wfn.org | Internet services keep viewers at home connected to conference

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

CLEVELAND (UMNS) -- Digital technology and Internet access are
revolutionizing the General Conference experience for delegates, staff and
interested church members who want to follow the assembly's activities from
home.

"On the first day, 9,000 people read 25,000 pages on the General Conference
Web site," said Susan Peek, director of Internet Services for United
Methodist Communications (UMCom). The number has grown since then,
surpassing 11,000 one day, she said. A comparable number of users are
visiting the United Methodist News Service General Conference site, she
added.

What draws Internet users to the site is a mixture of the mundane and the
almost-magical: the ability to follow petitions step-by-step through the
legislative process and Webcasts that bring the sights and sounds of special
events to screens and speakers around the world.

The 2000 General Conference in Cleveland is the third to offer computerized
access to petition processing. The 1988 session used computers for internal
record-keeping; the 1992 conference offered on-site access to information;
and the 1996 session let Internet users track legislation online - but only
if they knew the petition number, the subject or the submitter's name.

"This year, the improvement is ease of use," Peek said. "(UMCom Internet
Specialist) Danny Mai created a key word search function after we arrived in
Cleveland. Now you don't need to know the particulars. You can get the
information on the legislation on any subject by typing a word or phrase."

Behind that easy access to information is the Petition Entry and Tracking
System (PETS), a program developed by John Brawn. The California United
Methodist is a network security specialist at Hewlett-Packard and is working
for the General Conference as a volunteer this year.

When Brawn saw petition secretary Newell Knudson trying to keep track of
19,000 petitions in 1984, with four people using typewriters to make lists,
he suggested using a personal computer to keep the lists in order. Four
years later, as assistant petition secretary, Brawn tracked all the
petitions on two computers, but he still had to rely on two dozen typists to
update text after votes. 

In 1992, Brawn created the PETS program and put a computer in each
legislative committee room. By the 1996 session in Denver, PETS was
available on the Internet for the first time. In Cleveland, a
better-integrated system allows recorders to make immediate updates as
committees vote, and Web site visitors can follow legislative progress with
only a word or two of command.

But the PETS system is aging - it's almost Jurassic in computer years - and
the 2004 General Conference will have a new commercially developed system.
"There's already a contract with a software developer for almost a
quarter-million dollars," Brawn said with a chuckle, "to replace a program I
gave the church eight years ago."

Beyond a few highly visible issues, many church members are more interested
in the celebrations, the preaching and the special events around the General
Conference, and Internet technology is making a dramatic difference in how
they can experience those events.

"I clicked on the Web site on the second day of the conference," said Steve
Downey, UMCom Production and Distribution, who is coordinating the
videotaping of the conference. "It was an exciting thing to look at and
listen to the opening worship service, and to realize that someone in
California or in Manila could be experiencing the same thing. You could read
a news report on the worship, and you could read the text of Bishop (Robert)
Morgan's sermon, but now with streaming video, you can also see the dancers
and hear the choirs - anywhere."

Mai's demonstration of the Internet's audio and video capabilities shows
that the technological convergence is remarkable. "People with a reasonably
fast modem and a reasonably fast computer can see and hear these files using
Windows Media Player," he said. Sound is sharp; the small square in the
middle of the monitor looks a bit like an animated expressionist painting,
but people and places are recognizable and the overall experience is
engaging.

"Mirror" Web sites at UMCom in Nashville, Tenn., the United Methodist Board
of Global Ministries in New York, and the Southeast Jurisdiction
headquarters in Lake Junaluska, N.C., allow up to 60 Internet users to view
the site simultaneously. "With two agencies and a jurisdiction in a single
project, it's a great example of sharing a network and cooperating to serve
the whole church," Mai said.

Besides audio and video clips and versions of entire worship services and
special events, the sites provide "actualities" to radio stations for
broadcast to non-United Methodist audiences. The files will be archived for
at least two years, Mai said. Peek added: "There's no reason that these must
be limited to audio in English. We can do Spanish and Korean language
versions as well."

The successful innovations have brought an increase in expectations, Downey
said. "Those who were impressed by the ability to find the text of a
petition online four years ago now wonder why they can't watch the worship
services in real time. We want to provide every service we possibly can, but
the cost goes up every time we add a capability."

The Rev. Steve Horswill-Johnston, UMCom Information and Consulting Services,
said the effort and cost are worthwhile. "In a real way," he said, "we can
state that the General Conference is truly a global event because of the
Internet."

The Web site is at www.gc2000.org.  For best results with streaming audio
and video, site visitors should have a 56K baud modem and a 233mHz or faster
processor.
# # #
 -- Tom Slack

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United Methodist News Service
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