To inform and engage citizens in the governmental, civic, and cultural affairs of Seattle through compelling use of television, Internet, and other media. Seattle’s Democracy Portal Rona Zevin, Director, Office of Electronic Communications July, 2005

Policies and Advice Cover all meetings, not selective Gavel to gavel Don’t take reaction shots Accuracy, objectivity, balance Don’t show or use candidates for election, except in the normal course of their official duties. Officials can benefit from media training (don’t eat during meetings)

Live Video Streaming Stream live TV channel signal Stream “Council Live” Pet Cam Average Monthly live stream plays 2002 Average4, Average20,146 Streaming live is easy and cheap; it is very useful for employees and for people who want to watch during a high visibility or issue very important to them. Creates the possibility of live interactive meetings taking testimony via and phone

Indexed Videos Indexing videos is essential to make them useful. Only a few people will watch a whole meeting, either live or on-demand. Used to be very expensive; now we do it simply by marking time codes on the video as we tape the meeting.

Archived Videos Having videos available on demand is much more useful as it enables people to watch at their convenience. Most requested videos are NOT meetings, they are programs about neighborhoods, hot civic issues, or coverage of interesting speakers and forums. Seattle has1,423 active videos in the archive now. About 10,000 videos are viewed per month in 2005.

Enhanced Meeting Coverage Enhanced coverage means adding text, video and reference material and web links to items discussed during the meeting. This enables the serious viewer to get contextual and detailed information on the topic, and enables the casual viewer to quickly pick up on what is being discussed.

Future Expanded enhanced meetings Use interactive tools to enable two way conversations. (Student Voices project) Interactive meetings that can occur among several different locations. Getting more briefing and decision documents on the web.

References General website: Policies: Technical: Channel general manager: Me: Director, Office of Electronic Communications City of Seattle