The City and County of San Francisco is claiming the distinction of posting more meetings online than any other government channel—some 2,371 archived meetings as of Feb. 20.
The city is using the services of a home-grown company, Granicus, whose software and services help agencies set up online repositories of government Webcasts and digital documents—cross-linked and keyword-searchable. Granicus proclaimed San Francisco the top streamer.
“I am committed to making San Francisco the most transparent government in the country,” said San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. “In order to nurture an informed electorate it is critical that government make content easily accessible through video, interactive media, and other relevant programming.”
San Francisco also ranked first among government agencies for live views in 2008, with 313,491 viewers. SFGTV, an early adopter of Webcasting meetings in 2004, streamed more than 2,000 public meeting to constituents in 2008.
“I am very impressed with the work that the City and County of San Francisco has done to increase government transparency”, said Tom Spengler, CEO of Granicus. “It has been one of the true pioneers of open government over the past five years, and we look forward to working with its staff to put even more public meetings and hearings online.”
The City of Los Angeles came in second in archived meetings, followed by the Arizona state legislature.
Founded in 1999, Granicus serves nearly 500 governing bodies in 44 states.
SFGTV, operated by the City’s Department of Technology, programs two San Francisco cable television channels featuring governmental meetings and events as well as original programming and information on city events, services and issues.
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