Democaster user help
From DoWire Wiki
Democaster Help
Democaster helps citizens easily access audio, webcam images and links to documents from public meetings and events hosted by community groups and governments.
Democaster provides an extremely low cost open source-based option for producers by avoiding expensive video. Even the smallest organisation with an Internet connection, a computer and some decent microphones can webcast their democratic and community events.
Piloted in the UK, with support from the UK Local e-Democracy National Project, a handful of UK-based organisations are invited to produce webcasts in 2006.
Help Options:
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How to find a webcast
- If you've been linked directly to a live or on-demand webcast from a producer's main website simply select the audio format option you desire
- From the Democaster home page you can view the directory of groups producing webcasts, search by keyword or enter the webcast number if you have it. Each webcast has a unique number.
- Headline, or RSS feeds, are available for those who use news aggregator. This is a great way to be alerted about new webcasts. "Podcast" feeds are available.
- If your local government or community group is not listed, encourage them to Be a Democaster.
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How to listen to a webcast
- Each webcast has a unique "player" page. Along with the title of the webcast, it is listed as "on-demand," "live," or scheduled in the "future."
- Audio is available in Ogg and MP3 format. With MP3, players such as Windows Media, Real, and Quicktime allow you to listen to "live" streams. For the non-proprietary and better sounding Ogg format we recommend that you use the free "full" version of Winamp (Windows) or install plug-ins at your own discretion in your existing media player.
- For "on-demand" audio you may stream or download your format of choice. By streaming, you listen like you do to a radio station on the Internet. With download, you save the file on your computer and play it from there or on your MP3 player. By downloading, you can fast forward and rewind using your own media player. In addition, a simple Flash-based pop-up player allows you to listen to the MP3 version as long as you keep the little window open.
- With "live" webcasts, listen to the stream of your choice. Ogg sounds a lot better, but MP3 works with more media players.
- Podcasts are a new way to access audio from public meetings and events. We compress our audio to the greatest extend that is still listenable. You can use a podcatcher and well as many of the headline/RSS news aggregators. For example while you sleep, a one hour meeting "podcast" (~7MB/hour) might download to your computer or MP3 player.
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Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
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Producer Help
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