General Convention 2009

You will be able to follow, watch, understand and experience the Episcopal Church’s General Convention 2009 no matter where you are, thanks to the Media Hub. Produced and presented by the Episcopal Church Office of Communication, the Media Hub will utilize technology to deliver the full story of the almost two-week event, July 8-17 at the Anaheim Convention Center in California.

Videos, blogging, Twitter, flickr and live webcasting will enable a broad look at General Convention. Additionally, planned coverage by Diocese of Texas Office of Communication, provides access to committee meetings, side events, the Episcopal Church Women’s triennial meeting, exhibits area and ongoing legislative work being done by their own representatives at the convention links to this coverage from www.epicenter.org.

The Media Hub
The National Media Hub includes seven areas: calendar, video stream, flickr photos, activity area, legislative tracker, twitter feed and resources. The first is the complete calendar of events, detailing the daily GC09 schedule as well as special events during both the day and evening hours. On each item in the calendar, there will be an icon to indicate if the event will be covered live, or if video on-demand is available.

The largest area will be the live video stream of many wide-reaching events, such as briefings, legislative hearings and special events. The live stream will vary every day, but the programming will all be listed in the calendar. There will also be a library of videos on-demand, including all sermons presented at the Daily Eucharists.

Another area, the flickr photos, will feature snapshots of the aspects of life at GC09. Continually updated, flickr will be a log of everyone’s experiences at GC09. Flickr is an internet site that provides space for photos and from which copies may be ordered.

"The Activity area will aggregate content that is relative to GC09 from a wide array of sources, including Episcopal News Service; articles from diocesan publications, religious and secular press; comments from people on Twitter and Facebook; and other sources. The legislative tracker will enable viewers to follow the life of a resolution and ties directly into the actions and votes of GC09 through the GC database.

Media Hub’s twitter feed will be a source for announcements. "It’s our way for letting people know offsite or in the hall when an event is about to begin, if a room has changed, when something goes live," Collins explained. "We can quickly communicate with the entire General Convention and those watching offsite."

Carol E. Barnwell, diocesan communication director, will also be twittering from the convention. To receive these messages, follow cebarnwell on Twitter. The final area, the resource section, will list links to maps, things to do in Anaheim, directions, and other pertinent information for those people who attend the convention.

Other features
A special feature of the Media Hub will be photos featuring high definition panoramic photos of the General Convention. Collins also reported that work is underway to make the Media Hub bilingual and with close caption for the hearing impaired.

Follow the Media Hub at tecmediahub09.