Chief Minister’s Live Webcam
Initially it sounded amusing when we got a call from C-DIT seeking expertise to set up live streaming of Chief Minister’s office. But we took it seriously because of two reasons. First: we were planning to try out VLC in a real-world scenario for quite a while. Secondly, we were told that a couple of MNC consultancy firms declared that this is an impossible task. And we accepted the work order from C-DIT.
The Components
It was difficult to get a camera with remote-controlled tilt and pan facility in sub-30K range. We finally procured a D-Link DCS 5300W. Being an experimental setup it is we asked for just two desktop machines; one for connecting the camera which is inside the secretariat LAN. And the other to act as a “slave” server which handled the Internet traffic.
Secretariat was linked with a 2-mbps leased line from BSNL. Though that was very much inadequte a bandwidth, we decided to hook up the streaming server to this link as there was no other option.
Public Response
Whether is it a stupid idea or not; public welcomed it. The news was all over the media. Within a few minutes after the inauguration the traffic overwhelmed the 2 mbps link. People were calling (even from outside India) and complained that they could not connect to it.
Is It Really Relevant?
The answer is: it depends. Because, you and I may not be watching this stream on a regular day unless we are terribly bored and have nothing else to do. But, all of us will tune in if some crucial thing happens in CM’s office; an important meeting, a conference, or a meeting with a foreign delegate. Or anything at CM’ office which particularly interests us. So, it makes sense.
Now, let’s look at it from CM’s side. For him it is like having his own television channel! He can say whatever he wants to the public face-to-face without depending the media (which are known to report preferentially); here there is no one in between –just CM on one side of the Internet and the public on the other.
Technology makes things do-able in very cost-effective way these days which is really cool. And the good point is that our CM is wise to take advantage of it.
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Anil Kumar K. (VP Operations & Engineering)
June 17th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
W-O-W!
I bet this will never be allowed to happen in western “mature” democracies - filming the CM’s office live 24×7!
That is an excellent idea!
Can you keep us posted about the latest developments in the system?
This is extremely enlgihtening especially to those who keep shouting about the technical expertise of foreign firms and inability of Indians to master technology of this kind.
Tell this to all those big politicians who visit every damn city in the world to learn technology when those foreign firms are probably learning from things like these!
again, W-O-W!