INC NEWS - City launches re-designed website, offers Council meetings online

[John Schelp]

New City website looks very handsome. And now you can
watch Council meetings online (and skip to the part
you want to see)...


City of Durham Enhances Access to Website and Council
Meetings: Improved Website Navigation and Streaming
Video Starts Today

Durham, N.C. – Beginning today, visitors to the City
of Durham ’s website will enjoy an early holiday treat
thanks to video access to City Council meetings and a
newly redesigned website with improved navigational
ease. 

With the help of San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc.,
the City of Durham is now making its City Council
meetings available on demand on the City’s website at
http://www.durhamnc.gov.  

Previously, Durham residents could only observe City
Council meetings by either physically attending
meetings or watching the meetings live on Time Warner
Cable channel 8.  Now, residents with Internet access
can watch the meetings live from the City’s website
without having to attend the meetings or subscribe to
Time Warner Cable.

"Being able to provide accurate and timely information
to citizens and employees in a variety of ways is a
chief concern for this organization,” said Durham City
Manager Patrick W. Baker. “With this solution, our
residents and employees can watch the video and have
the meeting agenda all in one window right from their
computers.”

Beginning with the December 18 meeting, residents will
be able to watch an archived copy of the City Council
meeting at their own convenience directly from the
City’s website.  Beginning with the January 2, 2007
meeting, residents will be able to view the meeting
live on the City’s website.  Within 48 hours after the
meeting, the video will then be uploaded to the City’s
website where it will be archived for a year, thus
giving web visitors around-the-clock access to the
meeting information. 

According to Baker, this new streaming system will
allow viewers to skip to specific parts of a City
Council meeting and access additional information on a
split screen.  “With video on demand, viewers will be
able to jump right to the portion of the meeting they
want to watch if they’re not interested in watching
the meeting in its entirety,” Baker said. “In many
cases, residents just want to look at one agenda item
that is of particular interest to them.  That is one
of the greatest things about this new system. You can
either watch the meeting live as its broadcast or you
can access the archived footage using the ‘jump to’
feature to find the item you’re interested in and
watch just that portion of the meeting.  I believe our
residents are going to love it because it’s a great a
tool to help make City government even more
transparent and accessible to this community.”

To access meetings from the City’s website, computers
will need Windows Media Player 9 or newer.  Computers
below this specification or using dial-up connections
may still be able to connect to the meeting, but may
experience choppy or no video.  The total
implementation of the system cost $44,726.

City Council meetings will continue to be broadcast
live on Time Warner Cable channel 8 and residents can
still access written minutes of each meeting on the
City’s website at http://www.durhamnc.gov/council.

In addition to providing video access to all City
Council meetings, the City is also launching its newly
redesigned website today. 

According to Baker, the goal of the redesigned website
is to help residents and visitors quickly access the
information they need about City government.  “Our new
site is more user friendly with better organized
information,” Baker said.  “When visiting our new
website, our residents should be able to find what
they’re looking for quickly.  Newcomers to our city
will also enjoy this improved navigation in addition
to getting a better feel for who we are as a
community.  Since communicating with our residents is
a top priority for this organization, our website
needs to be the best it can be because it’s the one
information medium that’s accessible 24-hours-a-day,
seven-days-a-week from anywhere around the world.”

The website was redesigned by an internal task force
of City employees along with the help of Cassell
Design, Inc., the City’s marketing communications
agency-of-record. 

Residents are encouraged to visit the City’s newly
redesigned website at http://www.durhamnc.gov. 
Residents may send their feedback on the new website
directly to the City’s Office of Public Affairs at
(919) 560-4123 or via e-mail at
publicaffairs at durhamnc.gov.