Most local, state and city governments would want to become more transparent with their citizens. An excellent way to achieve this is to make committee or meeting sessions easily available to them over the internet.
Being able to access such sessions through on-demand or live streaming will make it convenient for citizens to become more involved and aware of the political process, and informed of current affairs. Taking advantage of video streaming for the government might be a viable option to broadcasting on local television and public access.
What is Video Streaming?
Video streaming is a kind of media streaming where data from a video file is constantly delivered through the internet to a remote user. It allows a user to watch a video online without downloading it on a device or host computer.
What Solutions does It Offer?
Video streaming for government works on data streaming ideologies, where all video data or file is compressed and delivered to a requesting device in small chunks. Video streaming often needs a compatible video player connecting with a remote server. It hosts a pre-stored or pre-recorded media file or a live feed.
The server then utilizes particular algorithms to compress the data or media file for transfer over an internet connection or network. The size of every data stream depends on different factors, such as the bandwidth speed, actual file size, and network latency.
In return, the client or user player decompresses and shows the streamed data. That enables the user to start seeing the file before the whole video file or data is received.
How does Video Streaming Work for the Non-Business Sphere?
For the non-business sphere, such as the public sector, video streaming could be the solution. There are 8 reasons:
- Video streaming enables as many people as you like to attend the event. There are different reasons somebody might not be able to physically attend a meeting or event. So, video streaming can help.
Oftentimes, people cannot attend an event because of other commitments like they cannot travel for particular reasons, like medical conditions, age, or unable to afford travel costs. Further, people suffering from contagious illnesses risk passing it to other people. A good example is the continuous coronavirus pandemic, making gathering events in groups a big no-no.
- Live video streaming enables you to reach everybody, irrespective of their location and whether they can actually attend the event. With video streaming for the government, you are not bound by the size or geographical distance of the audience.
- Live streaming for religious services enables everybody to attend the service, irrespective of whether they watch the service from their home or physically attend the house of worship.
- Real-time video streaming plays an important role in occupational and public safety, as well as military operations. Coastguards and rangers utilize drones to scout inaccessible and vast areas so they can respond in real-time during search and rescue missions. Police officers can also utilize drones to perform surveillance or search and track for any fleeing criminals.
- Law enforcement agencies in the government can utilize live webcasts to broadcast training sessions and offer an engaging, real-time experience rather than in-person training. They can also take advantage of live streaming to address staff or departments, receive queries and concerns through live chat and respond in real-time while keeping control over the session.
- Citizens expect their governments to be engaged and self-evident with the community and work in their interests. For such reasons, they should address their people, communicate their intentions and plans and announce changes in policies.
- Live video streaming for the government enables agencies to reach thousands or millions of people at the same time, whether they’re present physically or not. The citizens of the government include the elderly, people who are unable to travel, or sick people.
- Streaming government meetings, government officials and politicians can reach and convey their message to everyone. Citizens can be made informed and stay updated on the decisions and hearings made by their government.
What About the Challenges?
On the other side, there are numerous challenges to video streaming for the government, mainly because there is no one solution or the best solution. As simple and inexpensive as webcasting has become, there’s a decent amount of technical setup—more technical setup than an only video recording.
Every agency should identify its audience’s receptivity and access to this kind of content. Since everybody has a unique audience, that decision should be thoroughly considered. Further, local government officials need to look for the ideal vendor that could meet their demands.
After those demands have been identified, there are more factors to keep in mind.
Elements That are Crucial for Government Streaming
Some of the important elements that play a vital role in video streaming for the government are the following:
- Air-tight data security and confidentiality. There should be robust security and reliability to guarantee that only authorized people can view the videos.
- Dedicated cloud. There should be a dedicated cloud for federal, local, and state governments, as well as their partner organizations.
- Regulatory compliance. It’s important to stream your videos while adhering to major regulatory and industry compliances by using different policies, controls, and security features. Some good examples are custom privacy policy, audit logs, and anonymous user policy.
Final thoughts
There you have it! There’s no doubt that video streaming for the government has different benefits to offer. Do you live stream events for your local department or agency? What challenges have you experienced, and how have you conquered them? What kind of live broadcasting has worked for you? Let us know by sharing your comments below!