• Touch panels are distributed among supervisors, press, clerks, and other staff members

• Several usually separate items have been consolidated into each touch panel, including capabilities for video playback, audio reinforcement, and an integrated microphone, along with the usual control capabilities

• The system allows committee members and Supervisors to turn off the microphone or to control their speaker volume

• The touch panel can be adjusted for video and still images, or to watch the rebroadcast of the meetings

• Supervisors can vote, call staff, communicate with the clerk, or select what they want to look at, all from their touch panels

The City of San Francisco’s unique governmental needs require a remote control system that will store large amounts of information. For instance, more than 40 governmental committees and commissions meet in City Hall on a regular basis. These committees can meet in any of the five rooms involved in the renovation. Each committee has different members and different rules of order. The remote control system needs to know basic information about each committee and its members in order for the meeting to be conducted properly. This is accomplished by storing all of the required information in a database on a server located in the basement.

The database and touch screens were custom-designed by Crestron, a New Jersey-based designer and manufacturer of remote control and automation systems. The database keeps track of all commission or committee meetings. When a clerk logs in on a touch panel, the remote control system is told which meeting will be conducted. The system then requests the needed information from the server and notifies members when a meeting is to take place. The message is generated and sent to a supervisor or committee member through personalized E-mail, or through a voice message, a paging beeper or a cell phone call.

A reminder is also sent over the City Hall TV system--it flashes up on strategically located television screens. Confirmation and message acknowledgments are sent by E-mail, the telephone, or through the custom designed touch panel workstation. The responses of the members are tracked by the database, and reported back to the clerk.

The remote control system panels are customized to fit aesthetically in each meeting room’s dais. The touch panels were designed to provide several features which include video playback, audio reinforcement, integrated microphones and touch screen button control capabilities.

The touch panel can be adjusted for video and still images or to watch the rebroadcast of the meetings. Supervisors can vote, signal the sergeant-at-arms, call their staff, communicate with the clerk, select what they want to look at, or monitor the broadcast system--all from their touch panels.