HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007 01 08 Informational 502 Recorded Commission Meetings to the Public
COMMISSION AGENDA
ITEM 502
Informational
January 8. 2007
Regular Meeting
Mgr. / Dept.
Authorization
REQUEST:
Information Services wishes to update the Commission on
the current status of offering recorded Commission
meetings to the Public via the Internet.
PURPOSE:
To provide information on the current status of streaming recorded
Commission meetings on-line.
CONSIDERATIONS:
With the purchase of For The Record (FTR) the Clerk's Office was given
the ability to digitally record Commission meetings. However, due to
some technical difficulties the digital audio recordings were not of useable
quality. Recently we purchased some additional audio equipment that has
greatly enhanced the sound quality of our recordings. With the new
enhanced sound quality the Clerk's Office has requested the ability to dual
record until they are familiar with the new software. Currently they are
able to record meetings both digitally to the computer and analog to the
tape deck.
Bandwidth and Storage:
Now that we have overcome the issue of sound quality, the next step in
this process is to determine how much bandwidth will be needed to stream
the recordings to the Public. This will vary depending on the number of
C:\Documents and Settings\jdalka\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\OLKE\O 1-08-
07_ COMM _ Informational_ Streaming_ Media.doc
CITY OF WINTER SPRINGS
CITY COMMISSION
REGULAR MEETING - JANUARY 8, 2007
INFORMATIONAL AGENDA ITEM "502"
PAGE 2 0F 2
users requesting this service at any given time. The Information Services
(IS) Department is anxious to see how large the recorded audio files will
be. for each Commission meeting. In a trial meeting of one and half hours
the proprietary formatted file was about 17 megabytes in size. Once this
file was converted to a standard format (Windows Media Player) the file
size grew to over 45 megabytes. Over time this may cause a storage issue
for the IS Department and may need to be outsourced.
Streaming of Audio File:
We have contacted our website provider and have the ability for ten
concurrent users at one time. This means ten users can listen to the
meetings at the same time. The eleventh person will be denied access to
the file. We have the ability to upgrade this if this becomes necessary for
an additional twenty dollars per month for five more concurrent users.
Other Items to Consider:
Once the audio files are recorded and approved by Commission, the IS
Department will post them to the web. However, because this will be one
large file the Public will need to listen to the entire meeting to find the area
they may be interested in. Weare researching various options to provide
the public with direct access to specific portions of the audio file.
For example, if a user wanted to listen to a previous meeting and was only
interested in Agenda Item XXX, they would have the ability to click a link
and be taken directly to that portion of the meeting. This will require an
HTML based copy of the agenda for that meeting that will need to be
coded. The audio file will need to be marked with time stamps defining
the various locations for each agenda item. An estimated six to seven
hours of time will be required to prepare the files after each Commission
meeting.
Our Goals:
1) Provide users with access to recorded meetings on-line, anytime
2). Provide users with direct access to certain portions of the recorded
meetings via a link
3) Provide an HTML based Agenda with links to each Agenda Item in the
audio file
FUNDING: N/A
RECOMMENDATIONS: None at this time
ATTACHMENTS: N/A
COMMISSION ACTION: