Production frequently requires outside assis tance. Although personal recorders are widely used, videotapes to portray public activities should be professionally and competently produced, using professional-quality equipment. Video techniques are often part of a media strategy. A video can be released for use on television as camera-ready copy. An agency thus provides the news media with an accurate portrayal of a process or project to be shown as part of regular programming.
Videos are a good means of providing information about meetings or ongoing planning processes.
Seattle's Regional Transit Project, for example, used videotapes for 30-second advertising spots broadcast more than 300 times on five local television stations. Videos reach people who would not otherwise participate in transportation processes, including people with disabilities. Special efforts should be made to accommodate hearing disabilities. A video is always part of a larger process and closely related to other techniques. Because a videotape is a one-way device, suitable for disseminating information, it has many potential applications.