The city of East Lansing is plugged in, logged on and waiting for the e-mail to pour in.
With the help of MSU Broadcasting Services, every East Lansing City Council meeting will be digitized and available to listen to and view on a new Web site - giving students and residents another way to watch officials in action.
“It’s designed to be one of the many ways East Lansing and the university cooperate,” project coordinator Donald Weinshank said. “We think the best way for us all to get along is for everybody to know what everybody is doing. This is win-win, because now everybody in the city can watch the city council on 24-7 basis.”
Weinshank, a computer science professor and member of the East Lansing Cable Commission, created the idea more than a year ago while the commission was exploring ways to use technology to inform students about city actions.
“I hope students will see how the city council operates,” he said. “We might even show some of the folks in East Lansing how the city council operates. We hope that people will write in, come to the meetings of the city council, will send e-mail, will ask questions.”
Only city council meetings are displayed on the Web site, but if the concept gains popularity, officials will consider posting other meetings. Although the page does not have a counter, WKAR officials said there are methods of tracking the number of viewers.
The Web site has the Feb. 20 meeting available online.
“Everybody really wants this one to work,” Weinshank said. “The university is donating time, effort and Web space.”
Since the project began 18 months ago, the only delays have been due to technical problems with equipment.
City Council meetings are recorded by East Lansing Community Television, WELG, and broadcast live on television. The tape is handed off to producers at MSU’s television station, WKAR, who digitize the tape and post it piece-by-piece on the Web site. The process takes about a week.
Dan Leys, the station manager for East Lansing Community Television, said although he hasn’t heard of any other cities posting public meetings on the Internet, he is sure it will become more common.
“It’s a high-tech, state-of-the-art, wave-of-the-future kind of thing,” Leys said. “It’s the future - the Internet and television are inexplicably connected.”
Tim Zeko, an executive producer at WKAR, said his staff works to digitize and display the meetings on the Web site, allowing viewers to click on which agenda item they’re interested in.
“It really doesn’t cost all that much,” Zeko said. “We are trying to foster open communication and cooperation.”
Some students, however, are skeptical about whether the Web site will increase participation among the majority of students.
Spanish sophomore Amanda Smith, who spends about one hour a day on the Internet, said she probably wouldn’t visit the Web site on a regular basis.
“It will definitely make it easier to know what’s going on,” she said. “I think it’s easier to access, but I think most people would probably only look at it if something that interested them was going on.”
East Lansing City Council meetings can be viewed on the Internet at www.wmsu.org/city_council.htm.
