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To access links, see Steven Clift's blog: http://dowire.org/notes/?p=337 Post: Help for future webcasters in New York State Government, everywhere I expect a day when all government open meeting laws will require that all public meetings be digitally recorded. Initially audio will likely cover most meetings with video reserved for meetings at a higher level (a full city council meeting compared to a sub-committee for example). The law will further require post-meeting online access and in many cases live webcasting. In New York State, reports are due today based on the third executive order of their new Governor. Hmmm, are we seeing the start of an e-democracy trend from top elected officials? It will be interesting to see what agencies propose. Are those reports online somewhere? I invite everyone, especially those in New York to join the quiet but only online space for public sector webcasters (and future webcasters) to trade notes: http://groups.dowire.org/groups/webcasting-community Do not get hoodwinked into costly solutions when there are ways to do this cost-effectively. Also, I made an official request months ago to ICELE (former UK Local E-Democracy National Project) to donate the dormant Democaster.Org prototype to E-Democracy.Org or another NGO - knock, knock. I want to see if we can shoot some life into the really cool tool they funded (and I had built) for inexpensive open source-based audio webcasting/podcasting (with images) of public meetings and community events. At a minimum, I'd like to uncover some funding so we can put the Democaster.Org site back online in prototype mode. The tool allows any government or community group with an Internet connection to webcast live, have the meeting audio archived automatically, shared for streaming, download, and podcasting as well as display an agenda with links to documents and optional webcam images. If I can find funding, for the "producer" I'd add a live Flash easy input tool (in addition to the free Oddcast program you must install and configure) and use a tool like Asterisk to turn any phone into a live webcasting/recording tool. What government conference room doesn't have a speaker phone??? This is how you could cost-effectively pick up those small and obscure public meetings. Here are some more useful resources on public sector webcasting: Webcasting Exchange: http://www.dowire.org/wiki/Webcasting_exchange Webcast Guide (from UK e-democracy project): http://www.webcastguide.co.uk More webcasting reports from UK: http://www.icele.org/site/scripts/downloads.php?categoryID=14 Cheers, Steven Clift http://e-democracy.org http://dowire.org P.S. Here is the full text of the executive order in New York: 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 *** Democracies Online Newswire - http://DoWire.Org *** To comment/for links: http://dowire.org/notes/?p=337 To network: http://groups.dowire.org Submit posts: http://dowire.org/submit Member profile for Steven Clift: http://groups.dowire.org/main/contacts/stevenclift ----------------------------------------- Group home for Newswire - Steven Clift's blog posts by e-mail: http://groups.dowire.org/main/groups/newswire Replies go to members of Newswire - Steven Clift's blog posts by e-mail with all posts on this topic here: http://groups.dowire.org/topic/603634 For digest version or to leave Newswire - Steven Clift's blog posts by e-mail, email [email protected] with "digest on" or "unsubscribe" in the *subject*. Newswire - Steven Clift's blog posts by e-mail is hosted by Democracies Online - http://dowire.org.
