16 Feb 2005 00:00:00 GMT

Argus Courier, Petaluma, CA

City Hall will begin broadcasting public meetings live on the Internet this month, beginning next week with the City Council.

The Feb. 23 special meeting on the garbage contract can be viewed online at the city's Web site.

Last week's council meeting is now available to view online as part of a "video minutes" format on the city's Web site. Each agenda item, from the roll call to adjournment, can be viewed separately.

Footage of Planning Commission and Site Plan and Architectural Review Comm-ittee (SPARC) meetings will also be available online. Viewers can watch the proceedings of all three over the Internet live, just as they can do now on Petaluma Community Access (PCA) television. The same video feed will be used for both the cable and online broadcasts.

The new technology means non-Petaluma residents who don't have PCA on their televisions or residents who are out of town will be able to view the meetings, and eventually research city decisions.

"Once they get a number of [meetings] up there, you'll be able to search for topics they were talking about at past meetings by keyword -- kind of like Google," said Pablo Gonzalez of Granicus, a San Francisco software firm that designs computer programs for public agencies. About 30 cities in California use the system, he said.

"It's giving citizens 24/7 access to these meetings," he said.

Viewers need to view the proceedings through the program Windows Media Player, "which is installed on almost every computer that's out there," Gonzalez said. "Anyone without the player can download it for free from numerous Web sites," he said.

Putting the meetings online will benefit Petalumans who are traveling but want to stay informed and will save time for the city clerk's office, which now reproduces tapes of meetings for public viewing.

The city's Web site is www.cityofpetaluma.net. The footage can be viewed on the minutes section of the city clerk's page, by selecting "City Clerk" under the "Depart-ments" menu on the right side.

Once on the clerk's page, scroll down to the "Minutes of City Council meetings" link at the end and click. There will be "Live and Video Archive" links for the City Council, Planning Commission and SPARC, and the video footage is posted by date.

(Contact Corey Young at cyoung@arguscourier.com)

Web Broadcast for Council

Wed, 07 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Streaming video goes live Feb. 13

Move over, YouTube, the Novato City Council is going live online next Tuesday night.

In a move to make public meetings more accessible to the public, the city will air Council meetings as they happen starting Feb. 13.

Planning Commission meetings are next: they could go live as early as March.

"We are very excited to offer the City Council meetings live via the Internet," said Mayor Jeanne MacLeamy. "This is the first step to improve the city's website and better serve the public."

The public is underserved in this case; approximately one-fifth of Novato households do not receive the correct cable signal to watch Council meetings live.

As an added bonus the meetings will be archived with a menu that allows jumping from item to item as easily as flipping through chapters in a book. The service is provided through Granicus, Inc., a San Francisco firm specializing in live and on-demand media content, enables about 220 municipalities to broadcast meetings live over the Internet.

"Our company is firmly committed to improving public access and transparency," said Granicus spokesperson Lauren Alexander. "What's really great about this particular account is it's the first city in Marin County. "The Marin County Board of Supervisors already streams its meetings live, with archiving capability.

For Novato, this is just the beginning.

The Jan. 29 Council meeting is already online through a link at the City's Web site, www.ci.novato.ca.us. "We were using that meeting as training," said City Clerk Shirley Gremmels.

Thom Adams, a Management Analyst with the City of Novato, was on hand at the last meeting, learning how to bookmark agenda items using a laptop computer. Setting up for video streaming and archiving took some coordination. "Novato Public AccessTelevision's signal is taken, processed through our encoder, and sent to San Francisco," he said. "Then, when you're getting it live, it's coming back from them over the Internet."

Granicus provided the technology platform and training for the service under a $44,473 contract signed last summer. The contract covers set up and training, and a $1,450 monthly management fee. The monthly fee is based on the city's size. The Novato Advance tried out the video system, which uses Windows Media Viewer as the video vehicle. The right of a split screen shows the agenda, with PDF documents carrying details of agenda items.

A pull-down menu allows users to jump to separate agenda items.

Novato has also purchased software called Minutesmaker, which will take some pressure off Gremmels. For years the City Clerk has taken minutes in shorthand, then had to type them up for public record. With Minutesmaker she will type minutes in live.

"It can go up on the Web site in a few hours," Alexander said. "We're facilitating what would take two weeks otherwise."

Web Access To Public Meetings May Become Popular

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT

E-Government

When New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer mandated the broadcasting of all state public meetings over the Internet earlier this month, he raised the profile of a public service that many local government agencies also are beginning to offer.

Spitzer's move marks the first top-down approach to open government via the Web, said Tom Spengler, the CEO of the streaming-media service provider Granicus, which works with state and local governments.

Spitzer's executive order said the decision is necessary for the people to remain informed and retain control over their public servants, and because the majority of New Yorkers are unable to attend public meetings. "The governor is just really trying to set a precedent," Spengler said.

Granicus currently broadcasts and archives the proceedings of the Arizona Legislature and the California Public Utilities Commission. California started streaming with Granicus three years ago, Spengler noted.

"There's certainly been a trend" in the United States of putting public meetings online.

He said his company met with the governor's office in New York last year, during the tenure of Republican Gov. George Pataki.

Spengler believes "the broad reach of broadband" now is a major contributor to the acceptance of opening public meetings to the Web.

"The limiting factor hasn't been cost as much as the availability of broadband," especially in the remote rural areas that could hugely benefit from attending meetings online, he said. "I would not be surprised to see other states adopt similar policies [to New York's]."

New York has not decided whether to stream audio and video with in-house technology or contract out the work. The executive order states that every agency and public authority must submit a plan for airing meetings over the Internet by March 1.

Brad Maione, a spokesman for the governor, said New York has some capabilities in-house that it may use but the details are unclear. The state will wait to review the agencies' plans before seeking a commercial provider for technology support.

"We have an office of technology that will assist the other agencies in putting this together," he said. The state's Chief Information Officer Council also will provide guidance.

In Spitzer's inaugural address, he cited tech issues among his priorities and called for a universal broadband initiative.

"YouTube is a good example of more and more people going online for video," Spengler said of the video-sharing site that gained popularity last year. "The individual in society now has a lot of power because they have this communications channel."

California Department of Technology Services Archives Meetings in Video and MP3 Formats

Mon, 17 Apr 2006 00:00:00 GMT

"Since we are the Technology Services Board, I think it's entirely appropriate that we use some of the newer technology that provides both efficiencies and effectiveness"

-- P.K.Agarwal

On March 29, as part of a pilot project, the California Department of Technology Services recorded its board meeting on a new Granicus technology system. Because the state is practicing what it preaches with regard to open government, the entire meeting is in an indexed video archive, with the accompanying agenda, so the public can jump to any agenda item and see and hear what happened. In addition, the meeting is also available in mp3 audio format.

Director of DTS P.K. Agarwal introduced the new feature during the meeting, saying that "since we are the Technology Services Board, I think it's entirely appropriate that we use some of the newer technology that provides both efficiencies and effectiveness." The Granicus, system, said Agarwal, has some useful features. "Instead of having a videostream like a VCR ... will be more like a DVD so you can see specific chapters."

State CIO Clark Kelso said it's a better approach to keeping "dull dry minutes." Kelso then went on to discuss progress on the state's IT Strategic Plan, under the six goals of the plan, saying the governor had just announced the new California Business Portal and a California Tax Site. The one hour 27 minute meeting is all available online, with documents, in video, transcript and podcast RSS feeds.

Silverlight Makes Good For Government Webcasting

Fri, 16 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Even though much of the focus on Silverlight has been on its impact in the media and entertainment world, Granicus has been utlizing its cross-platform compatibility and interactive features to provide enhanced public service content

Much has been speculated about the success-or lack thereof-of Microsoft's Silverlight, but beyond the hype and criticism there are real companies doing real things with the technology in order to have a real impact on the rich media experiences they're able to deliver.

A prime example of this is Granicus, a company that helps enable local governments to webcast their public meetings online both live and on demand. They've already launched their first twenty deployments of their Silverlight-enhanced platform and have plans to roll out across their customer base by the end of the year.

The decision to go with Silverlight versus Flash was actually pretty straightforward for Granicus because of its historical reliance on Windows Media. "For us as a company, it's fantastic because we can take this huge set of Windows Media assets and push them out through Silverlight without having to go and reestablish our technology or transcode our content," says Tom Spengler, CEO and cofounder of Granicus.

While deployment is limited to date, Granicus is already getting a lot of positive feedback for its Silverlight-enabled platform, especially for its ability to overcome the compatibility issues they encounter when relying purely on Windows Media. "If our customers are really trying to affect government transparency, then Silverlight's ability to work cross platform is really important," says Spengler. "They can't say to their constituents, 'Hey, if you have a certain browser you can't see this government meeting'."

And Spengler shares that their customers are loving the higher quality video Granicus is delivering through Silverlight.

From Town Hall, It's Council Meetings Live By Webcast

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

CUMBERLAND - With earlier hiccups in the system chased away, Cumberland residents may now access the Internet from home to watch the Town Council meetings live from Town Hall on the first and third Wednesdays of the month.

Better yet, they may go back later and choose to hear just sections of the meeting by clicking on specific agenda items.

See the Planning Director John Aubin describe the new piece of open space he's hoping to purchase with state funds. Or the mayor describe plans for expanding the sewer system. Listen to the council deliberate a peddler's license for a spot on Diamond Hill Road.

It's instant and easy, or, as the computer techies say, seamless and transparent.

And soon, says the town's technology consultant Dan Lemois, meetings of the School Committee, Planning Board and Zoning Board of Review will be accessible, too.

The process, called webcasting, and offered by the Granicus Inc. of San Francisco, is opening up the workings of town and city governments across the nation.

Granicus, founded in 1999, describes its business as providing public meeting management technology.

It currently provides government webcasting for more than 450 government agencies in 43 states.

The process works so efficiently that the governor of New York mandated all state meetings must be available online.

"It's going perfectly," Lemois, told The Breeze this week. He suggests that 90 percent of computers can now access online videotape of the council meetings.

The number of residents taking advantage of the process hasn't been many so far, he said, but he's expecting the deliberations of the seven councilors to gain popularity as residents learn to use the system.

"There's nothing like this video," he suggests. "It puts everyone out there, word for word and how they said it."

While the written minutes may be accurate, he said, the tape reveals the tone of the comments, "If they are condescending or joking, you can see it," says Lemois. "It's a phenomenal tool for voters."

In Cumberland, the options for citizens to follow Town Council business are several.

You might watch the meeting live every other Wednesday.

Or, simply review the agenda and go back later and hear a specific topic. Replays by agenda items are available the following day.

Or use the search engine that's part of the town's ClerkBase software to review past actions on issues of interest, then go to the video of those meetings click on the topic, and listen.

Town Clerk Sandra Giovanelli, who attends each meeting, inserts breaks between each topic as the meeting progresses to allow citizens to later access only the awarding of truck bids or financial reports, for instance.

Consultant Lemois of Pawtucket, who is the brother of Councilor Bruce Lemois, began working on the webcasting project with Giovanelli last spring but needed the summer to perfect it, he said, because it could only be tested on meeting nights when the camera operator was actually recording the meeting.

The school board's involvement in this same process - streaming their meetings live and later making them available to citizens - was mentioned last week by School Committee member Lisa Beaulieu after new member Brian Kelly and citizen Richard Otto both questioned the $700 per meeting currently being spent on a court stenographer.

The stenographer was hired last spring.

With a projected annual bill of more $16,000 for the service, Kelly suggested the money might be put to better use.

According to Deputy Town Clerk Augusta Johnson, the town spent $16,922 to initiate the Granicus service and pays another $1,005 a month for the complete service.

Under the plan Lemois is working out, he said, the school board would split that monthly cost with the town.

The Town Council also pays $180 a meeting for someone to record the meeting, while the schools currently have a student performing that service.

Video of Redding City Council Meetings Available Online

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Archives go back to Aug. 19

Redding has gone live with its video coverage of City Council meetings.

The videos (posted at http://www.ci.redding.ca.us/cclerk/granicus.htm) allow users to click on an agenda item and see coverage of that discussion.

The online videos are meant to supplement the broadcast of council meetings on Channel 11, Redding's community access television, according to a city press statement. The online version uses the same video feed.

The council in June approved spending $44,000 for video on demand, tapping Granicus, a San Francisco-based firm.

Granicus serves more than 400 cities, counties, school districts and other agencies in 44 states, including the city of Sacramento and the University of California Board of Regents, according to the firm's Web site.

Webcast Connects Residents and MB Council

Thu, 03 Mar 2005 00:00:00 GMT

The city began streaming its meetings live over the Internet this week.

Daily Breeze, Torrance, CA, USA

For the first time ever, residents could watch this week's City Council meeting in Manhattan Beach on the city's Web site thanks to video streaming technology.

The council in September voted to try out the streaming service provided by Granicus Inc. for one year at a cost of $2,500. Council members then asked city staff members to implement the streaming feature before making any planned changes to the city's Web site.

The meetings can be viewed live, with a 20-second buffered delay, said Leilani Flores Emnace, the city's information systems manager.

Users must have software such as Microsoft Windows Media Player or Real Player and a broadband connection to view the broadcasts, she said.

"Those who have only dial-up will be able to hear the audio and read the text, but won't be able to see the video," Emnace said.

Meeting agendas complete with accompanying staff reports can also be viewed alongside the video. Although the streaming is done using Adelphia's cameras, the service is not provided by the cable company, she explained.

"The images get picked up for the streaming before it gets to Adelphia," Emnace said.

Planning Commission meetings also will be broadcast live over the Internet, she said.

To access the streaming video, viewers may log on using the link from the city's home page, www.citymb.info and clicking on "Manhattan Beach Streaming Video," which can be found under "What's New" in the left column.

Emnace said 163 people watched the live video Tuesday night through the city's Web site.

"That's a pretty big number given that there was no publicity for the launch at all," she said. "People must have seen it on the agenda over the weekend. I'm pleased with the response and hope it will be much larger for the next meeting."

City Manager Geoff Dolan called the new feature an asset to the City Clerk's Office, especially when it starts archiving the meeting videos a year from now.

"All meetings will be on disks," he said. "It's easy storage and a ready reference for staff and residents when they want to see what exactly was discussed on an item of interest."

Several council members laughed as Councilman Steve Napolitano quipped: "You've got to watch what you say then."

Digital Governance Award Winners Announced

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Granicus Inc. announced the winners of its Digital Governance Awards today. The awards honor public agencies that:

Improve efficiency in government and public services.
Enhance public communication.
Improve community engagement.
Facilitate government transparency

"We are extremely honored to award our clients for displaying innovation, creativity, and leadership using technology to accomplish better results at lower costs," says Tom Spengler, Granicus CEO.

Presenting the winners in their respective categories:

Leadership in Digital Access

Winner: Frederick County, Md.
Second Place: City of Indianapolis
Honorable Mentions:
City of Edina, Minn.
Long Beach Fire Department, Calif.

Excellence in Disseminating Government Information

Winner: Town of Blacksburg, Va.
Second Place: City of Delray Beach, Fla.
Honorable Mentions:
City of Alexandria, Va.
City of Glendora, Calif.
Santa Barbara County, Calif.

Excellence in Government Efficiency

Winner: City of Lee's Summit, Mo.
Second Place: City of Hesperia, Calif.

Excellence in Constituent Engagement

Winner: Onslow County, N.C.
Second Place: City of Arcata, Calif.
Honorable Mentions:
City of Chesapeake, Va.
City of St. Paul, Minn.

Silverlight Excellence Award

Winner: Skagit County, Wash.
Second Place: South Washington County Telecommunications Commission, Minn.
Honorable Mention: Village of Hastings On Hudson, N.Y.

Mayor to use TV, internet, You Tube in creative "State of the City"

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

SURPRISE, AZ (January 21, 2009) Surprise Mayor Lyn Truitt will take residents on a video tour as part of a live TV and internet broadcast when he delivers the first Surprise "State of the City" address from city TV studios on Thursday, January 29, at 7 p.m. The broadcast will also be streamed on the city's web site, www.surpriseaz.com. The live stream will be hosted by the city's webcasting provider, Granicus, Inc.

The broadcast will feature pre-produced video pieces in which Truitt visits the new Surprise City Hall, the Tennis and Racquet Complex, White Tank Mountain Regional Park, and new business ventures in the city, among other places.

Truitt intends the unique live TV and internet format to reach a broader audience than usually can attend a standard state of the city speech. He also intends to use the video sections to give viewers a more visually interesting program. The approach is in line with a citywide movement to use technology in innovative ways to improve communications with residents and create more openness in city government. After the broadcast, the presentation will be posted on the city's YouTube site and as a video file on www.surpriseaz.com.

In addition to talking about creative collaborations such as the Surprise Communiversity partnership with Rio Salado College and achievements such as the opening of several new businesses representing hundreds of jobs, Truitt will also discuss the city's response to economic challenges such as a reduced city budget and a rise in foreclosures in Surprise, and how the city is achieving results in the need for more efficient transportation.

Surprise and Sun City West residents who have basic cable can view the State of the City speech on Surprise 11. Anyone with internet access can see the speech live on www.surpriseaz.com.

Council Meetings Could Play Live on 'Net

Tue, 21 Sep 2004 00:00:00 GMT

Payson Town Council meetings and other town events will be available live on the Internet, if the council approves the purchase of streaming software and authorizes a service agreement with the company that developed the system, Granicus Streaming Media Solutions, at its regular meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday at town hall.

"Today Payson, tomorrow the world," Town Manager Fred Carpenter said. "What's going to happen is you're going to be able to watch council meetings, 'TOP Talk,' and anything we produce over the Internet when this is all done. Say you're researching a story and you wanted to see something that happened at a meeting six months ago, you'll be able to go there, pull it up, and watch that meeting again. This is pretty high-tech stuff."

Council meetings are currently broadcast on Channel 4, the local public access channel, but are unavailable for satellite users and other non-cable subscribers.

Channel 4 will continue to broadcast council meetings and other town events. In fact, the Channel 4 feed will probably be used for the Internet telecast.

The streaming service also will allow people to access and print meeting agendas, view previous council meetings, and access video archives by agenda item.

The service will be incorporated into the town's website.

Blacksburg Wins National Digital Governance Award

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The Town of Blacksburg has been honored with the national Digital Governance Award for Excellence in Disseminating Government Information. Blacksburg distinguished itself in this category using webcasting technology as a critical, cost-efficient vehicle for distributing public information. Chip Herman, WTOB Station Manager, accepted the award at the 2008 Granicus User Conference held on August 6-8 in San Francisco.

The 2008 Digital Governance Awards program is presented by Granicus, Inc., and sponsored by Microsoft. It celebrates government agencies for using digital technology in innovative ways to deliver organizational value by creating competitive advantage, reducing operating costs, optimizing legislative processes, or improving government-to-citizen relationships.

"We're very honored to receive this prestigious award," said Station Manager Chip Herman. "We've worked hard to develop a webcasting solution that would in turn serve as a valuable communication tool for the citizens of Blacksburg. To be recognized on a national level yet again gives us a great sense of accomplishment and validation that our services are making a difference."

WTOB signed on with Granicus in 2006 and has used this technology to archive and stream live Town Council and Planning Commission meetings. The service has since been expanded to offer the full array of station programming online as well. Programs include the Energy Recreation Show, Blacksburg Museum Lectures and Special Programs, Blacksburg High School Football, and more.

The highly competitive Digital Governance Awards seek to honor Granicus clients who display measurable outcomes with technological solutions that:

Improve legislative efficiency and public service delivery
Enhance public communicationImprove community engagement
Facilitate government transparency

Collier County Offers Video Streaming of Channel 11/16

Wed, 18 May 2005 00:00:00 GMT

"This new upgrade allows those people interested in local government issues, who do not have cable or reside outside of the local cable network, to stay in touch with Collier County issues," said Director Barry Axelrod, Information Technology Department.

Established in response to the numerous requests received from constituents, District 5 Commissioner Jim Coletta is pleased with the latest upgrade.

"It wasn't long ago that many residents in my district did not have access to basic cable," said Commissioner Coletta. "With this significant improvement, people around the globe will be able to see our television channel 24 hours a day, seven days a week."

The county's TV channel is carried locally on Channel 11, Comcast, and Channel 16, Time Warner. The county granted the streaming service contract to a San Francisco-based company, Granicus, a leading provider of Internet broadcasting solutions for live and archived streaming of public meetings to the Web.

For more information, call Barry Axelrod at 774-8794.

Rancho Council to Offer Live Web Streams of Meetings

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT

RANCHO CUCAMONGA - City Council followers, who find themselves chained every other Wednesday to cable television or the council chambers, will soon be freed. This fall, the city will offer live streaming of the twice monthly meetings online, so fans can watch on their computers at home or away.

Rancho Cucamonga Live and Indexed Video eGovernment will provide a search option alongside archived video, letting users jump to specific agenda items. The search option will work when users type in a keyword and the video will go directly to that portion of the meeting.

The council meetings will be archived online for at least a year.

John Lyons, a faithful council meeting attendee, said the service will be helpful, particularly when he is on a trip, but it will not keep him from going to the meetings.

"We still have to exercise our right to speak, or we'd lose it," said Lyons, who keeps a library of the meetings on video and audio cassettes.

Manuel Pilonieta, the city's Information Systems manager, is testing the system and expects it to be available in the next two months.

It is possible that other public meetings may also go online, he said.

The council meetings will still be available on local cable, and residents can request a videotape of the meetings through the city clerk's office. San Francisco-based Granicus Inc., which is providing the online service to the city, streams public meetings for 200 cities in the United States.

Granicus representative Alvaro Marroquin said the service will make it easier for city employees to research council business.

"But the ultimate goal is for the public to view the meetings 24/7 and 365 days a year," Marroquin said.

LA Council Members Fund Webcast, Table Schools Angle

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Los Altos City Council meetings should be available to watch on the city's Web site by the end of summer, both streaming live during meetings and stored in online archives.

The council last week voted 4-1 - with Megan Satterlee dissenting - to allocate nearly $42,000 to set up webcasting for city council meetings and fund the first year of service. The city contracted with Granicus Inc. for $28,000 worth of hardware, software and training to establish the service and earmarked $14,430 to pay for the first year's maintenance, according to the staff report.

City Clerk Susan Kitchens reported that 148 governmental agencies in California already have contracts with Granicus for webcasting. The company provides webcast setups specifically tailored for local government.

Other committee and commission meetings could be added to the service for $2,100 per year, according to Kitchens. The Tuesday night council meetings will be streamed online at the same time they air live on KMVT Channel 26. The meetings will remain accessible through the city's Web site for the foreseeable future. The recordings include "jump points," or bookmarks, that allow viewers to skip through the recording to agenda items of interest or to search an index of bookmarks for specific subjects.

Satterlee balked at adding a fixed expense to the city budget, circumventing the city's budget calendar to add the Web streaming now rather than in the fall, during the regular review process.

Mayor Val Carpenter cited the recent failure to televise council meetings as a part of the urgency to begin webcasting this summer.

"This is a wonderful convenience for our citizens to check up on us," Councilman Ron Packard said.

Only cable television subscribers can currently watch city council meetings from their homes. The meetings are broadcast live and replayed the following evening on KMVT. Kitchens described the city's current broadcasting system as poor in quality and subject to embarrassing hitches, noting that attempts to televise the recent civic center master planning session with the council failed.

The system is scheduled to be installed in the council chambers at 1 N. San Antonio Road and in operation by August or September.

Councilman David Casas attended the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District board meeting June 23 to discuss televising the board's meetings. He had raised the topic last month at a joint meeting with the city council, raising some ire from board members who questioned his sudden entry into the board's affairs.

"My passion for transparency is really what is driving my actions," Casas said.

The meetings would cost approximately $25,000 per year to broadcast on KMVT, and Casas noted that funds might come from a source such as a city council allocation.

While some members of the school board said they were in favor of broadcasting if the district didn't incur any additional expense, others expressed qualms about the notion.

"I've had conversations with parents who were not in favor of it," Trustee Julia Rosenberg said. "Before we make decisions we need to think long and hard about it. We need to make sure we have opinions from all our stakeholders."

No decision on televising meetings was made at the meeting. The board meets again in August.

"In the end, I believe that they've concluded that taping is probably not for them," Casas reported back to the council. "I think it's probably unlikely that they're going to have taping at the board meetings."

Traci Newell contributed to this report.

Contact Eliza Ridgeway at elizar@latc.com.

City commission to air meetings over the Internet

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT

DELRAY BEACH - City commission meetings are going a little more public - but not public enough for some.

At their Jan. 16 meeting, commissioners agreed to a $44,500 initiative to broadcast and archive their meetings on the city's Web site, www.MyDelrayBeach.com. The city's Emergency Radio Station also will be aired online.

But that's not good enough for Progressive Residents of Delray, a group that's been lobbying the city for more than a year to televise commission meetings.

"A large number of people don't know how to use a computer and some don't even have a computer," said Bunny Elrod, president of the group, which has about 300 members, according to its Web site. "Does that mean they are not entitled to know what's going on in their city?"

The group has been passing out fliers that say: "More residents own televisions than own a computer - why not broadcast on television?"

City Manager David Harden said the city can't please everyone. "No matter how you put it, someone is going to disagree," he said. "I mean, what about the people who don't have cable television?"

Harden said TV broadcasts are too expensive and would require that the city hire more people. "It would cost about a quarter million dollars a year to do it," he said.

But PROD, which was formed in 1984 as an advocacy group for Delray residents, doesn't buy that argument.

"The fact that it's too expensive doesn't wash with me," said Elrod. "I'd like to be able to see it happening just as my neighboring cities are able to."

Currently, eight of Palm Beach County's 37 municipalities televise their commission or council meetings via cable channels, according to Beth Engle-Love, public affairs director for the county. The county also televises its meetings.

Neighboring Boca Raton has been broadcasting its meetings on a cable access channel for 15 years. The city has two full-time video producers on staff to do the job. It cost Boca about $195,000 last year to keep the operation going, said City Clerk Sharma Carranante.

Boynton Beach decided last year to start televising its meetings. The city is working on getting the station up and running. The start-up costs are going to be about $200,000, said Wayne Segal, the city's spokesman.

And that doesn't include the cost of "retro-fitting" the commission chambers for TV production. The chambers' glass ceiling creates light and sound problems, Segal said. The cost of that work hasn't been determined.

PROD thinks that broadcasting commission meetings on TV makes for a more open government. Delray puts minutes of its meetings online and visitors to www.MyDelrayBeach.com can read minutes from as far back as 1927, ordinances and resolutions from the 1920s, and all the background material for commission meetings since 1980. Neither Boca nor Boynton has an online archive that's extensive as Delray's.

The city is finalizing its contract with Granicus Inc., a San Francisco Webcasting company that works solely with local governments nationwide. Online broadcasts should start about four weeks after that. The meetings will stay in the city's online archives for about a year and will be available for viewing anytime at city hall, Harden said.

Chris Rynders, director of Granicus' Southeast region, also said that archived meetings will be indexed so that listeners can go straight to the agenda items they are interested in, rather than having to sit through entire meetings, which can last a few hours.

Granicus, which has 20 clients in Florida and 230 in the country, has a few other plans for the city, including putting training content online for city staff.

"Since we made the decision to do it, we decided to use the best technology at the lowest cost," said city manager Harden.

But Elrod said that doesn't mean much to senior citizens with no tech savvy or working mothers trying to feed their children at 6 p.m. on a Tuesday night when the commission meets.

"The assumption I have to make is that these people are considered second-rate citizens," Elrod said. "Look, if no one else had it, it would be a revolutionary idea, but it's not revolutionary.

"It's the only way to make the meetings available to everybody."

New streaming video technology comes to Thurmont

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

THURMONT -- Residents now have access to town meetings directly at their fingertips.

Since Feb. 9, the town's website, in conjunction with Granicus Inc., has been streaming town meetings.

Videos are available for live viewing of up-to-the-minute commissioner decisions and stay archived on the web, so residents can view the last Planning and Zoning meeting.

"I think the service is working better than my initial expectations," town resident John Kinnaird said. He helped launch the program and volunteers to keep the Thurmont website running smoothly.

Town Chief Administrative Officer Bill Blakeslee said the streaming tactics are much easier than he expected. "It's a real piece of work," he said.

"All the residents' comments made to me have been positive," Kinnaird said.

Blakeslee agreed, saying he has heard a lot of feedback, leading him to believe a lot of people are looking at the new feature.

Despite the streaming video's popularity, Kinnaird said he has heard from locals who still catch the Board of Commissioners meetings when they are rebroadcast on the town's TV channel.

Blakeslee said the town's older residents are still watching Channel 99's broadcasts, enjoying their Thursday morning newspaper and town meeting showing. And when there's no good TV on Thursday evenings, they can catch the 10 p.m. broadcast.

Windows Media Player is required to view all videos, and can be downloaded free from the Thurmont website. The streaming technique is compatible with Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer applications. Only Internet Explorer has the option of clicking directly on specific sections; on the Apple-based browsers, scanning the video bar is not available.

"Most (residents) like the ability to view the meetings at any time and also the option to view particular segments of the video," Kinnaird said.

Since the videos' inception, video hits have been as high as almost 200 on Feb. 17, and range generally from between 50 to 100 public viewers, according to Granicus Inc.

"I think the BOC intends to record as many meetings as possible, including other commissions," Kinnaird said. Currently, only the BOC and P and Z meetings are recorded and published on Granicus.

Blakeslee said the town is waiting to see how the current videos work out before branching out into other groups.

"We want to walk before we can run," Blakeslee said.

Chandler Puts Council Meetings Live Online

Sun, 02 Jul 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Chandler issues have gone global, giving vacationing watchdogs the availability to keep tabs on the sometimes unpredictable City Council from practically anywhere. Chandler recently joined its East Valley neighbors in streaming video of the city's public programing over the World Wide Web. That includes council and Planning and Zoning Commission meetings, public service announcements, shows about the city's history and talks with the mayor.

"The video streaming provides the opportunity for people all over the world to tune into the city of Chandler," said city spokeswoman Nachie Marquez.

The city actually began streaming its public access cable channel online June 5, but made no formal announcements while staff members watched for bugs in the system. Things seem to be running fine, officials said, and Web surfers are slowly finding the site.

So far, the site's peak usage was around the council's June 22 meeting. That week, 68 users visited the site for an average of five minutes, Web editor Kim Kaan said.

Ultimately, the site will offer archived council meetings with indexed links to items as they are listed on the meeting agenda.

Chandler's move follows Gilbert, which began streaming public meetings in February.

Unlike Chandler, Gilbert is using an outside contractor to handle the Web streaming. This allowed the town to move forward without shelling out thousands of dollars on necessary equipment, said Shawn Woolley, Gilbert's information services and technology director.

"The main idea was just to give residents another way to view and participate," Woolley said.

Tempe began video streaming almost four years ago. The next step for that city will be video on demand, which allows users to download specific shows to their computer.

Scottsdale and Mesa also stream their meetings online.

Town Will Add Web Access

Wed, 18 Jan 2006 00:00:00 GMT

The Arizona Republic

Gilbert residents soon will have access to streaming video broadcasts of public meetings, online registration for popular Parks and Recreation Department programs and new wireless feedback to the town.

It's about better access, officials say, for a town that continues to welcome new faces from different places almost daily.

Leading the new technology pack will be streaming video of Gilbert Town Council meetings, which people worldwide can watch live or through a video archive on the town's Web site.

"What's really exciting is, it gives people who aren't in Gilbert the opportunity . . . to still take part (in the town)," said Shawn Woolley, Gilbert's technology services director.

Video will start streaming with the Town Council meeting in late February, Woolley said.

Planning and Zoning Commission meetings and other town programming will be available for download.

Town spokesman Greg Svelund said there have been no discussions regarding putting other commission meetings online.

Gilbert is poised to make a technological leap with other ventures.

Residents now can register online for Parks and Recreation Department programs, a change brought forth by crushing demand that has flooded Gilbert phone lines in recent years.

By far the most popular courses are those for preschoolers, said Tammy Cunningham, the Parks and Recreation office manager, who has been heading the online initiative.

For instance, in July the town's 12 phone lines were deluged with 33,177 calls in one day to register for fall classes. On Nov. 15, the winter session attracted 29,486 calls.

"This is going to be so much easier for people to log on and register vs. just keep hitting redial, redial, redial," Cunningham said.

Parks and Recreation plans to have a soft opening this week for the department's ball programs.

Lyric Payne of Higley, mother of two young children, said she once devoted a half-day, on and off, calling the town to register. She welcomes the online option.

"Anything I can avoid, like mailing or calling, I do online," said Payne, 30.

At Saturday's 10th Congress of Neighborhoods Expo, Gilbert residents can give instant feedback on town issues through a wireless response system.

Puyallup City Council Stamps Approval on Broadcasting

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Puyallup residents, fire up your television sets. The city council meetings are coming.

The council Tuesday night made three authorizations to City Manager Gary McLean that allow plans for television and Internet broadcasts of the meetings to take place by January.

The authorizations ended several discussions and delays to the project, to the delight of several council members.

"When I went out to talk to the public, this was one of the highest priorities," council member Rick Hansen said of the broadcasts. "I think you'll be able to reach out to us easier now."

"I think televising is a good thing and I'm glad we're going forward with it," council member Kathy Turner added. "I'm glad we dragged this through the budget process instead of just putting it on the table."

The council voted in August to delay implementation of a $40,000 camera system and $60,000 in software, citing budget concerns. That equipment, along with annual membership dues to host network Rainier Media Center, are now included in the proposed 2009-2010 budget.

The city is also assuming the costs of airing the meetings, rather than passing them on to residents. A proposed surcharge of 25 cents per cable subscriber had been considered.

McLean said the chambers are already wired for the system, and the cameras should be installed once they arrive in four to six weeks.

Full implementation of streaming media software from Granicus should be ready for the first broadcast. The software should eventually allow users to search through particular items in a council meetings, and it's also designed to prevent network crashes on government Web sites.

Ron Tiedeman, the city's director of information technology, explained that Granicus can also be linked to existing city software so citizens can access various documents. It may also help with downloading documents that, in the past, were handled by city employees.

McLean said the cities of Bellevue and Kirkland also use Granicus software, and explained that it's essential to keeping Internet archives working properly.

"Without it, we're quite sure we're going to have a number of customer complaints that it's not functional," McLean told the council.

Reach Reporter Neil Pierson at 253-841-2481 ext. 313 or by e-mail at neil.pierson@puyallupherald.com

County Eyes Online Meetings

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

McHenry County Board members who stuck around after Tuesday's meeting got a look at what streaming video of their meetings could look like.

The board's Management Services Committee hosted two software companies to show off software that would allow taxpayers to watch County Board meetings and access documents relating to the items being discussed. The committee might submit a request for next year's budget to implement it, said Chairwoman Tina Hill, R-Woodstock.

"The whole idea is transparency," Hill said. "People shouldn't have to jump through all these hoops and [Freedom of Information Act requests] to see how their money is spent."

County departments currently are preparing their budgets - the County Board typically approves the budget in November before the Dec. 1 start of its new fiscal year.

Unlike city government meetings on public-access cable, Internet streaming would allow residents to watch meetings when they want, County Administrator Peter Austin said. The software also would allow residents to forward to subjects that they care about based on keywords.

Austin said he estimated that such transparency could cost the county between $600 and $900 a month, depending on the company providing the software and the options that the county chooses.

Hill said options for the software would allow residents to access resolutions, minutes and other paperwork as it is being discussed on video, as well as establish members' voting records for easy access.

If approved, video streaming would start with the full County Board's two monthly meetings, not its numerous committees.

The companies that made presentations Tuesday were San Francisco-based Granicus Inc. and New York-based IQM2. The meeting was informational, and the project will not go out to bid unless the County Board allocates money for it.

San Rafael Council Chambers May Go High-Tech

Sun, 18 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

San Rafael City Hall's council chambers are headed for the 21st century.

The City Council is considering turning the meeting hall into a high-tech epicenter by adding Granicus, an Internet broadcasting and archiving system designed for local government.

Already in service at the county, and in cities such as Cupertino, Milpitas and San Jose, the system makes meetings available live on the Internet, creates searchable digital archives, synchronizes and links documents to audio and video records and includes staff reports, agendas, minutes and other documents.

"It's another way of enhancing public access to the process," City Manager Ken Nordhoff said. "People who are interested in a specific topic - they'll have an easy means to find that."

The system would be key in an emergency, city officials said. Granicus is equipped to distribute public information statements, warnings and other messages - all of which could be broadcast from the chambers, which would serve as the city's emergency hub during a crisis.

Depending on options, the system costs up to $150,000 to install. Providers charge about $14,000 for maintenance and to store information off-site. Officials said they hope to make room in a tight budget for the purchase this year.

Those who work in the clerk's office - the city's clearinghouse for documents - are enthused.

"There's going to be a lot of information totally searchable by the public," City Clerk Esther Beirne said."Things (the public) normally ask us about they can do it themselves. That's going to make things a lot easier for us."

Will a camera in the chambers prompt politicians and appointees to grandstand? Mayor Al Boro said he didn't think so.

"I had the apprehension it would change the way (people) react, but it's not just one camera so it's not just focused on the council - it moves around," he said. "I don't think that will happen. Our meetings operate the way they operate and will continue to operate."

Eustis Website Goes Live with Commission Meetings

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

City enhances citizen access and participation through live and on-demand public meetings over the Internet

Eustis, FL - In the continuing pursuit of government transparency, the City has teamed up with Legistar, an Agenda Management & System Administration, and Granicus, a Streaming Media Solution specializing in Internet broadcasting, to enable Eustis' website to carry the regular City Commission Meetings live on the internet, and have an archived webcast of the meeting available the next day. The agendas, background information and minutes from the meetings will now be available through an RSS feed page in addition to their current links on the Legislative Information Page, located at the government pull-down menu at www.eustis.org or directly at http://eustis.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx.

"We are excited to provide the public access to watch the regular City Commission meetings and workshops live and on-demand," said Acting Mayor Karen LeHeup-Smith. "Making city government meetings available on the internet is another example of our ongoing efforts to improve communications with the public."

A "soft" launch of the live streaming technology was put to the test during the November 19th City Commission Meeting. With reported success, the City will now offer this service for every City Commission Meeting. City Commission meetings are generally held on the first and third Thursday of the month, beginning at 6:00 p.m. Meetings will be available live and will be archived the following day.

Olympia Council Will Be On Web

Wed, 04 Jan 2006 00:00:00 GMT

The Olympian

OLYMPIA - Come spring, you'll be able to watch the City Council on your computer anytime you want.

The City Council decided Tuesday to start streaming its weekly meetings live on the Internet, then keep them archived on the city Web site for a year so residents can tune in anytime for free.

"Olympia was the first local jurisdiction to televise its meetings," Mayor Mark Foutch said. "Now we're the first to go streaming online. It's pretty slick."

The first meeting to be webstreamed will be in the spring, said Cathie Butler, communications manager.

It will cost $45,000 to buy the technology from Granicus Inc. of California, install it and get trained to operate it. Olympia also will pay $20,000 a year to archive the broadcasts and get technical help.

Funds will come from the cable franchise fees that Comcast gives the city each year, which can only be used for public education and public access.

City Council meetings already are broadcast live on TCTV Tuesday nights and replayed Friday mornings. People who have satellite dishes, Direct TV or a cable service that's not local don't get TCTV.

Copies of the taped meetings can be ordered from TCTV for a fee.

Streaming meetings on the Internet will allow residents to watch meetings when they want, officials said. And they can pause the recording or skip ahead to the part they're interested in without having to watch the whole meeting, which sometimes lasts three to five hours.

The idea of streaming meetings online arose at a January 2004 forum in which the city asked residents how it can be more open and effective. Resident Jeff Jaksich, who was one of the people who broached the idea, said the local coalition of neighborhood presidents started talking about it three years ago as a way to increase the channels of information between government and citizens.

"The challenge for many people is they aren't involved and don't know about critical issues until it's too late," Jaksich, president of the East Bay Drive Neighborhood Association, said in a telephone interview Tuesday before the council meeting.

He doesn't know how many people will use the new service, but said, "you could see it at a time that's convenient for you. People are very busy and they can't be expected to revolve around the city's schedule.

By making it more convenient, it enables people to get more involved."

Olympia will be the first in the county to have webcasts of its meetings.

Cities in California have been doing it for years. Kirkland and Bellevue have had webcasts for a year and gotten hundreds of hits. A Kirkland Planning Commission meeting received 482 views while a Bellevue discussion on temporary homeless encampments got 780 hits, officials there said.

In Olympia, the webcasts are expected to save $8,000 a year to transcribe minutes of the meetings because the city won't have to pay an employee so much overtime to provide such a detailed record, Assistant City Manager Subir Mukerjee said. Instead, the minutes will be a summary of the decisions, and the video will provide the details behind the decisions.

The minutes and video would be synchronized, so residents can click on an item listed in the minutes and automatically jump to that part of the broadcast.

"I love this. We're not only saving money, we're enhancing services," said Councilman Joe Hyer, who added the council received 2,280 e-mails last year.

The webstreaming request was the last in a series of initiatives that began in 2004 as part of Councilman TJ Johnson's goal to be a more open government. That list included holding town hall meetings, posting the full council agenda and staff reports online before meetings and setting aside 30 minutes for public comment at every meeting.

Cities to Put Their Meetings on Web

Sat, 01 Jan 2005 00:00:00 GMT

King County Journal, Washington

Starting next week, residents of Bellevue and Kirkland will have access to live City Council meetings and, eventually, on-demand access to past council meetings on the Web.

Bellevue will broadcast its weekly council meetings live on the city's Web site, www.cityofbellevue.com, using a new video streaming service beginning Monday at 6 p.m.

Kirkland is using the same service to broadcast its council meetings starting Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. on its Web site, www.ci.kirkland.wa.us.

The two Eastside cities teamed up to begin Web streaming together to save time and money, according to a joint press release.

Savings in numbers

By working together, they took advantage of a 20 percent discount available for being the first in Washington state to use Web streaming services from Granicus Inc.

Officials in both cities say the new tool will increase the amount of information available to the public and boost participation in government.

"With this new Web streaming tool, you'll be able to watch live and recent City Council meetings on the Internet,'' said Myrna Basich, Bellevue's assistant city manager and city clerk.

"You'll also see the agenda, and later in January, you'll be able to connect to supporting documents for each agenda item via the Web.''

Always available

Council meetings will be automatically archived and saved for at least a year, allowing the public access 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Eventually, minutes from various Bellevue city board and commission meetings are expected to be added to the system as well.

Bellevue also will offer archived videos from its cable channel, BTV Channel 21

Janice Perry, Kirkland's city clerk, said making council meetings available through a live video stream allows people who can't attend a meeting, or who do not have access to Kirkland's cable television station -- KGOV, Channel 21 -- to see the live broadcast or replays via the Internet at any time.

Kirkland, too, will store video files of council meetings for up to one year. By the end of the first quarter of 2005, Kirkland will begin having City Council meeting packets available on its Web site as well.

Corrales Meetings On Web

Wed, 16 Nov 2005 00:00:00 GMT

Corrales residents can know exactly what happened at the most recent Village Council meeting without ever being there.
    All they have to do is push the power button on their computer, wait for its brain to warm up and with a few clicks, all the action comes alive. Every grunt, stutter and bad joke uttered by a council member is there for the world to experience, long after the lights go out in the meeting hall.
    In August, the village began offering recordings of the council meetings online. Live streaming and video will soon follow, said Village Clerk Tina Gonzales.
    Gonzales said residents can hear the entire meeting. Nothing is edited except the chatter that occurs before the meeting starts. Residents can go to http://www.corrales-nm.org/ to access the audio. Once there, click on the blue button to the left, labeled "council meetings." Once on the meeting page, scroll down and look for the live audio link.
    Gonzales said the system has added convenience for the administration and the public.
    The village began using the recording system Aug. 23, the day it moved its council meetings to the new municipal court building. Meetings were held in the Historic Old San Ysidro Church.
    "In the church, the recording system was totally antiquated," Gonzales said. "It was a lot of frustration. Sometimes it would record, sometimes it wouldn't."
    Gonzales uses the Internet archives to prepare meeting minutes. Gone are the days of rewinding and fast-forwarding a cassette tape. Listed online beneath the recording is a "jump to" feature. Listeners can click on that button and it pulls up a copy of the agenda. One click on particular agenda item takes listeners to the exact moment in the meeting when discussion of that agenda item began.
    Gonzales said the audio recordings are usually available the morning after a meeting.
    The village purchased the system from Granicus, a company in San Francisco, for about $16,000. It pays the company $550 a month for archiving the meetings, maintenance, technical assistance and software updates. Gonzales said she heard about Granicus about a year ago at a clerks' convention.
    Granicus marketing director Pablo Gonzalez said the 25-employee company was created to serve local governments.
    "We do not sell to corporate America," he said.
    According to its Web site, the company's clients consist of large and small municipalities and counties around the country.
    It clients include the cities of San Antonio, Texas; Huntington Beach, Calif; San Diego; San Jose, Calif; and Scottsdale, Ariz.

New Orleans City Council to start broadcasting meetings live on Internet

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The New Orleans City Council enters a new era Thursday with the first-ever live broadcast of a meeting via the Internet.

The transmittal is part of an effort that will offer -- for free -- real-time videos of council meetings, as well as a searchable archive of prior meetings. There's also a separate video feed for live emergency broadcasts from City Hall.

Live and archived council meetings will be linked from the council's newly revamped Web site; click on the "Video" subtitle near the right side of the page.

Council members on Wednesday touted the service as a boon for citizens who want a front-row seat to the workings of local government, as well as a way for residents still displaced because of Hurricane Katrina to stay connected.

"This will provide exceptional public access and . . . transparency, " Council President Arnie Fielkow said. "City Council business is truly coming to our citizens' homes and computers."

Councilwoman Shelley Midura said the new technology will enable residents to engage with city government on their own time, rather than having to catch meetings live -- or wait for intermittent rebroadcasts -- on local cable-access Channel 6.

"So now you don't have to sit in bed at 3 o'clock in the morning" to watch a council meeting replay, she said. "Now you can do it at 12 noon if you want, on the Internet."

As the new Web interface rolls out, council meetings will continue to be available on Channel 6, at least through the sunset of the city's franchise agreement with Cox, which ends in 2011.

Along with live Web broadcasts, council members vaunted the new technology's ability to archive meetings going back one year and to segment them by keyword so users can watch only the portion of a meeting that interests them.

The council's Web site already offers videos of meetings dating to December 2008.

Video segments are indexed by words in relevant agenda items and in meeting minutes after they are approved. Archived meetings are expected to be available about an hour after meetings end.

In the next six months, agenda items that link to segments of video will be augmented with links to documents related to each item, such as resolutions or ordinances, maps, photos and staff reports.

Meetings of various government panels, such as the City Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Adjustments, are expected to be videotaped using the same system beginning in the next six months, officials said.

Those also will be archived by keywords, and the relevant portions will be linked into the agendas of other meetings so residents can trace issues through the public process.

Using technology created by search-engine pioneer Google, text on the council's new site -- including archived agendas, council members' pages and news releases -- can be translated into Spanish and Vietnamese, though video soundtracks are available only in English.

The system is the brainchild of Granicus, a San Francisco company that provides Web streaming and meeting archives for 500 government clients in the U.S. and Canada. The firm has partnered with Crescent Communications Inc., of Gretna, in what it bills as the first use of its product in Louisiana.

Granicus won a three-year, $266,474 contract last July, after answering a request for proposals. About a third of the deal's cost covered equipment installed in the council chamber and in the mayor's second-floor conference room.

The cost also includes the first installment of an annual $54,000 maintenance fee for the service. Subsequent maintenance payments will be made through the city's government access capital fund, which is financed by franchise fees paid by Cox Communications.

Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell said all cash spent on the project has come from the government access fund. She emphasized that none of the money came from the general fund or recovery projects.

Meeting archives will be maintained both at a Granicus data center and at the city's information technology office, company Vice President Thao Hill said. While the city's contract only allows past meetings to be available on a public Web site for a year, he said the records will be stored indefinitely as public records available at residents' request.

County of Santa Clara to Launch Webcasting Technology

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Residents Can Access Board of Supervisors Meetings Online

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA - On Tuesday, January 26, 2010, the County of Santa Clara will officially launch the webcasting technology that allows residents to watch live meetings of the Board of Supervisors online. In the future, archived videos also will be available. The first Board Meeting to be streamed online will be held at 9:30 AM on January 26, 2010, and at 11:15 AM, viewers can tune in to the 2010 State of the County address.

"Transparent decision-making by elected officials is important in establishing public trust," said Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors President Ken Yeager, who championed the program. "Webcasting makes Board Meetings more open and accessible to residents."

Beginning Tuesday, the public will be able to access the video webcasting of the Board Meetings at: www.sccgov.org/boardwebcast. A calendar of the Board Meetings can be found on the County's Web portal: www.sccgov.org, under "CONNECT WITH YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS."

"Online webcasting will help us engage the public on the important business of the County," said Supervisor Dave Cortese, Vice President of the Board of Supervisors. "Constituents will have the option of tuning in to get immediate information while decisions are being made or viewing archives later at their convenience."

Filming of the meetings will be conducted by CreaTV and live streaming on the Web will be provided by Granicus, Inc.

About Granicus
Granicus, Inc. is a provider of comprehensive government solutions for improving transparency, public participation, and collaboration over the Web. The extensive streaming media platform helps public agencies create, manage, and distribute live and on-demand streaming media content over the Web. The technology was built to support and enhance public meeting communications, internal trainings, and public education programs-while reducing staff time and costs. Granicus manages the world's largest government-exclusive webcasting network, streaming an average of 200,000 government webcasts, with over 600,000 hours of archived content, on a daily basis.

About CreaTV
CreaTV San Jose is a non-profit organization that promotes the use of community media access resources for the free exchange of ideas and information. It provides support, management, production and distribution services to noncommercial, community-based media access programs. The organization provides necessary resources, including studio, mobile and video equipments, and training, to San Jose institutions, agencies, organizations and individuals and help them create noncommercial programming on public and educational access channels in the cable system.

Contact:
Gwendolyn Mitchell/Lingxia Meng
Office of Public Affairs
(408) 299-5119

SMUD Board of Directors Meetings Now Available on the Web

Thu, 03 Mar 2005 00:00:00 GMT

Customers can view entire meetings live or archived via streaming video and audio

SMUD Press Release

To better serve its customers, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) is now streaming its twice-a-month Board of Directors' meetings on the Internet. SMUD's customer-owners and other interested people can now visit www.smud.org and click on a link to view SMUD Board meetings. The meetings occur the first Thursday of every month at 6 p.m. and the third Thursday of every month at 9 a.m.

The first meeting was streamed February 17 in a successful test run. Tonight's meeting will start live at 6 p.m.

As an added feature, meetings will be archived on SMUD's Web site for later viewing as well. A search function and links from agenda items to specific parts of the Board meeting video will enable viewers to find items that are of particular interest without watching an entire meeting.

Users may need to download Microsoft Windows Media Player if it's not already installed to view the live or archived meetings.

To view meeting videos, please visit www.smud.org, go to the Board of Directors' page and then click on the "Watch Video" link.

The original press release can be download here or at the SMUD website, under the Newsroom.

City meetings will be Web cast live

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Murfreesboro residents can now watch many of their city government's meetings live as they happen, a spokesman reported, or at their leisure after-the-fact thanks to a new service offered on the city's web site, http://www.murfreesborotn.gov.

The online web-streaming service is part of a continually evolving Murfreesboro strategy to increase public involvement and open dialogue with its now just over 100,000 citizens, states the news release from city spokesman Chris Shofner.
Advertisement

"I am very excited the City of Murfreesboro can now offer the public this new, quick and easy access to local government," says Cable Television Coordinator Alan Bozeman. "Residents are busy and this offers access to city meetings from anywhere a computer connects to the Internet."

Although Murfreesboro meetings have been cablecast on the local cable system since 1993 by the City of Murfreesboro staff, web-streaming of both live and archived meetings has not been available until now.

Citizens and government staff can now quickly access and keyword search by agenda item a centralized repository of webcast city meetings including the City Council, Planning Commission, Board of Zoning Appeals, Parks and Recreation Commission, City School Board, Historic Zoning Commission, and Stormwater Advisory Committee.

In addition, local city produced programs, such as various city promotional videos, city events, the city news program In the City, and numerous other programs, can also be accessed at anytime.

"Just visit our home page and click on Watch Meetings and Videos or click the City Channel 3 logo to find the webstreaming services section." said Chris Shofner, Murfreesboro's public information officer and grant writer who also serves as webmaster. "Upcoming meetings scheduled to be cablecast live are also listed there."

The web-streaming service is provided by San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. a company that serves more than 500 governing bodies in 44 states.

City of Fort Worth's Municipal Channel Programming To Go Global Over the Internet

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Fort Worth's Municipal Channel, which had been available only to local cable subscribers, goes global tomorrow when the programming begins streaming over the Internet from the city's Web site, FortWorthGov.org. The channel will be available online 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

In development for several months, the new service will be available in a "public beta" version to seek residents' feedback.

Initially, the service will offer the Municipal Channel's streaming webcast only. A video archive of City Council proceedings and meetings of select boards and commissions will be developed over the next few weeks. The video archive will offer on-demand viewing of available meetings. Additional programming produced for the Municipal Channel by Fort Worth Community Cable Television will also be added to the archive.

The archive of council and select committee meetings also will be available with interactive minutes, which will allow viewers to skip directly to agenda items and comments they want to see. This feature will work just like skipping to a "chapter" on a DVD.

Another convenience is the keyword search, which will allow viewers to find segments of recorded meetings where specific topics were discussed.

The webcasting effort was initiated by the Fort Worth City Council to offer residents and non-residents additional convenient access to information and an avenue to engage in local government and the programs offered by the city.

The service provides enhanced, cost-effective and quicker access to many public records by integrating digital video and documents. Plus, the system increases the efficiency of public meeting record-keeping, a responsibility of the City Secretary's Office, which will oversee administration of the service.

The system was implemented by the city's Community Cable Television Office, Communications Office and the Information Technology Solutions Department with assistance from San Francisco-based developer Granicus.

Council Meetings Leap into Cyberspace

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

WINDHAM (Sep 5): Next week, one small click for computer users will mean one giant leap into cyberspace for the Windham Town Council.

For the first time ever, the Sept. 9 council meeting will not only be broadcast over the local cable access channel but also streamed live online through a link on the town Web site, www.windhamweb.com.

The new software, supplied through a contract with Granicus, a Florida-based streaming media firm, will cost the town around $14,000 for the first year and around $12,000 annually in the following years, said Town Manager Tony Plante.

The Granicus system will change the way council meetings are watched and recorded, and will give residents another way to keep track of how their town government is doing business, Plante said. It will also give Windham residents who do not receive public access Channel 7 an opportunity to view meetings live, he said.

"We have all these different ways for getting information out and providing access to the government process," said Plante. "This was just another way to broaden that."

The Granicus system does more than just stream the meeting video, Plante said. The software allows town officials to attach to the video the meeting agenda and other pertinent documents so that the viewer can follow along easily at home.

Also, once the meeting is over, Town Clerk Linda Morrell will archive the video on the town Web site, complete with any additional documents that were introduced during the meeting. Time stamps entered into the system by Morrell each time a new agenda item comes up will allow those viewing archived video to skip ahead, Morrell said.

"They can just click on it and go right to that part," she said. "If you're only interested in two articles, you're good to go."

The ease and convenience of online video will spur greater involvement by citizens in town government, said Carol Waig, chairwoman of the Town Council. VHS videos of the meetings are often in high demand at the Windham Public Library, Waig said, and by the time people get a copy, the issue in question may have already passed.

Also, she said, residents are often interested in only one agenda item, and don't want to waste their time sitting through a meeting for one short segment.

"No one wants to watch an entire meeting to see the one piece they want," Waig said.

The system will also save time for Morrell, who said it can take up to eight days to create detailed minutes of long council meetings, a duty that pulls her away from other aspects of her job. For $75 per hour of video, the meetings recorded by the Granicus software can be sent away for word-for-word transcription.

"It should save time writing minutes," said Plante. "It should increase the quality of the minutes. It should save (Morrell) a ton of time listening to meetings."

One of the reasons the Town Council supported the implementation of the Granicus software was the need for detailed minutes, Waig said. Councilors wanted their conversations written verbatim, she said.

"That's asking too much unless you have a court reporter in the room," she said.

The ability to transcribe the meetings will not preclude the town from having to hire a court reporter during hearings like those currently underway in the Town Council's review of Peter Busque's quarry application. In those cases which may end up scrutinized by the courts, it is preferable to have an objective third party in the room to record what is being said, Plante said.

The transcripts of the meetings can be inserted and synchronized with the video to give hearing-impaired residents an easier way to follow the proceedings, Plante said.

At first, only Town Council meetings and workshops will be streamed online, though Plante said the plan is to eventually extend the system to include other municipal meetings, such as those held by the Planning Board.

"We wanted to start with the basics," he said.

Webcasting Offers Window into Government

Mon, 04 Dec 2006 00:00:00 GMT

More municipalities use the technology to put public meetings and training videos online

As the 2006 election campaign season proved, the public turns to the Web for unfiltered government information, especially for candid video footage of federal officials. Local governments are now attempting to establish credibility with citizens and employees by creating online public records in video form.

Municipalities are Webcasting public meetings, firefighter training videos and other governmental communications. The idea is to offer a live window into government operations - and easy-to-use documentation for future reference.

Some people are suspicious of government entities, and the longer they take to answer questions, the more suspicious people grow, said Frank Clifton, county manager for Onslow County, N.C. The county began Webcasting public meetings live in August, and it also archives them online.

Now when someone is concerned about something the county government discussed or voted on, "I can go in and pull up that meeting and let them see it for themselves," Clifton said.

He chose to outsource hosting and archival operations to Granicus, a streaming media service provider. Since 1999, Granicus has been catering specifically to local governments. Those governments often do not have enough bandwidth to meet multiple requests from developers, lawyers, the media and agency employees.

Webcasting "creates a public record for us. The written minutes are there alongside of the video" in a word processing document, Clifton said. "It facilitates records management and responding to requests for information. We just refer lawyers to the Internet."

To generate and manage the Webcasts in-house, Onslow County would have needed to develop complex synchronization software and distribute video files to Web users. That would have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Clifton said the costs would have outweighed the benefits, whereas the cost of Granicus' quick and easy service was justifiable. The upfront fee was about $26,000. The monthly fee for the service is $1,100.

With the software platform, Clifton can transmit a video, tape, CD or DVD one time to a secure facility at a Granicus site in San Francisco.

Granicus' San Francisco site distributes and stores the content to reduce the strain on Onslow County's bandwidth. No user traffic flows over the local government's Internet connection. This is all invisible to users, who get access to the content directly from the Onslow County Web site.

In Long Beach, Calif., just a handful of streaming requests could bring down the city's entire Internet connectivity, said Long Beach officials, who now use Granicus.

Local governments are also taking advantage of multimedia tools to communicate better internally.

Tom Spengler, Granicus' chief executive officer, said 15 percent of the company's work involves streaming videos of training programs and intragovernmental communications internally to private government Web sites. The distribution process works the same way it does to conserve bandwidth for public Web sites.

Berkeley, Calif., has eliminated the need to repeat retirement benefits classes four times a year by posting a single video on the city's intranet. New city employees can watch whenever they want and immediately download the necessary forms via links on the video's Web page.

The company also gives customers the option of storing their material on Granicus' servers longer than the standard 12 months. When Sacramento County, Calif., needed to store sensitive content, it purchased multiple storage vaults and applied security controls to the vaults that contain the sensitive material.

The system can restrict access to only authorized password holders or authorized IP ranges.

"Security is always becoming a bigger and bigger factor in what our customers want to do," Spengler said.

With Granicus, the files are recorded in Windows Media format and automatically indexed, he said. Government officials and citizens can search the archive by resolution number, date or keyword and go straight to the video segments they want to watch.

Martin County Commission Meetings a Mouse Click Away

Thu, 12 Oct 2006 00:00:00 GMT

STUART - Forget about sitting through an eight-hour meeting to hear the Martin County Commission's latest plans.

Residents can now see, hear and read only the agenda items they want with the click of a mouse.

On Tuesday, software company Granicus Inc. implemented ? a $44,000 live audio- and video-streaming program, which links footage to agenda text for same-day access.

"We started as live streaming only, and now it's content on demand. We're now using it in full force - live," said Chris Rynders, southeast regional director for Granicus. "The goal was to create an integrated public recording that links with the minutes and audio-video components."

The indexing system means a user need only scroll or click on the agenda item for the video to skip to that place in the broadcast.

But the system it isn't available in real time.

"It takes about two hours for the program to download after the meeting," said Matt Honeycutt, who is training county staff to use the program this week.

While the audio and video agenda items will be available for viewing the same day, the minutes will have to be approved by the commission before being published on the Web.

The county already broadcasts its meetings on public access cable channel MCTV and makes the live video stream available on its home page.

The technology could soon make the county's $5 tape recordings of the meetings obsolete.

"We can give citizens a CD. It's much more cost effective. The cost of a CD is 2-3 cents apiece," Honeycutt said.

Now that the streaming video is fully operational, other content could soon be added, Rynders said.

"Any audio or video the county captures for MCTV - training videos, like emergency evacuation - will be able to be put on there and archived," Rynders said.

Anaheim Launches Live Access to City Council Meetings via Streaming Video

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Beginning tomorrow, Anaheim residents can view City Council meetings from the comfort of their own home or anywhere they have access to the internet. Working with San Francisco-based Granicus, streaming video of Anaheim City Council meetings now will be available from the city's Web site.

"As I proposed at my State of the City speech earlier this year," said Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle, "at every opportunity we are moving closer to creating 21st Century City Hall, where City Hall is open for business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, whether you come downtown, or sit in a city park accessing the citywide wireless network on your laptop. With Granicus and our new EarthLink wireless network, Anaheim residents can now watch decisions being made that affect their daily lives from anywhere in the city."

Regularly-scheduled Anaheim City Council meetings will be aired live on Tuesday evenings at approximately 5 p.m. Each meeting then will be posted online along with an accompanying Council agenda about two hours after the conclusion of each meeting. Past meetings will be archived and searchable so that people can locate a specific item of interest and watch that item being addressed by the City Council.

The city's cable channel, ACTV-3, will continue to air the most recent City Council meetings for those who prefer a more traditional viewing format.

City Councils Consider Webcasting

Tue, 17 Jan 2006 00:00:00 GMT

VICTOR VALLEY - From streaming video and audio to downloadable programming, the Internet is changing the face of communications.

Cities are increasingly streaming their city council meetings to keep the public informed. But most Victor Valley cities have been slow to catch on. Locally, Apple Valley is the only city that offers streaming video of Town Council meetings, while Victorville and Hesperia say the issue is not a bad idea, but it had never been brought up before.

Web streaming allows for live access from the comfort of home - or anywhere.

For many companies, Web streaming has become the technology of choice because it is easily accessible and its Webcasting costs are minimal.

Apple Valley Councilman Bob Sagona said that since approving live streaming in mid-2005, a growing number of residents have started using the system.

"It was a no-brainer to approve this technology because we saw the value of the program," he said. "I think this is the future and we will see many more cities install this technology very soon," Sagona added.

According to Granicus, Inc., the firm the town has contracted to stream over the Internet, the Apple Valley Web site has received 12,000 requests for streaming video since it became available.

The interest motivated town officials to also stream all Planning Commission meetings.

"If you are a business in China waiting to get approval from our commission, you can watch it live through the Internet and that is a great advantage we have over other cities."

At the time of signing with Granicus, Apple Valley spent $22,000 for initial set up. The town also pays a yearly fee of $9,000 for storage, hosting and operating expenses.

"We serve over 100 cities and we are seeing more demand for our service," Granicus representative Pablo Gonzalez said from San Francisco.

Aside from live Webcasting, Apple Valley's site also allows users to access archived meetings and go to specific agenda items.

Gonzalez said his company has reached out to cities like Hesperia, Adelanto, and Victorville, but no interest had been expressed from officials.

Victorville Mayor Mike Rothschild said that broadcasting City Council meetings online has not been discussed with city staff.

"It's a matter of three or more people in the council being for it," Rothschild said. "There is no policy requiring us to (Webcast), but that said, times change and that could be a different way to give access to the community."

Hesperia Mayor Tad Honeycutt considered the price of setting up a Web stream very reasonable.

"This could help us to reach people who cannot attend our meetings and I think once our new City Hall is completed (in the fall), we could discuss the idea to set up a system in Hesperia," he said.

Victorville Councilman Bob Hunter agreed that the issue needs to be discussed, but, personally, he would prefer to keep things the way they are.

"I would prefer the public got more involved. If they can sit and watch television, they can get in their cars and come to our meetings," he said.

Another concern for Hunter is about some residents grandstanding because of the presence of cameras.

"We are in an age of technology and this issue will have to be discussed soon," Hunter added.

Computer Users Now See Meetings on Web

Sun, 13 Nov 2005 00:00:00 GMT

MIDLAND - The future has arrived at Midland City Hall.

Thanks to $20,000-plus worth of high-tech gadgets, residents can view City Council meetings and those of other boards and commissions via streaming video on the Internet.

All it takes is a couple of mouse clicks for computer users to watch in real time or at their leisure from an archive, said Selina Tisdale, city clerk.

"This is one more way citizens can be informed about local government. City government is now closer to Midland citizens," she said.

Streaming video started last week with Tuesday's Planning Commission meeting. Monday's City Council meeting will become that body's first session available in streaming video.

Web users need a broadband connection to the Internet such as DSL, cable modem or other high-speed connection, Tisdale said. Users with dial-up connections will receive an audio-only stream.

Midland is one of the few cities in the state to offer the streaming function, officials said. The city has tested the system for the past month to "work out the bugs," said Assistant City Manager Jack Duso.

"The new service meets a top goal of City Council members, which has been to make local government more accessible to citizens. We are excited to be on the cutting edge of the technology," said City Manager Karl Tomion.

The council approved the move at its July 25 meeting.

The city bought a streaming video system for $17,950 and a dedicated server for $3,400 from Granicus Inc. of San Francisco. The system costs $700 a month to maintain, or $8,400 per year. The first year is included in the initial cost.

Streaming video is a digital version of sights and sounds that is sent, or streamed, over the Internet in compressed form in real time for computer viewing. A viewer does not have to wait for a large file to download. The video plays as it arrives at a computer.

Duso said the city picked Granicus as the vendor because the company provides an indexing feature that allows people to search by agenda items, such as public comments or new business.

"Another feature is a keyword search capability allowing one to search all archived meetings. If someone wanted to know about the Civic Arena, they could use keyword Fast Ice Drive and (view) all meetings where that is mentioned," she said.

The public won't reap the benefits alone, Tisdale said.

"This will help the staff be more efficient. When I have questions about the minutes, I had to wait for a video from the cable channel. Now, I can access the archived meeting right from my desk," she said.

Videos will remain in the archive for a year. The system is accessible at any time of the day or night.

Tisdale said the new service is compatible with most computers, including those running Microsoft Windows and Macintosh software. Streaming video requires a recent version of Internet Explorer, Safari or Netscape Navigator. One must have Windows Media Player 9 or above to view the video.

To access streaming video, go to the city's Web site at www.midland-mi.org. Click on the streaming video link in the right-hand column on the home page and choose from current and archived meetings.

People eventually will find streamed versions of meetings of the Aviation Advisory Commission, Cable Access Advisory Commission, Downtown Development Authority, Library Board, Parks and Recreation Commission, Planning Commission, West Main Street Historic District Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals.

All of these panels advise the council.

For more information, call the city manager's office at 837-3301 or try the Web site.

La Habra Heights puts council on the Internet

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

"Live from La Habra Heights: It's Thursday night"?

With Councilwoman Tela Millsap's words began a new way for residents and others to watch City Council meetings.

Instead of having to go there in person or wait for cable television to air a tape of the meeting, all you now have to do is get on the Internet and listen and watch.

Or you can go online the next day or later and call up each agenda item separately.

La Habra Heights is one of 37 cities in Los Angeles County that broadcasts its meetings over the Internet.

This Thursday's meeting will be the fifth one broadcast on the Internet since the service began in November.

"What we're doing is giving the people in the community a chance to view us live," City Manager Shauna Clark said. "On playback, people can go specifically to the items they want to look at."

The city's Web site, http://ci.la-habra-heights.ca.us/, also provides the agenda reports as part of the service it purchased from Granicus.

The latter will save people time and money from having to get copies from City Hall, Clark said.

The city spent $13,462 to buy the service and pays $8,996 annually to run it.

Millsap said she is finding some people prefer watching the meeting on the Internet.

"They can stay if they don't want to come and sit on the cold, hard chairs," she said.

Millsap even watched one meeting on the Internet when she was out of town.

Although meetings are televised on cable on a tape-delayed basis, Mayor Stan Carroll said not everyone has cable.

"Many residents are switching to satellite television which doesn't carry any of the city's meetings," Carroll said.

Not everyone is totally satisfied.

George Edwards, who is a council candidate and attends most meetings, said the Internet broadcast can be difficult to use.

"It's not perfect, but it is a step in the right direction," Edwards said. "It requires a fairly sophisticated computer and a high-speed connection."

Westlake City Council Meetings Go High-Tech

Thu, 09 Mar 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Is the daunting drive to Westlake City Hall hindering you from attending council meetings? Are you out of town and desperate to know if the latest hot topic was approved?

Not to worry, the Westlake Village City Council meetings will soon be a mouse click away.

In an effort to meet the goal of enhancing communication with Westlake residents, the city council unanimously approved a proposed agreement with Granicus Inc. to incorporate streaming video of council meetings onto the city's website at www.wlv.org.

San Francisco-based Granicus Inc. is the leading provider of web streaming and archiving services for local municipalities. The company serves more than 100 city governments, including Calabasas, Thousand Oaks and Moorpark.

The new partnership will allow residents to view live broadcasts of council meetings over the Internet, as well as search archived meetings by date and content. Internet viewers will be able see the meeting, agenda items and associated minutes in tandem.

Residents interested in researching a particular topic discussed at council meetings will be able to type in a keyword and be directed to the exact point in the meeting when the topic was referenced.

If individuals are interested in learning about water in Westlake, instead of viewing hours of tape, they can type "water" onto the website and be cued to the exact point in the meeting the issue was discussed.

The new web streaming service comes at a one-time installation cost of $19,418 and a monthly service charge to the city of $900.

It will take 60 days to install the equipment. The service should be operational by May, officials said.

Town wired and ready

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The Town of Superior meetings are now available on the Internet.

Town board and planning commission meetings are available and can be viewed anytime for up to six months after the meeting date.

"The main reason was to have an opportunity for the public to view the meeting if they can't watch it live, or during Channel 8 times," said Jay Wolffarth, management analyst for the town. "You don't have to watch the whole meeting, the meeting is in chapters."

To view the meetings online, visit www.townofsuperior.com, and click on "View Public Meetings." Then, click on the "Video" link next to the desired meeting and a new window will pop-up with the video.

Superior Mayor Andrew Muckle said he expects now that meetings are available online, it will bring more eyes and ears to the meetings.

"Even if it brings a few more people to the meetings, it would be helpful," Muckle said. "I don't think we'll compete with the Super Bowl, but anything that improves communication is helpful."

The upgrade costs the town $500 per month and the video is done by Web host called Granicus.

Putting the meetings online, Wolffarth anticipates will benefit a wide range of people - from staff to residents. Wolffarth said in particular, Town Clerk Phyllis Hardin will benefit because she can go back to a specific agenda item to correctly record what was said or what happened.

"It keeps staff informed for those that can't attend the meeting," Wolffarth said.

The town will still provide DVD copies of the meetings for $5 if the individual requesting provides a blank DVD or $10 if they don't.

Wolffarth said this service, along with others already offered, allows for residents to be informed about town issues.

"With the CAC (e-mail list serve) we're all involved and know what's going on, everyone providing opinions and questions - this will increase service for the community, for the town to see whenever they want," Wolffarth said.

Burnsville Meetings Available Online

Thu, 19 Jan 2006 00:00:00 GMT

BURNSVILLE, MN - Being out of town during the City Council's discussion of what it will cost residents to have their streets fixed, won't mean missing out on the conversation.

Starting with the Jan. 17 City Council meeting, Burnsville rolled out its latest communications tool, live video of its City Council, Planning Commission, Parks and Natural Resources Commission and Burnsville-Eagan Telecommunications Commission meetings available on the Internet.

"If you don't live in Burnsville or are a winter vacationer and want to keep in touch with the city, you can do that now," said Jim Skelly, the city's communications specialist. "We'll find that people will warm up to the ability to view these meetings from anywhere they have an Internet connection."

Access to the meetings are available from the city's Web site, www.burnsville.org. Skelly said the City Council has had an interest in e-government and improved communications with its residents, and that this initiative covers both.

Granicus, a San Francisco based company, is providing the service which 1-in-5 people in Burnsville said they would take advantage of if offered.

Also, according to last year's community survey, 79 percent said they had access to the Internet, and 54 percent of those said they have the high-speed access which is recommended to take full advantage of this service.

Burnsville and Eagan are the first cities in Minnesota to sign up with Granicus, but Charles Blanchet, the company's sales director, said they likely won't be the last - he said the company was actively engaged with 80 percent of cities in the metro area.

"They approached us with examples of what they were doing in other cities and we liked what we saw," said Tom Venables, the city's IT coordinator. "We were looking into it as a possibility before we saw Granicus. It's tailored to municipal government and it's easy to maneuver through."

The city paid Granicus $9,000 to implement the program, with a monthly subscription of $725 for hosting the service. The money comes out of the cable television franchise fees paid to the city, which supports all the city's communications efforts.

Meetings can be watched live when they would otherwise air on the city's cable service. Starting the day after meetings, the viewers can watch the meeting by agenda item.

"You can get the 30 seconds or 15 minutes you care about and move on," Blanchet said.

Another feature is being able to search an item - an address, ordinance or resolution - and that particular video clip can be pulled up. Also, all the supporting documentation for a particular agenda item can be seen on the Web site while watching the meeting.

Skelly said those features could be helpful to residents, business owners or consultants - anyone who has regular dealings with the city.

"It's there for people on their schedule and it matches people's on-demand lifestyle," he said. "For those who want to use it, it will be a tremendous value for them."

Recommended technology

For PC: You must be running Windows 98 or later operating system with at least a 233MHz processor Pentium II and 64MB of RAM.
Macintosh: You must have at least a G3 processor with Mac OS X installed.
In addition, you should have at least Windows Media Player 9 and a recent version of your preferred browser.
To view video, you should have a broadband connection. Dial-up users may receive an audio-only stream.

Commissioner Meetings to be Covered on Web Site

Sat, 16 Sep 2006 00:00:00 GMT

DURHAM -- Every word uttered by officials and citizens alike at Durham County Commissioners meetings will soon be viewable online, live and in searchable archives.

The County Commissioners are set to approve a contract Sept. 25 with San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. to provide live coverage of their meetings on the Web. An indexed video archive of discussions linked to agendas, meetings and staff reports will be on the county's Web site.

Officials hope the service will make government more transparent and accessible. And it would be more convenient for citizens interested only in parts of meetings, and for county staff required to keep up with developments in their departments, they say.

"What we find is that most citizens and most staff are interested in a specific item and do not necessarily want to sit through three or four hours of a meeting itself," Granicus' Chris Rynders told the commissioners at a demonstration earlier this month. "It actually jumps to that portion of the video so you can hear that discussion."

The commissioners agreed to the contract in principle at their work session this month and will vote on it next week. The service should be up and running about a month later.

The county will pay $44,400 for the software and $1,700 per month for the service, plus it will need to buy two computer servers for about $20,000 to store the archives, according to Assistant County Manager Deborah Craig-Ray.

Granicus is a 7-year-old company that provides the Webcasting service to 180 local governments across the U.S. Nine of those are in North Carolina, including Winston-Salem, Greensboro and Wilmington.

Wilmington started using the service in January. Spokesman Dylan Lee said it's been a smash hit with staff, citizens, developers and the media. It allows those who miss meetings to "get the flavor of the discussion," beyond the vote.

"I don't know what we'd do without it, now that we've got it," Lee said.

Although the system will allow computer users to see and hear the meetings, Granicus doesn't provide closed captioning for the hearing impaired, something commissioners want to see.

"This is a real concern for the hard of hearing," Commissioner Becky Heron said.

Rynders said closed captioning can be incorporated into the online service if the county gets it elsewhere. Craig-Ray said the county plans to add captioning to its meeting broadcasts soon, but doesn't yet know how much it will cost.

Durham County isn't the only area government whose meetings are riding the technology wave onto the Internet. Audio recordings of Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School Board meetings have been available since July as podcasts, which computer users can download after the meeting and listen to on computers or portable devices.

Although he didn't know how many people have downloaded the files, Ray Reitz, the school system's chief technical officer, said that judging by the calls he's been getting, it's been popular.

"Some of our community members have actually given us advice on how to make it better," he said.

Color Me Officially Excited About PEG's Future

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Last week I attended NATOA's annual conference in Atlanta. It was a fantastic experience, with tons of enthusiastic attendees to have great conversations with and a host of interesting speakers to learn from, really one of the best events I've been to in a while.

There's lots to share about my experiences there but the biggest thing I came away with was a newfound excitement over the future of PEG. There are just so many intriguing projects and trends underway. Here's a overview of some of the major ones:

While not happening everywhere, many PEG stations are beginning to utilize social media tools. The focus of Web 2.0 too often seems to ignore physical proximity, yet those tools hold tremendous potential for strengthening the bonds between neighbors in a community. If PEG is going to achieve that larger goal of enabling local community media, finding innovative ways to use them is essential. I'm eager to learn more about this space.
Wish I could give greater detail but for now all I can say is that there are some interesting projects afoot aimed at improving the ability of PEG channels to share and collaborate. What makes this so powerful is that individually most PEG stations are minuscule, but taken as a whole they represent the largest TV network in America.
Reconnecting with Tom Spengler, CEO of Granicus, I learned that their government webcasting solution has been going gangbusters this past year, with communities all across the country coming to realize how the use of online video can strengthen the democratic process.
On another front that I unfortunately have to keep a bit under my hat, there was some talk of highly intriguing experimentation going on in the coming months surrounding redefining what PEG can mean, especially in a big bandwidth environment. I don't think I'm yet supposed to share any details, but know that as soon as I can I'll be doing so as I'm a fervent believer that PEG has an opportunity to be at the center of an incredible amount of innovation over the next few years, both in the delivery on online content and the evolution of TV.
The final thought I'll share stems from a sense that while we can't just drop the contentious issues surrounding protecting PEG's present as it comes under attack from cable operators not wanting to pay franchise fees and not treating PEG fairly, there's also a growing hunger to move the discussion forward to focus less on the passing paradigm and more on figuring out how PEG can be establishing a new paradigm for itself in the 21st century.

Needless to say, I couldn't be more excited about PEG's future. While there are most definitely bumpy roads ahead, the promise of what's possible seems closer than ever and the energy of the people who are working to reach those goals is infectious.

I'm now more eager than ever to continue my exploration of what PEG can mean in the 21st century as the more wonderful people I meet the more I learn the more possibilities I see for PEG to continue its role at the heart of America's democracy and public discourse.

House of Representatives Speaker Praises Tennessee General Assembly's Website

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

I have some exciting news to share with you. Last summer and fall a team of our legislative staff worked to completely redesign the Tennessee General Assembly's website.

The completely redesigned website was rolled out shortly before the legislative session began this past January. The new design was tailored to bring better transparency to our legislative process. The website makes it easier to follow legislation by way of text, operating schedules and video. Other enhancements include a more user-friendly format and improved search features.

Over the last few months we have received a large number of compliments from people who use the new website, both inside and outside of state government. However, it is not only our users who have recognized our website.

Now, we have received not just one National Award but two National Awards for the General Assembly website.

On Friday July 24th the Tennessee General Assembly's website received the Online Democracy Award at the National Conference of State Legislature's Legislative Summit. This award recognizes the nation's top legislative website. That's right; we were judged the No. 1 Legislative website in the Nation.

The judging panel praised our website for "its ease of navigation, depth of content and openness and availability of information for the public." According to NCSL's press release, "key features of Tennessee's website that contributed to this year's award include: prominent educational resources; well organized information; a simple fresh design; (and) integration of archived streaming video clips with agendas and bill information."

Additionally, on the West Coast of our Nation, our website was receiving accolades. On Friday, July 24th, the Tennessee General Assembly website also received the 2009 Digital Governance Award for Leadership in Digital Access. This award is given by Granicus Inc.

Each year Granicus presents Digital Governance Awards in several categories. The awards honor government agencies that leverage streaming media technologies to:

Improve efficiency in government and public service
Enhance public communication
Improve community engagement
Facilitate government transparency

These awards demonstrate that the hard work which went into our redesign has paid off. Staff will continue to incorporate improvements in our website each year.

Let's pass the word along that we have the No. 1 legislative website in the country.

It is truly something to be proud of. You can view our website at www.capitol.tn.gov.

County's Webcast an Impressive Model For Cities

Sun, 10 Dec 2006 00:00:00 GMT

When a Marin governmental agency boldly moves into the 21st century, it deserves praise. Such is the case with the Marin Board of Supervisors' Webcast of their weekly meetings. Other agencies, including Marin's 11 municipalities and major special purpose districts, should promptly follow suit.

Few people have the time or inclination to attend city council, Board of Supervisors, school or water district meetings. Even if a particular agenda item interests them, the practical reality is that citizens are loath to sit through interminable discussion items until the main event.

The supervisors' Webcast addresses these realities in a user-friendly manner. Just go to Marin County's Web site, www.co.marin.ca.us, click on the Board of Supervisors' page and follow the Live Video Broadcast prompts. It's like C-SPAN, but better.

Any citizen with an Internet connection can watch the entire meeting. Amazingly, by clicking on a particular agenda item, viewers will immediately watch only the issue they care about. No wading through hours of minutiae. If your big issue is, say Marin's decision to limit outdoor cigarette smoking, just click on that item on the agenda. Instantly you have access to a video of Advertisement that discussion. It's available at your home for viewing whenever you want.

Novato was a pioneer in telecasting council meetings on cable. The Novato effort met with popular support but came with some negatives. Unlike the supervisors' meetings, Novato is available in real time. Due to technological limitations, past meetings aren't archived on line and there is no ability to fast forward to a particular agenda item.

Politically, the Novato experiment was disdained in other communities. The problem was that Novato council members, like many politicians, can't resist playing to the camera. Debates are endless and the posturing disappointing. Thanks to the use of a professional video firm, Media Interchange, the supervisors' process is unobtrusive and unlike in Novato the politicos are oblivious to the camera.

The necessary software designed by San Francisco-based Granicus is now used by 200 jurisdictions around the United States. While Novato soon will upgrade to Granicus' format, no other Marin jurisdiction has followed the county's lead. It's time they got on the bandwagon.

In Mill Valley, retired council member Cliff Waldeck has long been pushing his hometown to videocast its meetings, but things move slowing, even in technologically savvy Mill Valley. A little shove from the public might get Mill Valley and other cities to act.

Costs are based on a jurisdiction's population. An example is Malibu, a city of 13,000, which paid $8,500 as a one-time set up cost and a $800 monthly as a management fee. A professional videoagrapher costs an additional $300 to control the camera and coordinate the feed. Given that public accountability should be the top priority in all communities, the online videocast is well worth the money

Government works best when the public is watching. Thanks to this new technology, it's just a matter of time before most communities enable their constituents to easily oversee the working of their government.

City Adopts Archive Plan

Sat, 09 Dec 2006 00:00:00 GMT

BURBANK - The days of fast-forwarding through hours of VHS tape could soon be over for residents, City Council members and anyone else who wants to review the goings on at past council meetings.

The city is tapping software company Granicus Inc. to implement a new archiving system that will allow users to access council meetings in electronic format over the World Wide Web.

Not only does the software allow users to select agenda items for viewing individually - eliminating the need for often tedious manual scanning - but users can also perform keyword searches in order to pinpoint information more quickly, Burbank's Information Technology Director Jennifer Wyatt said. "We get a lot of [public] traffic in to look at specific things, or people who are interested in just specific things," she said. "Even at [city staff] meetings when we're talking about, 'Well what did Councilman So-and-So say?'- your memory is only as good as how much sleep you got the night before. So we've always had to get copies of the tape . and fast-forward to where you can find it . and this has got to improve things dramatically."

City staffers are ironing out the details of a contract with Granicus after the council green-lighted the program at its Nov. 14 meeting, she said. The system could be in place as early as January, she added.

The new system would not only provide improved accessibility for city officials and employees, but the public as a whole, Councilman David Gordon said.

"It will be very valuable when people want to research past action of the council and will be more efficient for city staff," he said. "However, the current practice of retaining and providing video tapes must remain in place because many people still rely on this technology."

The existing library of archived meetings, consisting of more than 10 years of video tapes, will remain available to the public, but it is unlikely that the old VHS tapes will be transferred onto the Internet, city Public Information Officer Michael McManus said.

"We're in some ways drowning in tape; we are somewhat sheepish about how our offices look because we have stacks and stacks - we're running out of space," he said. "Those items are on tape and they'll always be available . but I think going forward, [Web archiving] is definitely what cities should be doing."

The City Clerk's office will handle the actual indexing of video information, dividing up the meetings by agenda items for easy reference, City Clerk Margarita Campos said.

"The archive will make it easy for anybody to go back and listen to whatever discussion occurred," she said. "I think it will make it really easy for people to do research - not just people who work for the city, but residents as well."

The project carries a one-time cost of $40,000 and service management fees that start at $1,250 per month in the first year, and increase by $50 per year, Wyatt said.

Council Meetings Less Yawn Worthy

Sun, 10 Sep 2006 00:00:00 GMT

ST. PETERSBURG - Other than the moments reserved for broad-gesturing public comment, City Council meetings typically are bland episodes.

But last week's regular meeting provided a goose bump moment for council member Richard Kriseman.

Technology did the trick.

For the first time, City Council meetings became available on the Internet.

You can click them up live.

You can do it after the fact, 24/7.

If you're interested in a particular piece of business and don't care to wade through an entire meeting, you can click on a particular agenda item and the segment will boot up for you.

Kriseman pushed for the process, known as "streaming video," for about three years. Mayor Rick Baker noted its inaugural at the start of Thursday's meeting.

Council members can't have Internet access during meetings, but the city's legal team can. City Attorney John Wolfe watched on his laptop, and Kriseman, at one point, came to peer over his shoulder.

"It was exciting," he said. I just got goose bumps."

Kriseman said it means several good things for residents.

Watching meetings in real time via computer is the obvious one. Another is that speakers scheduled to come before council can time their appearance instead of coming at the beginning of a meeting and waiting.

For the time being, only council meetings will be available on the Internet. Later, meetings of other city boards may be added, said Muslim Gadiwalla, the city's chief information officer.

The estimated cost of the service is $25,000 for hardware installation and $1,000 a month to operate.

Here's how you call it up:

Go to www.stpete.org. Click on the WSPF-TV logo in the lower right hand corner. Click on the council meeting of your choice. On the next screen, a viewing frame will appear on the left. It can take a few minutes to load. You can fast forward or simply jump to any part of the meeting by using the drop-down box below the frame. A meeting agenda is on the right side of the page.

Keene, New Hampshire Puts City Council Meetings Online

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Keene, NH - With the cooperation of Cheshire TV, the City of Keene will officially launch new webcasting technology at the November 5, 2009 City Council meeting. This technology provides citizens the opportunity to watch local City Council meetings on-demand after the meeting. Users can instantly replay captured video of all or part of a meeting through the City's web site www.ci.keene.nh.us by clicking on the link on the homepage.

"The City of Keene has made open government a priority by supporting initiatives that enhance communication with our citizens," said City Clerk Patricia Little. "We are excited about this new web site feature as a further example of our ongoing efforts to provide easy access to the City Council process."

Currently, the local PEG Channel - Cheshire TV cablecasts each regular City Council meeting live through Channel 8 on Time Warner Cable and over the Internet through their website at http://www.cheshiretv.org/index.htm.

We are excited that citizens will now have access to archived meetings of the City Council and will be able to use key word searches through archived agendas to locate items of interest. They will also be able to click on an agenda item and be automatically linked to the portion of the meeting they are most interested in watching. In addition, citizens will have access to the same background reference documents that the City Council considered in making its decisions. These same reference documents are also available prior to the Council meeting on the City website.

"The City is very excited about this new technology as a way to reach out to a greater number of resitdents and members of the community," said William Dow, Records Manager / Deputy City Clerk. "This is one of the enhancements that the City has been looking forward to since the launch of our new City website."

Archived meetings will generally be available for on-demand viewing the next day. Meetings will be archived and available for viewing for one year from the date of the meeting.

Keene is the first municipality in the State of New Hampshire to deploy this type of technology. The City of Keene is a great example of a municipality fostering more openness in government with the use of innovative technology.

The new on-demand service is powered by San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc., the premier provider of government webcasting and public meeting management solutions to over 500 government agencies spanning 45 states across the nation. The Granicus solution includes streaming software to capture, manage, store and distribute on-line video recordings. In addition, the video player window includes the meeting agenda with direct links to specific agenda item discussions within the archived meeting. The City intends to add other programming such as the City Council Standing Committee meetings in the future.

Contact: William Dow, Records Manager/Deputy City Clerk, Keene, NH 603-352-0133 ext 2 or email: wdow@ci.keene.nh.us

###

Online Democracy: Engaging Citizens with Video Meetings

Mon, 09 Oct 2006 00:00:00 GMT

By broadcasting meetings over the Internet and using sophisticated software to index them, local governments make it easier for citizens to become involved in local matters.

Improving public access to meetings has long been a goal of local governments. Ever since cable television became widespread, government agencies have videotaped their meetings for broadcast over cable channels - a system that has never been entirely successful. Not all localities have government channels, and for those that do, meetings aren't always broadcast on schedule. "We can get the video to the cable company, but if they don't show it at the specific time the public expects, it's out of our hands," says Patty Crittenden, chief deputy clerk for Solano County, California.

As more areas are wired for broadband, local governments have begun webcasting their meeting videos. Many of them are working with partners like Granicus, a San Francisco-based company that helps government agencies leverage the Internet to improve public access and participation.

Reaching the Public

Granicus offers an end-to-end solution for streaming video over the Internet that includes encoding, distribution and content management. The suite enables local governments to get up and running quickly, using their existing cameras and other equipment. Miles Larsen, government access coordinator for Sarasota, Florida, says, "We broadcast our meetings on a local cable channel. When we started using Granicus, we basically just plugged in a couple of additional pieces of equipment and the computer and were ready to go."

Streaming video over the Internet lets local governments reach more of their constituents than they ever could before. It overcomes the limitations of meeting rooms in places like Onslow County, North Carolina, where, as board clerk Beth Purcell says, "We don't have an identified meeting space or a council chambers. We actually use a courtroom that is shared with the judicial system, and it isn't a large room. If we had a thousand people interested in a meeting, they wouldn't be able to attend, but we can have a thousand hits on our meeting online."

In Sarasota, Internet broadcasts serve a variety of purposes; as Larsen explains, "You've got people who come to every meeting, and... if they want to listen to something again they can just fire it up on the Internet. Then you've got the people who don't enjoy coming to the meetings but want to keep up on things. Usually they have to download the minutes, make a phone call and pay to have a copy of the tape made, wait a couple of days for it to be made, come pick it up, put in the VCR, and scroll through to find what they're interested in. All that work is going to weed out a lot of people that don't want to put in all that effort. Now they can just go to the city government website, go to the Granicus page there, click a button and they're watching. A lot of those people are more involved than they would be without this."

Crittenden finds that webcasting is a boon for Solano County residents who can't make it to meetings "because they have transportation issues, they're homebound, or they're not well-they can still see what's going on with government. They don't have to be here physically. They can be at their home or at their library, whatever works for them." It's also helpful for those who would just rather watch from home: "I've had people email us on our webpage and say, 'I love watching the video in my pajamas.'"

For Granicus, Transparent Democracy is Just Business as Usual

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

This week's Interviews with Innovators explores the Granicus solution for civic webcasting with CEO Tom Spengler. If you're lucky enough to live in a city that is a Granicus client you're already familiar with how it works. If not, take a look at the Newport Beach, CA site. It's a beautiful thing. You can see the video and minutes in a synchronized view, jump to the agenda items you care about, and view associated staff reports in context.

For citizens the benefit is clear. If you have access to these proceedings on cable TV - even random access with a DVR - it's still a challenge to pinpoint a segment you care about. What's more, there's no way to form a URL that refers to that segment so you can share it, and so that online discussion about the segment can aggregate around that URL. Granicus gets it right. Agenda items define the natural set of RESTful resources for these meetings, and this system enables people to cite, bookmark, and link to those resources.

Behind the scenes the system enables the town clerk to annotate a copy of the minutes with timecodes, so that the data required for segmentation and synchronization is captured in realtime and available immediately upon conclusion of the meeting. That's exactly the kind of pragmatic approach that will help make transparent democracy as ordinary and routine as it ought to be.

Cupertino, Calif., Extends Communication with Video Podcasting

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Cupertino, Calif., is adding video podcasting to its live and on-demand webcasting service, enabling citizens to intuitively navigate through an integrated public record of agendas, minutes, staff reports and audio/video content all cross linked and searchable by keyword. Each month this year, the city has averaged over 3,500 requests for its Web-based video content.

Subscribing to podcasts is easy and allows the public to get the information it wants. As webcasts of city council, planning and parks and recreation meetings are published to the Web, podcast feeds are automatically delivered and downloaded into an RSS reader, like iTunes, for remote and mobile viewing on handheld video players, like video-enabled iPods, and some mobile phones.

"It is our goal to continue to use technology, like that offered by Granicus, to improve city communication with residents," said Cupertino City Manager David Knapp. "Increasingly, there is a need to deliver municipal information through a medium that is both effective and convenient." With this new service, Cupertino staff and residents can personalize their audio/video library with content by subscription. Granicus RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is an XML-based format for sharing and distributing webcasts. RSS feeds collect information and intelligently routes it to the desktop for quick and easy access.

"Podcasting is a natural addition to our communication programs," said Rick Kitson, Cupertino's public communication manager. "We are offering our residents every opportunity to find out about their city and about the decisions that will affect their quality of life."

Streaming Success

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMT

In the old days, you had to at least mark your calendar.

Now, some San Bernardino County cities are making it possible to be bored by a city council meeting at any hour of the day, thanks to the Internet.

OK. To be fair, not all such meetings are boring. There was a time when gatherings of the San Bernardino City Council sometimes featured physical altercations and people being hauled away by the police.

But let's face it: Most of the time you'd rather be forced into watching reruns of "The Brady Bunch" than suffer through a debate on new sewer lines -- unless, of course, they're your sewer lines.

If you were interested, you either had to make time to go down to the meeting, or catch it when it was televised on the local public-access channel.

Many area cities still limit their citizens to those primitive options.

Now some of you will say, "Oh, I can TiVo it and watch it anytime."

Ah-ha. But can TiVo do this?

"You can go in and put in a topic, and it will bring up all of the (video) clips where it was discussed," says Kim Summers, spokeswoman for the city of Hesperia.

Hesperia just recently began streaming its council meetings, so there's not much to search for yet. But eventually, Summers says, Hesperia residents will be able to do what their Apple Valley neighbors have been doing for two years: isolate the agenda items they want to know about and watch just those portions of the video.

What's interesting is that the county's smaller communities seem to be the ones ahead of the curve. In addition to Hesperia and Apple Valley, Barstow, Chino, Chino Hills and Rancho Cucamonga are either already offering streaming video of council meetings or making plans to offer it.

San Bernardino, Ontario and Redlands are still lingering in the dark ages of information. The problem can be that such an effort is not cheap, especially if a city tries to offer the service on its own.

All of the above streaming cities are clients of Granicus, a San Francisco-based webcasting company established in 1999. CEO Tom Spengler says the company didn't start out focused on city government but found it to be a niche market it could serve. The ease of Internet access, he says, is making city government more accessible.

"For San Bernardino County, for communications in such a geographically spread-out county, it's really important not to have to force people to drive to these meetings," he says. "Using the Internet is a smart way to go."

Spengler says initial set-up costs for a city run from $10,000 to $100,000, with annual access fees of $7,000 to $40,000.

Kathie Martin, spokeswoman for Apple Valley, says the town paid $22,000 initially, with an annual cost of $9,000. She says she thinks more people are paying attention to council meetings since the streaming began. The city is averaging over 2,000 hits on the streaming site per month.

"We were actually wondering if our (meeting) attendance was going to drop," she adds. "That hasn't happened."

Hesperia's Summers says her city is expecting the additional access to spur more interest in city politics.

"I'm hoping it will really increase participation," she says.

A City Council Meeting at Your Fingertips

Thu, 14 Sep 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Not just your favorite television program can be captured on an electronic device for viewing later at a time of your choosing.

In a trend that bodes well for citizen participation and transparency in government, city council meetings are increasingly going high tech. Videostreaming enables video and audio recordings of a council meeting to be stored and accessed on the city's Web site.

As the technology improves, other features are added to videostreaming that appeal to cities seeking to cut staff time devoted to record-keeping. As cable TV penetration rates continue to fall, suburban city governments have become increasing worried about how to communicate best with taxpayers.

Even smaller cities are eager to offer the service, typically provided by an outside vendor that supplies software, technical assistance and computer memory.

Tiny Del Mar was a suburban pioneer in 2004, proving the service was economically feasible for smaller cities. Chula Vista and Escondido have joined the parade. Carlsbad and Solana Beach are about to. Others, including San Marcos and La Mesa, are window shopping for now, or looking hard.

Chula Vista added the service last December. Liz Pursell, public information officer, made the pitch for the new service. She didn't have to do a hard sell, she said, finding the mayor's office and ultimately the public quite
receptive.

Anyone wondering what a city council is up to, now has choices: physically attend the meeting, watch it on a public access channel (possibly live or usually at a later date), or plug into the city's Web site. Some cities are using the support software to add bells and whistles such as creating searchable databases or making detailed staff reports on agenda items available online before the meeting.

Advantages and efficiencies are quickly discovered as a city goes high tech. Staff members who must make a presentation to the council can continue to work while monitoring a live feed to see when their item comes up. Council members often approve an item while informally directing the staff to make a slight adjustment - if it is feasible. Staff members not present at the meeting can tune in the next morning to learn their revised marching orders.

Council meetings are usually sparsely attended, unless a controversial item draws an overflow crowd. Some people occasionally come across their council meeting while TV channel surfing. Videostreaming makes it possible to purposely review a meeting or a series of meetings on a particular topic. During election season, this high tech innovation makes it possible to review how an incumbent conducts herself.

Pamela Bensoussan is president of the fledgling Northwest Civic Association, a solution-oriented community group serving the citizens of northwest Chula Vista. "I love it," she said, "because I can watch the parts that interest me and I don't have to go down there. I love the pull-down menus so I can go directly to the part of the agenda I want to hear. I usually access it a day or two later - you can't jump around when you access it live."

Videostreaming is so popular that citizens want more. Chula Vista has gotten the message and is adding coverage of Chula Vista Redevelopment Corporation meetings and special council workshops.

Bensoussan is hardly alone in using the service. Granicus, Inc., the San San Francisco-based company providing the service to Chula Vista, reports 44,000 videostream requests so far this year. The council meeting of Jan. 17, when the Patty Chavez appointment controversy was raging, drew 3,038 requests; a council workshop May 4 on mobile home parks has had 3,417 viewings. You had to be there to appreciate it, the saying goes. Well, with videostreaming, you don't.

Town of West Newbury Massachusetts Launches Webcasting Technology

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

TheToWN.tv Verizon FiOS Channel 42 & Comcast Channel 9 Government Meeting Programming is Now Online and On Demand

WEST NEWBURY, MA - West Newbury residents are now able to watch town meetings broadcast live on the Internet. Users can also instantly replay all or part of those meetings at their convenience through a link on the town's Cable Channel web site (http://thetown.tv and click on the link titled "Granicus Meetings").

The Town officially launched the new webcasting technology at the November 18th , 2009 by broadcasting its first live Selectmen's Meeting on Verizon FiOS Channel 42, Comcast Channel 9, and web streaming with Granicus enhancing the accessibility of local programming to citizens who may not have access to Verizon FiOS or Comcast service, but do have a broadband internet connection.

"The Town of West Newbury has made open government a priority by listening to the residents and implementing a state of the art solution to support enhanced access to public meeting", said Cable Advisory Committee Chairman Jim Teal. "We are excited to be able to offer a diverse number of options for our residents to become more informed and engaged with local government and the related issues that affect our town and our school district."

West Newbury is a new Local Cable Access startup and this effort will be largely volunteer supported. The Cable Advisory Committee, with the help of volunteers, plans to start broadcasting of the weekly Selectmen's meetings, with the hope of more public meetings to be made available live and on-demand on the web as the volunteer base grows. These meetings can be accessed live at their regularly scheduled time on our two cable channels (Comcast 9/Verizon FiOS 42). The broadcast schedule is available both from http://www.wnewbury.org as well as the stations web site http://TheToWN.tv where users can find links to the full schedule as well as the meetings that are available through Web Streaming.

"The Town is very excited about this new technology as a way to outreach to a greater number of residents and members of the Pentucket School District." said Glenn Kemper, Chairman of the Board of Selectmen. "We look forward to providing more ways for our voters to engage with our Public Process through TV and through enhanced Internet access."

The new on-line service is powered by San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc., the premier provider of government webcasting and public meeting management solutions to over 500 government agencies spanning 45 states across the nation. West Newbury is proud to be the first municipality in Massachusetts to go live with this new service.

"West Newbury is a great example of the positive direction cities and towns across the United States are moving in to foster more openness in government with innovative technology. They are the first town in the State of Massachusetts to deploy this type of technology," said Hilda Stevens, Strategic Accounts Manager of Granicus, Inc. "The more meaningful information they can put online, the more they can encourage citizen awareness and involvement."

The Granicus solution includes streaming software to capture, manage, store and distribute online video recordings. In addition, the video player window includes the meeting agenda with direct links to access specific agenda item discussions within the archived meeting. Archived meetings will generally be available for viewing by 10 p.m. the same evening depending on the length of the meeting. Meetings will be archived and available for viewing for one year. In the coming months the Town will be adding other TheTown.tv programs, the initial focus will be Committee and Board Meetings.

Contact
Jim Teal, Chairman - Cable Advisory Committee, West Newbury visit http://thetown.tv for contact info, Aileen Horgan, Client Marketing Specialist, Granicus, Inc., 415-3573618 x1753

About Granicus
Granicus, Inc. is the leading provider of comprehensive government solutions for improving transparency, public participation, and collaboration over the Web. The extensive streaming media platform helps public agencies create, manage, and distribute live and on-demand streaming media content over the Web. The technology was built to support and enhance public meeting communications, internal trainings, and public education programs-while reducing staff time and costs. Granicus manages the world's largest government-exclusive webcasting network, streaming an average of 200,000 government webcasts, with over 600,000 hours of archived content, on a daily basis.

Board Meeting 'Webcasts' Possible

Fri, 28 Jul 2006 00:00:00 GMT

MOKENA -- Residents who want to see what's going on at Village Board meetings may soon be able to turn to the Internet.

Trustees expect to vote next month on a proposal to broadcast board meetings over the Web.

Kirk Zoellner, assistant village administrator, said staffers began researching vendors who offer Web-based video streaming about five months ago.

The village is interested in providing both live and on-demand broadcasting as well as a system allowing officials to keep track of how many people tune in. Officials want to keep the cost within a budget limit of $19,000, Zoellner said.

He recommended hiring Granicus, a company that specializes in Web-based video of local government meetings.

An initial payment of $7,542.50 would cover hardware, software, training and other assistance, and a year's worth of service would cost $10,320 or about $860 a month, Zoellner said.

The village could make monthly payments and would be able to cancel the service if it isn't used enough, he said.

Mayor Joe Werner said the "webcast" would make it easier for people who don't have cable television service to see what's going on in town. "You can watch [the board meeting] on the Web live," Werner said.

"And 24/7 after that," Zoellner added.

Viewers can use a drop-down box to see sections of the meeting that interest them, he said. "You can queue up for any little item," he said.

Durham May Put Meeting Videos Online

Fri, 11 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMT

DURHAM - For those so enchanted by local government that two county commissioners' meetings a month aren't nearly enough, help is on the way.

The county might soon buy computer software that will streamline and broaden the citizenry's access to public meetings and all the information gleaned from them.

With the click of a mouse, those with an Internet connection will be able to watch live or archived public meetings on their computer and will be able to skip to the parts of the meeting they are most interested in.

And staff reports, agendas and meeting minutes will be archived and meshed with an audio and video archive on the county's Web site.

So if you missed that public hearing three months ago on a proposed housing development down the block from your home, you can punch it up and see what people had to say.

"I think it would be something the public would like -- especially the Durham public that likes to keep up with issues," said County Manager Mike Ruffin. "It's very citizen-friendly and helps us promote the transparency of government."

The county is considering buying the technology from Granicus, a San Francisco company that provides a similar service for other cities and counties across North Carolina. The county would pay $44,400 for the software and equipment and $1,700 a month for the ongoing service, according to a company memo.

The city of Winston-Salem hired Granicus to streamline its Web site in March and has seen a steady flow of traffic to the City Council's live and archived video feature ever since. Since its inception, the video site has received about 3,250 hits, said Ed McNeal, a city spokesman.

Officials also expect the system, if implemented, to be popular among county employees who rely heavily on public information for their work.

The Durham County Board of Commissioners will likely view a presentation on the Granicus proposal next month.

San Francisco Ready For Online Closeup

Wed, 13 Sep 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Local government meetings are on the Web 24/7

Television City is a studio in Los Angeles, the birthplace of many famous shows. But San Francisco, 400 miles to the north, may also lay claim to that name now.

When the local Board of Supervisors, Planning Commission, Board of Education or almost any official body has a meeting, chances are it's being streamed live online on SFGTV. Begun in 2000, the city government's online TV channel can send two high-quality streams at a time and shows nearly 40 hours of meetings a week, plus press conferences and more than three hours of original shows per month.

And it doesn't stop when the final gavel comes down: All the meetings are available on demand on the Internet. Interested in just one of the agenda items? Go to that item in the index and click on it, and that part of the meeting starts up on the 320-by-240-pixel video window.

Many cities broadcast meetings on a cable TV station, as does San Francisco, and others are starting to stream video on the Internet, said Jack Chin, SFGTV's general manager. But the city was among the first to go online, he said.

The live and streamed meetings feature multiple camera angles and good 30-frames-per-second quality as well as titles and camera techniques that border on flashy. The speakers themselves can be relied upon to provide entertainment: Dapper Mayor Gavin Newsom once appeared on a centerfold in Vanity Fair magazine with his then wife, one supervisor is a former stand-up comedian and the city is a hotbed of liberal politics.

"It's the ultimate in reality TV," said Tom Ammiano, the former comedian, who has been on the Board of Supervisors since 1995. Some politicians just naturally play to a crowd, but when the remote-controlled cameras were installed behind glass in San Francisco's meeting rooms, they didn't suddenly create amateur thespians, he said. "For 20 seconds you felt ... perhaps self-conscious, or that the camera was on you, but then you forget. There's too many distractions," Ammiano said.

Online video began as a scrappy, low-budget project built around PCs and servers handed down from other city departments. The main cost was a server license from RealNetworks Inc. to stream content using RealPlayer. At first, the city only made meetings available online for 90 days.

SFGTV has since expanded coverage and delivers meetings on demand for as long as a year, Ammiano said. Now the hosting work is outsourced to Granicus Inc., a San Francisco company that handles video for municipalities around the U.S. A city staff of eight operate the cameras and produce shows.

SFGTV has switched from RealPlayer to Windows Media Player, because most users have it on their PCs, Chin said. Media Player automatically adjusts the quality of the video to match the speed of the viewer's Internet connection. The channel gets some complaints about poor video quality, usually from those on low-bandwidth links, he said. It has its own technical support team to help users who are having problems.

The service was getting about 10,800 unique visitors per month early this year, the last period for which figures are available. It's not just city residents tuning in, Chin said.

"We get calls from people in Washington, D.C., or places outside the city asking how they can get to this content. A lot of times they don't know that it's online," Chin said. The city still gets requests for hard copies of meeting videos -- on DVD now, instead of videotape -- but those fell by half when SFGTV launched video on demand, he said. Viewers can also download the videos, but most just watch, because the files are large. The channel also provides all its recorded meetings as free video and audio podcasts, and it offers subscriptions to all the podcasts of certain types of meetings. A video can be uploaded and available as soon as two hours after the meeting ends, Chin said. Closed captions are also available.

San Francisco is seizing new technology faster than most of the approximately 160 local governments Granicus serves, said Pablo Gonzalez, podcasting, he said. San Francisco's site also has one of the highest click rates, even in a field that includes bigger cities such as Los Angeles, San Diego and San Jose, California.

Some cities are looking to follow in the online footsteps of places like San Francisco because they fear losing public-access cable TV as a way to reach residents, according to Gonzales. In many places, the local franchise system forced cable operators to provide a government channel, but the operators are trying to change that system, Gonzales said.

Ammiano calls SFGTV's fans a "stealth" audience. "You would think that everyone is watching something else," he said. "But people are watching it."

Council to Decide Cable Provider's Franchise Contract Fate

Mon, 11 Sep 2006 00:00:00 GMT

The Greenville City Council is slated to decide tonight whether to extend a franchise contract with the local cable TV provider until the firm can sign a contract with the state under a recently passed law.

Tonight also marks the launch of live, streaming video of the council meetings at www.greenvillenc.gov., the city's Web site.

Beginning Jan. 1, the new cable television law phases out local franchise agreements between cable providers and city and county governments. After that, any company that wants to provide pay-television service can register with the Secretary of State's Office.

The cable provider for Greenville and some of Pitt County, Suddenlink, formerly Cox Communications, has a franchise agreement with the city that allows the company to provide service here until Sept. 23.

The city has been negotiating with Cox and now Suddenlink to renew the 15-year franchise agreement.

Suddenlink's owner, Cebridge Connections, is asking the city for an extension of the franchise agreement until year's end to allow it to provide cable service. Then the company would seek a franchise agreement through the state, according to city documents.

In addition to the binding terms of the contract, including the continued payment of a franchise fee, Cebridge has agreed to provide the city a grant of $25,000 for public, educational and government-access, or PEG, channels. According to the the city, the amount was based on what Greenville would receive under the state legislation.

After Jan. 1, the city would receive revenue from the state to replace the franchise fee and for PEG purposes.

Tonight's meeting is scheduled to be streamed live on the city's Web site under a contract with a California-based company, Granicus, which also will archive meetings for up to a year.

Those meetings can then be scanned by users who are interested in a particular section, according to Steve Hawley, the city's public information officer. Plans call for streaming meetings of the board of adjustment and planning and zoning commission as well.

In addition, meetings are shown live and in repeats on local cable channel 9.

The City Council meets at 6 p.m. in council chambers, third floor of City Hall, 200 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

Government Gets More Accessible

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Cumberland residents may now access the Internet from home to watch the Town Council meetings live from Town Hall on the first and third Wednesdays of the month.

Better yet, they may go back later and choose to hear just sections of the meeting by clicking on specific agenda items.

And soon, says the town's technology consultant Dan Lemois, meetings of the School Committee, Planning Board and Zoning Board of Review will be accessible, too.

The process, called webcasting, and offered by the Granicus Inc. of San Francisco, is opening up the workings of town and city governments across the nation.

Granicus, founded in 1999, describes its business as providing public meeting management technology.

It currently provides government webcasting for more than 450 government agencies in 43 states.

West Bend Meetings Going Online

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Council and Planning Commission meetings become more available to citizens

November 3, 2009

West Bend, WI - Soon you'll be able to see your favorite, or not so favorite, West Bend city official in action via the Internet. Monday, the Common Council approved a contract with a Web-hosting service to archive and stream videos of city government meetings.

"We are trying to make Common Council and Plan Commission meetings more available to our citizens," said Mike Ryan, coordinator of West Bend Community Cable TV. Those meetings, which include the city's Board of Public Works, Finance Committee and Licensing Board, have been shown live and recorded for repeat viewings on the local cable access channel for many years.

City meetings will continue to be shown on the local cable channel but starting next year Granicus Inc. will provide live Web-steaming and provide access to an archive of those indexed meeting videos for a year. "That's probably long enough for most people," Ryan said. "Requests for a recording of a specific city meeting usually come within three months of the scheduled date," he said.

Alderman Tony Turner, who has advocated improving city government transparency since his election campaign in 2008, approved of the Internet-streaming idea. "We've made strides improving transparency in city government," he said. "I think this is a logical next step."

Mayor Kristine Deiss said she hoped other governments in the county would be able to follow West Bend's lead and some day have their public meetings steamed online.

Granicus, based in San Francisco, is a leading provider of government webcasting and public meeting software. Ryan will be trained to manage the Internet recording system at City Hall. "Once the meeting and other data are downloaded to Granicus, they will host," Ryan explained in a memo to the Common Council. "That means that citizens will use a link on the City's Web site to get to Granicus. They will then be able to view the video of the particular meeting they want to see. That video will be indexed to the agenda, so they will be able to go right to coverage of the particular item they are interested in."

The Common Council vote was 7-0 to approve the contract with Granicus, with Alderman Michael Scholtfeldt absent.

"I have $10,000 in the (WBCCTV) 2009 Outlay account set aside for the purchase of equipment for this purpose. We would spend $7,475.48 for an encoder and software to get us started," Ryan told the Common Council. The contract with Granicus will cost the city $5,775 a year, he said. Most of that annual contracted service cost will be covered by $5,000 in savings WBCCTV will have each year in service maintenance costs because it converted from VHS VCRs to DVD players this year. Servicing those VCRs had cost the city $11,000, he said.

It takes "an enormous amount of bandwidth" to stream, record and archive Videos, Ryan said, which would put too great a strain on the city's existing Web site. That is why it was decided to contract with an outside vendor to do the service, rather than try to provide it in house, he said.

Council Meetings to Hit the Web

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The city has been exploring the option since 2005, but hasn't had the funds to launch the service until this year, according to spokeswoman Alexandra Lynch.

"We've been looking at it and trying to find the money," she said.

Initially the streaming video will only be available for city council meetings the day after the meeting has taken place. But Lynch said they hope to eventually make the planning commission and city council meetings viewable live on the Internet.

The city council approved a contract with Granicus Inc. to provide streaming video service. The software and hardware needed to provide video cost roughly $15,000. The city will also pay a monthly fee of about $850 to maintain the service.

"You're basically buying bandwidth," Lynch said. "We'll have unlimited amounts of video that they'll host on their servers."

In addition to viewing archived meetings online, those interested will be able to skip to a specific agenda item using a drop-down menu that will be situated next to the video.

The city is funding the new service with PEG fees, which every cable customer pays. The fee is 50 cents a month and is collected quarterly from Comcast by the city. The fees amount to about $28,000 a year, according to staff.

"Across the board it will enhance access to these public meetings as well as just making people more aware," Lynch said.

According to Lynch, the plan is to debut the service with the Sept. 16 city council meeting.

"We're just really excited to be doing it," she said. "People should be tuned in to the Web site on September 16 looking for the meeting."

AJ Puts Council Meetings on Internet

Fri, 20 Oct 2006 00:00:00 GMT

If you miss the next Apache Junction City Council meeting, don't worry. You can watch it from the comfort of your couch, during your lunch break at work, or even while you're halfway around the world.

This week the city started streaming council meetings on the Internet at www.ajcity.net.

"It opens up the opportunity for the public, our citizens, to watch a council action rather than just hearing about it after the fact," said Pat Brenner, community relations manager for Apache Junction.

"We think that's a really good way to present public info because it's completely unadulterated and as is."

The city contracted the service with Granicus, a California-based company that provides government and municipalities a way to stream video.

Brenner said the city invested about $20,000 on software to run the program, and it will cost about $8,000 a year to stream.

There have been five council meetings from early September to Tuesday's meeting uploaded, as well as the city's pandemic flu video and the first episode of AJ Update, a video detailing current events in the city.

"We want as many videos (streamed) as we have the resources to do," Brenner said. The video stream works best with a broadband connection but can be listened to with a dial-up connection, said Matt McNulty, the city's media producer.

Once viewers activate the video, McNulty said it's "pretty straightforward"

"There are jump points to basically navigate the meeting for you," he said.

McNulty said each agenda item is bookmarked, and viewers can jump to an item of interest so they don't have to watch the whole video or fast-forward through it.

McNulty said videos will stay on the city's Web site for about a year, and then will be archived with the city clerk.

Web surfers get look at city business

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Web surfers now can watch West Bend city meetings via streaming video over the Internet

West Bend, WI - In November, the Common Council approved a contract with the Web-hosting service Granicus Inc., San Francisco, to archive and stream videos of city government meetings. That service is now up and running, said Mike Ryan, coordinator of West Bend Community Television, following the first test run of the streaming video system during Monday night's Common Council session.

"Streaming video of Common Council and Plan Commission meetings on the City's Web site, is an excellent means by which additional government transparency can be provided to our community," West Bend Mayor Kristine Deiss commented in a written statement. "I am excited about this new feature and know our citizens will appreciate this new avenue of accessibility to local government."

The contract with Granicus is costing the city $5,775 a year. However, city official estimate there will be a $5,000 savings in service maintenance costs annually because of last year's upgrade in electronic equipment for WBCCTV. Previously, it cost the city $11,000 annually for service maintenance, Ryan said.

City meetings that can be seen online are the Common Council, Board of Public Works, Finance Committee and Licensing Board (all usually conducted the same evening) and the Plan Commission. Meetings will be streamed live, Ryan said, and will be archived and indexed for convenient information searches. Archived videos will remain available for one year, he said.

These same city meetings have been shown live and recorded for repeat viewings on the local cable access channel for many years. They will continue to be show on the local cable channel, Ryan said. This live websteaming is being done in addition to the cable TV telecasts. Those cable TV channels are Charter Cable channel 99 for analog TVs, channel 987 for digital tuners or TVs, and AT&T U-verse's Channel 99. Meeting DVDs are also available at the West Bend Community Memorial Library.

Granicus is considered the leading provider of government Webcasting and public meeting software. It now has more than 600 government clients spanning all 50 states, according to information provided by the company.

Granicus, founded in 1999, was ranked 185th on Deloitte LLP's 2009 Technology Fast 500 list of the fastest growing technology, media, telecommunication, life sciences and clean technology companies in North America. It also placed 419th fastest-growing private company in America on Inc. Magazine's 500 list last year.

The San Francisco-based company creates, manages and distributes live and on-demand streaming media content for public meetings, internal training and public education programs for government agencies. Its Web site is www.granicus.com.

For more information on the local streaming video system, call Mike Ryan, coordinator, West Bend Community Television, 335-5157.

Blacksburg Aims to Personalize with Webcasting

Wed, 05 Apr 2006 00:00:00 GMT

The Town of Blacksburg introduces more online content

If you ever find yourself sitting around your home at 2 a.m. with an urge to see what happened in the latest Blacksburg Town Council meeting or what the Comprehensive Plan Task Force has been doing, soon your desires will be met.

On Tuesday, Blacksburg's WTOB Channel 2 will begin using a new system that will allow these meetings, and more, to be available to anyone with a high-speed Internet connection.

Not only will viewers see a noticeable improvement from the current audio and video quality of the bi-monthly council meetings, but the new system will allow streaming video to be posted almost instantaneously after a meeting.

WTOB Channel 2 station manager Derley Aguilar said the new software, provided by San Francisco-based company Granicus, will greatly ease the workload on her staff.

Currently the WTOB programming is handled by two full-time and two part-time employees.

Before the Granicus system, a video of a two-hour town meeting might take staff six to seven hours to record, transfer to computer, edit into segments, compress and implement the web interface, Aguilar said. The lengthy process caused a two-day delay in getting videos up after a meeting.

But with the new system, the video is encoded straight to the computer as the meeting is taking place and segment marks can be inserted as the meeting progresses with a few simple clicks of the mouse.

"Once the meeting is done, we exit the software and the media uploads to the Internet," Aguilar said. "The next morning it will already be available to the public and we can make small segment tweaks if needed."

For end users, this means the meeting will be divided up so that they can watch specifically what interests them without having to sit through long segments within hours of the meeting's close.

Aguilar said the new system will not change the amount of programming the station does, with the exception of adding the Comprehensive Plan Task Force's weekly meetings to the agenda at the behest of the task force. The Comprehensive Plan Task Force is a subcommittee of the Blacksburg Planning Commission that revises the long-term plan for Blacksburg through 2046.

Although no other additional programming is being planned at this time, Aguilar said a lot more of the town's TV-only programming will be available on the Internet. Among that programming is coverage of the Blacksburg recreational dodgeball league that will debut next week on both TV and the Web.

"We're trying to get different things out there, and I think that one will be a big hit," Aguilar said.

The estimated $10,200 that Blacksburg will pay annually to Granicus covers the software, storage space and bandwidth used for the streaming video.

Wilmington, N.C., GTV8 Station Manager Dylan Lee said since his station began using the Granicus system in January it has been getting a good response from the public.

GTV8 is in a similar situation to Blacksburg's WTOB.

Currently the town has only two employees responsible for its video programming, but because of the Granicus system it is able to put much of its coverage on the Web, Lee said.

Lee said the North Carolina station chose Granicus' service for two main reasons.

"Number one, they host all of our media so as the public streams media it's not affecting the city's network. Number two, the software packages that we purchased allow you to subdivide a council meeting into its separate agenda items so people can view just the item they are interested in," Lee said. "That's the big feature really. That's the main thing that sets Granicus apart from any other streaming media provider."

Like the Blacksburg station, GTV8 has no way to gauge its TV ratings, Lee said, but now that it is on the Web, station employees are able to track how many hits each video segment gets to better understand what the public wants.

Aguilar said the ability to measure public interest is something that also excites WTOB.

"People aren't apt to fill out interest surveys," Aguilar said. "But this way they will provide feedback without having to do anything additional to watching what they want."

The fee that each city or town pays is based on population size and estimated use. To serve Wilmington's population of about 90,000 residents, Granicus charges around $20,000 annually. But the San Francisco company covers 40,000-resident Blacksburg for only $10,200 a year.

Laurence Bergmann, information technology director for the City of Wilmington, said the North Carolina city has had as many as 607 simultaneous connections based on the reporting tools in the system. So far the city has cast about 3,350 successful video streams or about a 75 per day average.

Aguilar said it will be difficult to judge how many people will use the system, but she said she thinks it will be popular with many citizens, especially those without cable access and professionals both inside and outside the government who need quick access to specific items covered at the meetings.

"I think this is a really exciting time for us," Aguilar said. "It's WTOB's 20th anniversary this year, and we are celebrating by providing this service and disseminating information in new ways to the public."

Kline's 'Vision' of Online Video of City Meetings is Coming True

Wed, 24 May 2006 00:00:00 GMT

If you think city council meetings make for compelling viewing, you are in luck. It's only a matter of time until those take-no-prisoners Kevin Moran Park public hearings and those lengthy discussions on curb repair will be available for viewing worldwide.

When Mayor Norman Kline is out of town, he'll be able to pull out his iPod and watch what his fellow council members are up to. One of Kline's goals as mayor is to move Saratoga toward offering more services online and more "e-government" solutions.

At its regular meeting May 17, the Saratoga City Council agreed to authorize City Manager Dave Anderson to execute an agreement with Granicus Inc. to provide video streaming and related services and equipment for the city's website. The council voted unanimously for the more expensive of two options offered by Granicus. That option includes a $27,026 one-time cost for equipment, installation and training, and a $1,450 monthly maintenance fee.

The council preferred the second option mainly because it included a "media vault" that would be located locally and would provide storage for archived video from meetings. The media vault was said to save time and money because city staff could research archived footage more efficiently. Instead of fast forwarding or rewinding videotape or skipping around on a CD, a researcher could run a search of a topic online and then click an indexed link that goes straight to video footage in question.

"This is going to make everyone's life so much easier," Council woman Ann Waltonsmith said.

When the software is up and running, streamed live video of meetings will be available for viewing on the city website. The meeting agenda would appear in a split screen next to the video, or the user could switch to full screen. After a meeting has finished, the video would be archived and indexed with hypertext links of agenda items and minutes topics that link to corresponding video footage.

According to a report prepared by City Clerk Cathleen Boyer, city council and planning commission meetings would continue to be broadcast live on KSAR Channel 15. The proposed system from Granicus would show a live feed from KSAR on the website. The video would then be archived and indexed, available for later viewing on the website.

Thao Hill, the western regional director for Granicus, provided a demonstration of his company's product at the city council meeting on May 17. "It's kind of like TiVo for government access," he said. "It's a fully integrated record of what occurred during the meeting."

Hill showed how the city of Cupertino has video available on its website of a surprise appearance by Steve Jobs at a city council meeting.

Granicus is a 28-employee corporation located in San Francisco. It was founded in 1999 to provide public information through the Internet. The company's goal is to provide and manage live and on-demand streaming media content for local governments.

Ben Cheng, the information technology analyst for the city of Saratoga, has been managing the city's website for the last five years. "If a resident was out of town, or if there is a specific item on the agenda they want to know about, they could click on our website and view it live or in the archives," he said. "It's pretty good software. It actually helps me a great deal. Other cities are considering it.

"On my end, I have to make sure that the system is up and functional."

QC Council Meetings to be on Web

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Smile, mayor and council: You're on Queen Creek camera.

Starting Wednesday, Queen Creek residents can watch Town Council meetings live from the comfort of their homes thanks to streaming video on the Internet.

At the June 4 meeting, Queen Creek started taping council meetings to air on Channel 11 and posted the video to the town Web site. But the Wednesday meeting starting at 7 p.m. is expected to be the first time anyone with Internet access can watch a Town Council meeting as it happens live via the Web.

The idea is to make council meetings more accessible, said Marnie Schubert of the town's communications and marketing department.

"We're hoping that it will get people more actively involved in the community," Schubert said.

The Town Council recently approved contracts with Granicus, Inc. and OrangeScreen Productions for the broadcasting capability. The town has a contract with the companies not to exceed $100,000 for one year. During the year, representatives from the companies will train staff on how to run the broadcasting equipment. After one year, the town will take over production and post-production and own most of the broadcasting equipment, except for cameras.

Town Council meetings will air within three days of the meeting (usually held at 7 p.m. on the first and third Wednesday of every month) for Cox customers living in Queen Creek on Channel 11.

Archived videos and meeting broadcast schedules are available at www.queencreek.org.

Nevada County Board of Supervisors Delivers Better Public Access with Granicus Streaming Video

Tue, 26 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Nevada County, California May 21, 2009 - County residents can now watch Nevada County Board of Supervisors meetings at their convenience by visiting the County's website, http://www.mynevadacounty.com/streaming/.

The new system is powered by San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc., the premier provider of government webcasting and public meeting management solutions to nearly 400 government agencies spanning 39 states across the nation.

The County Board has made open and transparent government a priority. Several years ago we began televising County Board meetings. We have worked hard to increase public input and involvement in government. Making County Board meetings available on the internet, at our citizens' convenience, is another example of these ongoing efforts.

In December 2008, Nevada County contracted with Granicus, Inc. to provide residents with unprecedented access to board meetings. County officials were seeking to create new opportunities to engage their citizens in local government and wanted a cost-effective and convenient way to do so. The City of Nevada City, Grass Valley and the local public access television station, NCTV were included in the negotiated contract to share software, hardware and on-going services. The cities will have full capability to provide streaming video of their government meetings. NCTV will have the capability to provide local community programming to residents over the internet. Nevada County's solution includes streaming software to capture, manage, store and distribute online video recordings of public meetings. The video page includes a keyword search and is linked to the meeting agendas so users can simply search an issue they are interested in watching the County Board discuss.

To access a County Board meeting on the internet:

1) Visit http://www.mynevadacounty.com/boardofsupervisors

2) Click on the link for Board of Supervisors Streaming Media Archives.

3) Under the Upcoming Events, choose a live meeting that is currently in progress or an archived meeting by clicking on the date.

County Board meetings are generally held on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month, beginning at 9:00 a.m. Meetings will be available live and will be archived and available usually by the next day.

Council Prepares for Super Highway: Meetings Can Now Be Seen Online

Wed, 25 Oct 2006 00:00:00 GMT

For last Wednesday's city council meeting, there were only two ways to see it live. Residents could take a seat in council chambers or watch the video feed on RioVision, which can be seen only through a CableOne subscription.

But something happened at that meeting, something few people saw, and it promises to forever change the way Rio Ranchoans view their government.

During that meeting, city clerk Roman Montoya and Alvaro Marroquin, a representative of the San Francisco-based Granicus, tested new equipment that will allow high-speed Internet users to see the council proceedings live on their computers.

"Everything worked flawlessly," Marroquin reported.

Using the video feed from RioVision, Montoya will be able to "stream" the meeting online for the public's viewing, and that service is scheduled to begin with the next meeting, Oct. 25.

During that meeting, online viewers will also have access to electronic versions of the agenda packets, allowing them to see everything the clerk puts in the councilors' folders. PowerPoint documents may also be available if a presenter gives a copy to the clerk's office, Montoya said.

Residents will also be able to view the meeting after it is over. The video will be archived on Granicus' server for 366 days, Montoya said. In the archived form, which will first be available in the days following the meeting, the video will be coupled with the minutes, so residents can see how the council voted on each item.

The minutes will also be a link that will take users directly to the item they wish to view, meaning no more watching the proclamations or consent calendar if the only item of interest is a public hearing 20 minutes into the meeting.

"I think everyone is going to be using it a lot," Montoya said. He added that the Web service could ease his workload at City Hall by providing many documents online for free.

For those who want to see an agenda item but don't remember the meeting in which it happened, Montoya said there would be a search function, allowing users to put in a keyword. Like other search engines, however, it will only work if you put in the right words, Montoya said.

Setup for the system, including the first year of service, cost the city nearly $30,000. After the first year, service and upgrades will cost about $900 per month, Montoya said.

There is one limitation with the new online service, and that relates to modem speed. Those with dialup connections, Montoya warned, may only be able to hear the audio from the meeting, not see the video.

But for those with slow connections or those without Internet, Montoya said the Granicus environment could be saved to a disk, allowing people to see the same thing on their computers without use of the Internet. They need only Internet Explorer, which is available free on almost every computer, to view the content.

All the services, online or by disc, work with PCs and Macs.

Unfortunately, Montoya said older meetings cannot be added to the site.

Some details about the online service have not yet been worked out. It will be available through the city's Web site, but Montoya and Cultural Enrichment marketing director Peter Wells have not yet decided if the link will be on the council's page, the clerk's page, or both.

The city's Web site is www.ci.rio-rancho.nm.us.

Board to Broadcast Meetings on Web

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 00:00:00 GMT

BRIEFING: COUNTYWIDE

If you've ever wondered what goes on at a Dakota County Board meeting, you'll soon have to look no further than the Internet.

The Dakota County commissioners voted Tuesday to begin contract negotiations with Granicus Inc. to air the county's public meetings live on the county's Web site. Beginning shortly after Jan. 1, residents can tune in to watch the meetings in real time or from an online archive.

They can also pause archived meetings, fast forward or rewind.

The expected contract will cost $18,402 to start and $800 a month, for a cumulative cost of $66,403 over five years.

Burnsville, Eagan and St. Paul also have contracted with Granicus, a San Francisco-based company, since late last year and have been airing their council meetings on the Web since January.