Those not able to attend General Synod 2004 should not despair. The full proceedings will be featured on a live web cast at the http://gs2004.anglican.ca website.
“All sessions taking place in the plenary hall at Brock University will be featured,” said Brian Bukowski, web manager for the Anglican Church of Canada. This includes the opening service and election of a new Primate. The installation service of the new Primate will be web cast from Christ Church Cathedral in Hamilton, said Mr. Bukowski.
Anglican Video, the General Synod video production company, will provide the video feed. Morning summary programs produced by Anglican Video will be available for viewing throughout the day. In addition to the live broadcast, the website will also archive many parts of synod so that visitors can access them later.
“The web cast will be user friendly, it will cater for both high and low bandwidth viewers,” said Mr. Bukowski.
The schedule for the live web cast will follow the Synod 2004 agenda, which lists the times in eastern daylight time, and gives a guide to the topics being discussed.
Traditionally, highlights of past General Synod’s were broadcast on Vision TV. However, in 2001, the Anglican Church decided to have the entire meeting available on the web.
The web cast of the General Synod 2001 in Waterloo, Ont., was seen as a success, but some people felt that the absence of someone who could interpret and analyze the proceedings was missing.
In response Tim Morgan, an Anglican from the diocese of Rupert’s Land and a member of the Information Resource Committee, volunteered to fill in that gap.
Mr. Morgan will join the Anglican Video team and provide web cast viewers with on-camera interviews and analysis once General Synod gets underway. His commentaries will be featured before and after sessions and during breaks.
To watch the live web cast, people need Microsoft Windows Media Player. For free download information for media player, please visit http://gs2004.anglican.ca/news/webcast/