Project Plan: Periodic Polis Livestreaming of City Council Committee Meetings

[NewJerseyStyle]

⬢ Summary

The initial project demonstrated the potential of integrating Polis with live streams of city council meetings to enhance civic engagement. However, challenges related to topic selection, maintaining viewer engagement, and maximizing participation emerged, particularly due to the overwhelming number of agenda items in full council meetings. This iteration aims to address these challenges by focusing on weekly, volunteer-driven live streams of committee meetings, which typically have narrower agendas. The hypothesis is that focusing on committee meetings will allow for more focused discussions and greater community engagement through the Polis platform. Regular, predictable programming will also cultivate a consistent audience and increase the impact of the Polis platform.

⬢ Goal

1. Establish a consistent weekly live stream of city council committee meetings integrated with Polis.
2. Increase user engagement and participation in local government discussions through the Polis platform by focusing on specific committee topics.
3. Build a sustained online community interested in city council proceedings, particularly within specific committees.
4. Refine the process of topic selection and Polis conversation moderation within the context of committee meetings.
5. Gather data on user behavior and preferences to inform future iterations.

⬢ Scope

• This project focuses on the weekly live streaming of one selected city council committee meeting each Tuesday.
• The project scope includes pre-meeting promotion, live stream management, post-meeting analysis, and community engagement via social media.
• Development of automated tools is outside the scope of this iteration.
• This iteration will not include paid staff for live narration or other interactive elements. Volunteer moderators will manage the Polis conversation.

⬢ Stakeholders

• Project Team
• Social Media Followers

⬢ Deliverables

• Weekly Live Stream: A consistent, weekly live stream of a selected Tuesday city council committee meeting on YouTube.
• Polis Integration: Active Polis conversation running alongside each live stream, focused on the committee's specific topics.
• Social Media Engagement: Regular posts on X/Instagram promoting the live stream, sharing relevant information, and announcing the start/end of the stream, specifically targeting audiences interested in the committee's focus.
• Post-Meeting Polis Report: A summary report generated from the Polis platform after each committee meeting.
• Analysis and Interpretation: A written interpretation of the Polis report, highlighting key insights and trends related to the committee's discussions.
• Volunteer Schedule: A schedule of volunteer moderators for the live streams, ideally with volunteers possessing some background knowledge in the relevant committee topics.

⬢ Evaluation

• Quantitative:
  • Number of live stream viewers.
  • Number of Polis participants.
  • Growth of social media followers.
• Qualitative:
  • Volunteer moderator feedback on the process and challenges.
• Success Metrics:
  • Positive user feedback and volunteer satisfaction.

⬢ Communication Plan

• GitHub Project Board: Used for task management, progress tracking, and communication within the project team.
• Weekly Team Meeting: To discuss progress, address challenges, and plan for the upcoming week's live stream.
• Social Media: Primary channel for communicating with the public and promoting the live stream.
• Direct Communication with Volunteers: Slack for scheduling, providing instructions, and gathering feedback.

⬢ Resources

• YouTube Channel under our Google account
• Polis Platform we can use pol.is
• Social Media Accounts managed by buffer.com
• Tutorial in GitHub wiki
• Volunteers with laptop/desktop computer
• GitHub project board
• Committee meeting schedule on Toronto Meeting Management Information System – Highlights - TMMIS

⬢ Risks

• Volunteer Availability: Difficulty in securing consistent volunteer moderators. Mitigation: Recruit multiple backup volunteers and develop clear training materials.
• Technical Difficulties: Issues with the live stream, Polis integration, or internet connectivity. Mitigation: Thorough testing before each live stream and backup internet connection.
• Low Viewership/Participation: Lack of public interest in the live streams. Mitigation: Leave it to the next iteration.

[NewJerseyStyle]

To find the coming up committee meetings of the City of Toronto, we can use Civic Dashboard: https://actions.civicdashboard.ca/

Can select decision body or search agenda items to locate a meeting (date)

ℹ️ The information showing is the agenda item of a meeting

Later if we get polis conversation report we can Request to Speak to present the report with committee for agenda item in their meeting