In 1859, the nearby Barnegat Lighthouse represented the latest in cutting edge technology when it began broadcasting its vital signal to ships passing in the Atlantic Ocean. In 2014, Barnegat Township, New Jersey, will begin utilizing the latest in online technology to record and stream public meetings across the Internet on the township’s website
http://barnegat.net/.
Partnering with Swagit Productions, LLC, Barnegat Township will be streaming videos of public meetings through Swagit’s Extensible Automated Streaming Engine [EASE], a Hands-Free Video Streaming® solution that greatly reduces the amount of man-hours needed to produce professional video content. Residents and all interested parties will be able to view videos of Barnegat’s public meetings live as it happens, or select from the video archive at their convenience and on any device capable of streaming media.
In addition, Barnegat will also be utilizing Swagit’s Cosmos-Lite service – a one camera-system that will enable the township staff to be completely hands-off during the meeting for broadcasting, recording, streaming and archiving of public meetings.
Once the EASE and Cosmos-Lite systems are in place, Barnegat will have everything they need to begin their ‘hands-free’ streaming solution for online public meetings. The recordings of the meetings will be indexed and archived to Barnegat’s website – all accomplished with minimal added time and/or work burden to the township’s employees.
“I am extremely excited to be able to provide the residents of Barnegat with online videos of our meetings. The streaming video of public meetings is a necessary step in providing our residents with a more open government and fulfills the promise I made during my campaign”, stated Committeewoman Elaine Tayor. “I am looking forward to also having the meeting on our local Comcast channel in the near future.”
By committing to webcasting their public meetings, Barnegat Township will both provide a new and valuable service to their residents, as well as shining a light on local government proceedings, improving their overall government transparency and accessibility.