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Monday, May 16, 2011

Ind. Gov't. - Georgia provides instant access to 9 years of General Assembly video

From today's Athens Banner-Herald editorial:

In a news release issued last week, [Georgia Secretary of State] Kemp announced "the launch of a new website that provides instant access to nine years (1998-2007) of audio and video recordings of the Georgia General Assembly ... which users can ... search by keyword. The results take (users) directly to the session, and the very moment, where the word was used." Searches can be refined by using a particular legislative day, calendar date or legislative chamber to help pinpoint needed information. * * *

Making video and audio recordings of General Assembly sessions available would be a real service to Georgians, and, if the rollout is successful, is something that lawmakers should consider supporting with funding adequate to provide the people of this state with complete access to past legislative sessions. * * *

In the news release, Kemp called the MAVIS program a "fantastic e-government solution that increases transparency and the ability to research the activities of ... state government." We couldn't agree more, and we applaud Kemp for pursuing the program.

And what about Indiana?

Currently, although there is no index or other guide (other than creative use of the relevant Journals, if one can locate them online), the Indiana Senate has made available online its complete video archive of session days, going back through 2007. At least that is a place to start.

On the other hand, the House "archive" of session day videos covers only the 2011 session.

As the ILB wrote in 2006, when only the House was videocasting: "The video archives of the Indiana House sessions are important Indiana historical documents."

See also this Feb. 10, 2006 entry.

Here is what the ILB wrote on Jan. 12, 2007:

The ILB has written in detail about the General Assembly's video record several times. See this entry from Feb. 8, 2006 on the importance of maintaining an archive of the videocasts of the House and Senate, and this ILB entry from Nov. 8, 2006, titled "Suggestions for the new legislative leadership - Part I: The Video Archives."

Here again are the ILB's "Recommendations to the Indiana General Assembly" on this issue:

First, both Houses should stream their session days live, plus archive the videos, permanently. Currently the House archives during the session, but does not retain the videos once the next session starts. The Senate doesn't even go that far -- you can only watch the Senate session online as it happens; nothing is preserved.

Second, all committee meetings should be streamed live, plus archived. Right now, the public cannot even get a seat in a committtee hearing that allows them to see and hear what is going on.

Third, "archived" means make permanently available online. Look again at Ohio - you can watch Ohio proceedings online live or archived, going back through 1997, plus order DVD or VHS videos. Their plan is soon to make video-podcasts downloadable also.

Fourth, the House and Senate daily sessions should be indexed (eg SB #238 - Third Reading), as in Ohio, allowing the viewer to go immediately to the desired position. (It might be possible to do this in conjunction with the Journals.) In fact, the entire Ohio setup should be studied, as they seem to be light years ahread of Indiana, tech-wise!

Fifth, the process - archiving the videos, access, prohibitions against editing out portions - should be detailed in statute or in the joint rules.

The recommendations concluded with:
In 1851 the debates and journals of the Indiana Constitutional Convention were carefully and laboriously preserved for the ages. We continue to use and reference them today. Recording and preserving today's sessions of the General Assembly is a very simple thing. But we are not doing it very well.
A first step would be for the House to post online its video archives going back through the year their video record began.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on May 16, 2011 04:21 PM
Posted to Indiana Government