From Mike Bomford, Exeter 382173, May 17, 2007

The Full Council meeting of Devon County Council will be broadcast live on the internet next week.

Devon residents can follow the meeting which will be held on Thursday 24 May at 2.15pm.

The live 'webcast' will be made on the Council's award-winning website http://www.devon.gov.uk/. People can watch the webcasts live or view the recordings later whenever they want to.

They can also use the website to send in their views on the issues discussed, decisions taken and the webcasting service itself.

Those who are not connected to the internet at home, can access recordings of meetings from libraries. People are advised to check availability with their local library first.

So far, over 21,225 people have used the service - an average of around 600 people per month.

NOTES TO NEWS EDITORS:

Devon is one of a number of councils nationwide which have full webcasting contracts with public-i. Over 50 local authorities have also webcast a variety of meetings and events during the past two years.

For further information about Devon County Council's webcasting project call Peter Doyle, Head of Communications, 01392 383264.

To see where Devon In Touch will be visiting please go to: http://www.devon.gov.uk/roadshow/.

Watching and listening:

To listen or watch you need a connection to the Internet, a PC or Mac with a Sound Card (all computers bought in the last two or three years should come fitted with one), and speakers which are turned on!

You will also need a program on your PC for RealOne Player (the new name for RealPlayer). The basic RealOne Player program is available for FREE from RealNetworks.

Don't be put off by the long instructions - you only need to follow them once to have them set up on your computer forever. As an example, download a suitable program using the links below.

Download RealOne Player
(Windows 98, Millenium Edition, 2000, NT 4.0 with Service Pack 4 or later, XP or Mac OS X.)

Download RealPlayer 8 or G2
(Windows 95, Windows NT 3.51, Windows 3.1, Mac OS 7.x/8.x, Linux, + others).