Media Hub to provide look at General Convention 2009
Episcopal News Service. May 7, 2009 [050709-02]
ENS Staff
The Episcopal Church's triennial General Convention, to be held July 8-17 in Anaheim, California, may be experienced on-site and remotely due to an innovative Internet feature called the Media Hub.
Produced by the office of communication, the Media Hub will include videos, blogging, short Twitter feeds, Flickr photos and live webcasting to deliver the full story of the event.
General Convention is the bicameral governing body of the church. The second largest legislative body in the world, it is comprised of the House of Bishops, with upwards of 200 members, and the House of Deputies, with clergy and lay representatives from 110 dioceses, at more than 700 members.
"The Media Hub provides a way for telling the story of General Convention in real time," said Mike Collins, director of digital media.
"The Media Hub will help make the work of our church and the legislative process more transparent," said Chris Clement, web developer.
Seven areas will be featured on the Media Hub: calendar, video stream, Flickr photos, activity area, legislative tracker, Twitter feed, and resources.
The first is the complete calendar of events, detailing the daily GC09 schedule as well as special events during both the day and evening hours. "On each item in the calendar," Collins said, "there will be an icon to indicate if the event will be covered live, or if video on-demand is available."
The largest area will be the live video stream of many wide-reaching events occurring GC09, such as briefings, legislative hearings, and special events. "The live stream will vary every day," Collins explained, "but the programming will all be listed in the calendar." There will also be a library of videos on-demand, including all the sermons presented at the Daily Eucharists.
Another area, the Flickr photos, will feature snapshots of aspects of life at GC09. Deputies, alternates, bishops and visitors will be able to easily upload photos to this site at the Church Center booth in the exhibit hall.
The Activity area will aggregate content that is relative to GC09 from a wide array of sources, including Episcopal News Service; articles from diocesan publications, religious and secular press; comments from people on Twitter and Facebook; and other sources.
The legislative tracker will enable viewers to follow the life of a resolution and ties directly into the actions and votes of GC09 through the GC database.
Media Hub's Twitter feed will be a source for announcements. "It's our way of letting people know offsite or in the hall when an event is about to begin, if a room has changed, when something goes live," Collins explained. "We can quickly communicate with the entire General Convention and those watching offsite."
The final area, the resource section, will list links to maps, things to do in Anaheim, directions, and other information.
Other features
A special feature of the Media Hub will be photos featuring high definition panoramic photos of the General Convention.
Collins also reported that work is underway to make the Media Hub bilingual and with closed captions for the hearing impaired.
The Media Hub will go live shortly before General Convention, tentatively July 1.