Any comments? Steven Clift http://dowire.org From: http://tinyurl.com/27q85o New York to Require Agencies to Webcast Meetings February 27, 2007 News Release New York State Gov. Eliot Spitzer's Executive Order Number Three requires that each state agency and public authority shall, by March 1, "Submit to the secretary to the governor a plan that: (a) identifies all meetings of such agency or authority that are subject to the Open Meetings Law; and (b) specifies a timetable for ensuring that all such meetings are broadcast on the Internet." The order contains provisions for exemption, but other than that: "All agency and authority meetings that are subject to the Open Meetings Law shall be broadcast on the Internet commencing no later than July 1, 2007. Every agency and public authority shall submit a report to the secretary to the governor by December 31, 2007, setting forth the number of meetings webcast during the prior year, together with a summary of any comments received from the public regarding the webcasting, and any recommendations for changes or improvements to the program." The Executive Order itself: http://www.ny.gov/governor/executive_orders/exeorders/3.html EXECUTIVE ORDER No 3: PROMOTION OF PUBLIC ACCESS TO GOVERNMENT DECISIONMAKING WHEREAS, it is essential to the maintenance of a democratic society that the public business be performed in an open and public manner; and WHEREAS, the citizens of this State be fully aware of and able to observe the performances of public officials and attend and listen to the deliberations and decisions that go into the making of public policy; and WHEREAS, the people must be able to remain informed if they are to retain control over those who are their public servants; and WHEREAS, the Open Meetings Law requires every meeting of a public body shall be open to the general public; and WHEREAS, the majority of New Yorkers are unable to attend such meetings; and WHEREAS advances in technology allow for the broadcast of meetings on the Internet through the use of webcasting; NOW, THEREFORE, I, Eliot Spitzer, Governor of the State of New York, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the State of New York, do hereby order as follows: 1. Definitions "Agency" shall mean any state agency, department, office, board, commission or other instrumentality of the State, other than a public authority. "Public authority" shall mean a public authority or public benefit corporation created by or existing under any State law, at least one of whose members is appointed by the Governor (including any subsidiaries of such public authority or public benefit corporation), other than an interstate or international authority or public benefit corporation. 2. Requirement to Broadcast Public Meetings By March 1, 2007, every agency and public authority shall submit to the Secretary to the Governor a plan that: (a) identifies all meetings of such agency or authority that are subject to the Open Meetings Law; and (b) specifies a timetable for ensuring that all such meetings are broadcast on the Internet. Such plan may identify circumstances in which such webcasting is either impractical or inappropriate, and may seek approval for exemption from the requirement for webcasting. Except in those circumstances where an exemption is granted, all agency and authority meetings that are subject to the Open Meetings Law shall be broadcast on the Internet commencing no later than July 1, 2007. Every agency and public authority shall submit a report to the Secretary to the Governor by December 31, 2007, setting forth the number of meetings webcast during the prior year, together with a summary of any comments received from the public regarding the webcasting, and any recommendations for changes or improvements to the program. G I V E N under my hand and the Privy Seal of the State in the City of Albany this first day of January in the year two thousand seven. Eliot Spitzer, Governor Richard Baum, Secretary to the Governor ^ ^ ^ ^ Steven L. Clift - - - W: http://publicus.net Minneapolis - - - - E: <email obscured> Minnesota - - - - - - T: +1.612.822.8667 USA - - - - Skype/MSN/Y!/AIM: netclift Join Democracies Online: http://dowire.org Start an Issues Forum: http://e-democracy.org/if
This week I spoke at the National Association of Legislative Information Technology (NALIT), a division of the National Conference of State Legislatures. For those who don't know, NALIT members are responsible for legislative record keeping and public meeting webcasting. My topic was the "PR vs. Democratic Accountability Models of Legislative Webcasting." Since the late 1990s NCSL has included my papers on legislative TV on its Legislatures Live <http://www.ncsl.org/programs/press/2003/more_resources.htm> website. A compiled list of my related writings on this subject can be found at jhsnider.net/LegislativeTV. My summary of the meeting is that legislative TV has continued to make substantial progress in recent years, with Washington State's TVW continuing to lead the way. New efforts are underway to index legislative webcasts to improve searching. With archival costs at 34 kbps almost negligible, the decision to archive is less and less driven by costs. For example, the Texas legislature was able to archive the entire session, more than 1600 hours of webcasting, on a 80 gigabyte hard drive.
Did you mean to send this to the entire group? It really isn't on topic. Steven Clift http://dowire.org
Come join my SoonR network and make free international calls from your cell phone. The download is free and you can earn $10 for trying it out (it will help me earn $10, too!). Here is the link to download: http://share.soonr.com/r/5b149150aca610299bf8
Many thanks Andy Steve
ServerNamespace.xml is the file you are after (c:\windows\system32\windows media\server\). Make sure your WMServer Service is stopped before making a copy otherwise it won't work. There may be some settings you will need to tweak manually, like if your partitions are setup differently on your new server and your old server used to log to a different drive. I haven't done it this way, so can't assure you it will work 100% reliably. We generate ours programmatically across our servers using the WMServer SDK to assure this is done correctly and to exactly our specs. Hope this helps Andy Andy Lewis Media On Demand www.mediaondemand.net |>-----Original Message----- |>From: Steven Smith [mailto:<email obscured>] |>Sent: 26 June 2006 15:46 |>To: WebcastCo |>Subject: [WebcastCo] Migrating WIndows Media Publishing Points |> |> |> |>I'm upgrading our media streaming server and I have 400 publishing points |>I need to move over. Are there any tools to do this? Is there a data |>file I can just move over? |> |>Any help much appreciated. |> |>Steven Smith |> |>Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care. |>Member profile for Steven: |>http://groups.dowire.org/main/contacts/stevensmith |> |> |>----------------------------------------- |> |>Group home for Public Sector Webcasting Community: |>http://groups.dowire.org/main/groups/webcasting-community |> |>Replies go to members of Public Sector Webcasting Community with all posts |>on this topic here: |>http://groups.dowire.org/topic/118192 |> |>For digest version or to leave Public Sector Webcasting Community, |>email <email obscured> |>with "digest on" or "unsubscribe" in the *subject*. |> |>Public Sector Webcasting Community is hosted by Democracies Online - |>http://dowire.org.
I'm upgrading our media streaming server and I have 400 publishing points I need to move over. Are there any tools to do this? Is there a data file I can just move over? Any help much appreciated. Steven Smith Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care.
Somehow the webcasting guide URL got changed in my last email. Sorry folks! The correct URL is www.webcastguide.co.uk <http://www.webcastguide.co.uk/> ; we have no affiliation with Westminster Digital. Regards Fraser Henderson (01724) 275035 Senior Project Officer Centre of excellence in Local e-Democracy Normanby Gateway Lysaghts Way Normanby Enterprise Park Scunthorpe North Lincs DN15 9YG www.e-democracy.gov.uk CONFIDENTIAL NOTICE This communication contains information which is confidential and may also be privileged. It is for the exclusive use of the intended recipient(s). If you are not the intended recipient please note that any distribution, copying or use of this communication or the information in it is strictly prohibited. If you received this communication in error, please notify us by e-mail or by telephone (01724 275005) and then delete the e-mail and any copies of it. The contents of this email do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of the e-Democracy centre. Although precautions are taken the originator cannot take responsibility for the safety of any attachments with regard to virus like activity. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * This E Mail, with attachments if any, is confidential and is intended solely for the use of the individual or organisation to whom it is addressed. If you are not the intended recipient, or have received it in error, please notify the originator immediately and delete it from your system. You should not use, copy, alter or disclose the contents of this message. All information contained in or opinions expressed in this E Mail is that or are those of the author and are expressly not that or those of NorthLincsNet who will not accept any liability for or arising in any way from the contents thereof. NorthLincsNet accepts no responsibility for loss or damage howsoever arising from the E Mail's use,including from a Virus.
Folks - I am pleased to announce a new webcasting-guide website at www.webcast-guide.co.uk The intention is that the site is for UK Local Authorities but there are some good 'resources' nevertheless.
Professionally, The Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee http://www.netcaucus.org is repackaging its videos from panel and speaker events by posting the audio in a podcast. It has been very successful. We have tripled our bandwidth usage some months, and it only takes us an extra 10 minutes or so to prepare the RSS and MP3. Personally, the podcast system works really well. On my wife's web site http://www.showbizradio.net we are able to very easily make MP3s available through her online radio station, and off of the web site. If you have audio available from any source that can be digitized easily, there really is not much of an excuse to not create a podcast. Adoption rates may be low, but it will increase. I believe the bit rate we use is 32Kb, but I'll need to check to make sure. iTunes has its own specification, which gives you extra fields for embedding information about the podcast that the iTunes Music Store will render. http://phobos.apple.com/static/iTunesRSS.html So far, I haven't heard of any complaints about or problems with the MP3s. I have had one comment that we should use an Ogg Vorbis audio format, but the adoption rate for our target audience for Ogg is low. Creating a podcast will take some time up front to get your head wrapped around the issues, but if you've successfully done video webcasting, the audio is easier. The most difficult part is getting clean audio to make available. Mike
Granicus has been implementing RSS feeds for awhile now. To view a few samples see http://sanjose.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=2 We are currently in the process of implementing Podcasting, which will play in iTunes. Podcasting to come out in 2006.
Does anyone here automatically generate "what's new" RSS feeds from their webcast archives? If so, have you embedded MP3 audio links in those feeds? (What podcast is technically.) At what bitrate? Any user feedback so far? Finally, what about being iTunes (or other media players) friendly? Any experience? Cheers, Steven Clift ^ ^ ^ ^ Steven L. Clift - - - W: http://publicus.net Minneapolis - - - - E: <email obscured> Minnesota - - - - - - T: +1.612.822.8667 USA - - - - Skype/MSN/Y!/AIM: netclift Join Democracies Online: http://dowire.org Start an Issues Forum: http://e-democracy.org/if
The UK Local e-Democracy National Project has commissioned a modest effort to turn the Democaster "prototype" into a product for use by at least five producers by March 2006. In short, Democaster is designed as an open source oriented, low cost, audio webcasting with webcam images service for community groups and smaller government organisations like Parish Councils. Democaster is for public meetings, conferences and other non-music public events. Imagine doubling! attendance at a meeting from five citizens in the room at a meeting with another five listeners. (Low, low cost helps justify the basic yet fundamental democratic benefit.) First up is a set of platform tweaks for user and producer usability and setting up a dedicated server. I am looking for some advice on what kind of off-the-shelf server(s) you'd recommend. Server specs, memory, reliable hard drives, back-up ideas - all for under $3000 US. Think Redhat Linux for the server, Icecast2 for streaming, and original programming for the scheduling and archiving CMS. We don't imagine high capacity use based on the type of webcaster this service is designed for - imagine up to 15 producers, 100 hours of archived content at 32kbps max for both live/on-demand streaming and on-demand downloading, some jpegs (not video), RSS feeds/Podcasts of recent webcasts, and live events with up to 50 simultaneous listeners on the server at any one time. One load issue is that we automatically convert Ogg encoded live webcasts to MP3 for on-demand access (and may add real-time conversion) and vice versa. (We are using Ogg based on the mission of the project - be as non-proprietary as possible. I'd rather have producers install Oddcast (a Winamp plug-in) without having to deal with MP3 license issues and third party download sites for the LAME encoder ... then convert for broad access on the server.) So we might use two servers working together. What are your thoughts? Cheers, Steven Clift Democaster Lead P.S. I'll be coming back to you for more advice. The more questions you can help me answer, the more resources we will have available for programming.
In the UK and Spain, we've developed a tool for the user to do their own indexing of webcasts. Chapters can be inserted or the reference points made as slides. An example of an implementation in flash (for the Spanish Cepade University) can be seen here: http://streamspain.streamuk.com And a demonstration account for the indexing tool can be seen here: http://cms.streamuk.com username: demo password: demo
In the UK the Public-i system automates the insertion of the indexing at any stage of a change in agenda item or speaker name. An example can be seen at: http://www.devoncc.ukcouncil.net/site/player/compact.php?a=2892&t=&m=rm#the_data_area
I'll have one of the technical people draft something up that describes how we do it (for non-techies). >>> <email obscured> 9/28/2005 12:17:16 PM >>> Could folks share specific links to methods for indexing webcasts so citizens can "fast forward" click to specific moments in the video/audio? Rona mention Seattle's software at the International Symposium on Local E-Democracy http://dowire.org/localedem and I'd like to get more details on that into our archive. Cheers, Steven Clift
While final word has note arrived yet, the UK Local e-Democracy National Project is going to move http://Democaster.org from a prototype to a product. With this open source-based audio with images approach we are shifting its user focus to the broader community rather than a sharper focus on local governments only. Anyway, as we work on the tool in the next few months, it would be great to have some of you help test it further and provide input. Stay tuned. Cheers, Steven Clift P.S. We used the tool to webcast the symposium. Because archving of live webcasts are automatic, we do have some dead space on the front end of the webcasts due to an open channel before the start of sessions: http://www.dowire.org/wiki/Symposium_webcast A post-event download, edit, and replace audio option is under consideration.
Examples of indexing webcasts can be seem at Granicus in their clients area http://www.granicus.com/clients Click on a government link and navigate to the archived videos. There you can search for a video or click the first one you see. The Indexing is on the left hand pull-down. Indexed links (On Some Cities) are also located within the agenda/minutes document viewed on the right hand window. Other samples and be seen at SCAN NATOA in the webstreamers area http://www.scannatoa.org/webstreamers.html
Could folks share specific links to methods for indexing webcasts so citizens can "fast forward" click to specific moments in the video/audio? Rona mention Seattle's software at the International Symposium on Local E-Democracy http://dowire.org/localedem and I'd like to get more details on that into our archive. Cheers, Steven Clift
http://www.govtech.net/news/news.php?id=94919 Lawmakers Allow Voters to See It Now Jul 19, 2005 By Hayley Wynn Reprinted from Stateline.org. As the New York Assembly wrapped up its session last month, interested citizens from anywhere in the state could watch the proceedings from their homes with the click of a mouse -- proceedings that included approval of a plan to allow Empire State residents to tune in just as easily with a remote control. Part of a nationwide trend, New York is the latest state to push for more live statehouse coverage. The Assembly will now join with cable companies to create a public affairs channel for coverage of legislative proceedings to complement the state's existing high quality online video stream from the statehouse. ... ^ ^ ^ ^ Steven L. Clift - - - W: http://publicus.net Minneapolis - - - - E: <email obscured> Minnesota - - - - - - T: +1.612.822.8667 USA - - - - - MSN/Y!/AIM: netclift UK Office Hours - 1pm - 11pm - - T: 0870.340.1266 Join my Democracies Online Newswire: http://dowire.org