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| Wireless Content Services for Municipal RFPs | | Date Created: Feb 19, 2005, 03:50 PM |
There is a steadily growing trend for municipalities to establish wireless networks as either "free" public amenties or as subscriber-based public-private partnerships. Public-private partnerships such as "community television" have for decades served the public good by offering a voice to community-based television producers. Now, wireless networks provide a similar opportunity for municipalities to continue their stewardship of community resources.
Community access programming over wireless networks has not yet been mandated by any municipal Request for Proposals (RFPs) to wireless providers. The following description is proposed for inclusion in municipal wireless RFPs and defines the community access services as DCAP, or Digital Community Access Programming. DCAP is a digital service analogous to cable access television, but targeting PCs and smart cell phones rather than televisions.
Digital Community Access Programming -
[Your city] has a tradition of fostering social, artistic and educational dialogues through community programs, arts and outreach. Wireless networks provide community members with new opportunities to expand this discourse within the local community. Such programming-related content shall be termed "Digital Community Access Programming".
Digital Community Access Programming (DCAP) is defined as community-produced programs made available wirelessly to computer desktops, laptops, PDAs and smart cell phones. DCAP is a digital variation on "cable access" programming, also known as PEG (Public, Education and Government) and made available to the public through the cable television industry. However, DCAP content and function may differ greatly from traditional cable access content.
Overview of responsibilities -
The Respondent shall:
1) Provide software template tools for collaborative project planning and collaborative content at no additional charge to users. Such tools will provide a framework for community members and community organizations to identify common interests, plan community activities, host interactive content, and contribute to the cultural and artistic fabric of the community. Template tools shall include the below listed Template Tool Set, Assessment of Community Needs, Design Document, Portal Provision, and Template Production.
2) Provide ongoing program planning advice and support to community members for the fostering and guidance of community-centered content and interactive programs developed by community members. Programming planning shall include the below listed Call for Programs and Projects, Advising on Programs and Projects, Promulgation of Services, and Ongoing Services.
The Respondent shall develop the above template tools and program planning in consultation with community-based non-profit organizations and educational programs in new media. Examples of non-profits include Digital Watershed (http://homepage.mac.com/gregdaigle/Digitalwatershed.html). Examples of educational programs include the [insert local university and college resources here].
Organizations collaborating in the development of template tools and program planning services must have a community-based focus, knowledge of developing and delivering custom software content, and must also demonstrate an understanding of:
a) The challenges and opportunities specific to digital access community programming in [your city].
b) Delivering custom software solutions
c) The capabilities and limitations of wireless information services
Template Tools -
After an assessment phase, software production templates will be developed, offered to community members and hosted on the DCAP portal. Once completed, these templates may be utilized by any community member with access to the municipal wireless network. One template alone could not address the wide range of community uses forecast, so a set of templates shall be produced. Templates shall be developed using open-source software when possible. Templates shall be playable on Windows, Macintosh OSX and Linux platforms when possible.
1) The Template Tool Set shall be comprised of:
a) Collaborative Project Template - Develop collaborative software template allowing community organizers to plan online community-based projects. Collaborative software, also known as groupware, is software that integrates work on a single project by several concurrent users at separated workstations (i.e. desktops, laptops.) Online projects are those where the planning (calendar scheduling, delineating tasks, sharing documents, messaging) is done over the Internet using software tools accessible to all wireless network users. For example, if a wireless network user wanted to organize work parties for a community garden plot, they list the project online and request interested community members to sign up for tasks such as procuring organic fertilizer, tilling, and providing refreshments for the work party. This can all be done online. Refer to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collaborative_software) for general definitions of collaborative software.
b) Performance Template - Develop or modify open-source or freeware collaborative tools to allow "real-time" or "near real-time" music, dance and performance arts collaboration and compositions online. For example, a director may stage a play about the Grand Canyon and have members of the community upload photographs from their Grand Canyon vacations over the Internet during the play. The images would be screened for content and projected onto the play's scenery in real time.
c) Virtual Architecture Review for Public Spaces - Develop or modify open-source or freeware 3D engines to allow the public to freely review and navigate virtual 3D design models of proposed public buildings and community development plans in the metro area. Respondent will not be responsible for providing the architectural or planning models.
d) Online social networking - Make available to users existing or customized online social networking services used to identify other individuals with shared interests. Examples include "Friend of a Friend" (http://rdfweb.org/topic/FoafProject) and Friendster (www.friendster.com). Refer to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_networking) for description of social networking.
e) Mobile Weblogs (Moblogs) - Develop guidelines and provide minimally [insert number] sets of hardware for mobile Weblogers employing wireless handheld PDAs, cell phones and wireless digital video cameras.
f) Legacy E-learning Content - Identify and host locally-produced legacy e-learning content for the community. Collaborate with local public broadcasters, museums, and learning centers on providing legacy content to children and the general public.
g) Open Play - Make available to users existing "open-source" or freeware tools for the development of mobile games playable on laptops, smart cell phones and wireless PDAs. Develop general guidelines for creation of content.
2) Assessment of community needs -
Assessment to be conducted by technologist/anthropologist teams knowledgeable of wireless technology, interactive media and local neighborhood and non-profit organizations. Constituencies included in the assessment to include staff members designated by the city of [your city] , neighborhood associations, community service non-profit organizations, and professional media associations.
Outputs:
- Convene at least three planning sessions with individuals and groups representing citywide constituencies.
- Develop a Planning Document to include a refined set of organizational and operational goals, impacts, timeframes and action items.
Outcomes:
- At least 80% of the participants will express moderate to high satisfaction with the assessment process.
3) Design Document -
The Design Document will standardize features and attributes of the template tools for collaborative project planning and arts collaborative. The Design Document will also provide guidelines for the development of a portal for hosting content and tools. The design effort will be led by an experienced team of local producers for interactive content development.
Outputs:
- Design Document, including graphics Style Guide and Production Handbook offering production guidelines to community members.
Outcomes:
- Designated interests from the city to approve and sign-off on Design Document.
4) Portal Provision
Digital Community Access Programming will be accessed through a portal site. The Respondent shall develop, implement, maintain and update the portal. The Respondent must provide a link to the DCAP portal no more than two "clicks" away from the network log-in confirmation page.
Outputs:
- Design and develop a DCAP network "portal" site to host Template Tools and Production Handbook, archive prior productions, provide access to current productions, and to collect feedback from community members.
Outcomes:
- Designated interests from the city to approve and sign-off on portal site.
- At least 30 collaborative projects hosted within first year of operation.
- At least 20 arts collaborations hosted within first year of operation.
- At least 10 legacy e-learning content projects hosted within first year of operation.
5) Template Production -
Utilizing the results of the community assessments and adhering to Design Document guidelines, initiate the development of the templates. Templates shall be developed iteratively to incorporate incremental design modifications and functional capabilities. Respondent shall conduct beta testing with focus groups drawn from prior assessment sessions and the local media production community. Stable pre-release beta builds shall be made available for downloading through the DCAP portal until final release versions are made available.
Outputs:
- Beta versions and final versions of templates.
Outcomes:
- Online materials accessed by at least 10% of the user community within first year of operation.
Program Planning -
Concurrent with Template Production, the Respondent shall establish ongoing program planning services for the purpose of identifying interested community producers and soliciting feedback on template design interface, features and functions. After completion of templates the Respondent shall offer ongoing advisory services to local content producers and project organizers.
1) Call for Programs and Projects -
Initiate a call for content programs and collaborative projects to interested members of the community. Responses from the public will determine final features sets of current templates and desired features sets for future templates.
Outputs:
- Meet with local education, arts, and humanities non-profits to identify potential community producers.
- Meet with local community service organizations to solicit their interest in projects.
- Meet with local professional media groups such as MCAI (http://www.mcai-mn.org/aboutus/mcai-faq.html) to identify interested content producers.
- Develop a production calendar and introduce community producers to the template tools developed for them.
Outcomes:
- Receive at least 40 collaborative project inquiries within first year of operation.
- Receive at least 30 arts collaboration program inquiries within first year of operation.
2) Advising on Programs and Projects -
Offer ongoing advisory services to local content producers and project organizers in the form of online forums and monthly workshops.
Outputs:
- Offer online forums, FAQs and forum archives for community producers.
- Offer monthly workshops with content producers on digital production processes.
- Develop production and multicasting schedule.
Outcomes:
- At least 70% of the community producers will express moderate to high satisfaction with the assessment process.
3) Promulgation of services -
As Digital Community Access Programming is seen as a potential national model for municipal wireless network content, the Respondent shall promulgate program descriptions and production methods to other municipal networks.
Outputs:
- Outreach to online publications, conferences and other municipalities in the form of white papers, articles and speaking engagements as appropriate.
- Make available online materials describing the production model
Outcomes:
- PR releases on methods, production models and usage by the community is made available online and submitted to at least 20 online and print publications annually.
4) Ongoing services -
The Respondent shall provide for:
- Ongoing maintenance of the DCAP portal
- Ongoing advisory services to community-based producers and project organizers
- Updates to existing template tools
- Periodic addition of new template tools as appropriate
- Annual re-assessment of community needs
- Annual review of community-generated programs and projects
- Annual evaluation of DCAP services
© 2005 Digital Watershed |
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