What an amazing technology Covid has made you install in your chapel,” a gentleman said to me some 2 years ago. Little did he know that we had been streaming Funerals in our chapel for over 10 years, and even a ‘type’ of streaming before that when we used Skype to interact with family members. – In 2012 we installed cameras, purchased a separate computer and software, and partnered with IBM to begin dedicated streaming of funerals. We averaged only 1 funeral streaming a month, the costs made streaming expensive per use, but we persevered!
With the advent of Covid, the usage increased so much, that cost divided by the now 20 plus streamed a month meant the price was so low we absorbed it into our chapel fee. Now ALL funerals can be streamed at no charge from our chapel.
How many people watch? is a common question. This has increased since Covid, simply because more people are aware you can watch online. Sometimes there are more people online than those in attendance. For privacy, we don’t record those who are watching but during a service, we can see how many IP addresses (that’s computers) are watching at one time. A computer being streamed to may be more than one person such as a couple watching or even a whole family. At a recent service, I noticed at one point in the service 90, yes 90 ‘IP addresses’ watching so that is well over 100 people. But also many people watch after the service, for lots of reasons, and these can amount to many hundred more viewers.
Over the 10 years, we are not sure exactly how many views we have had, but the software we have been using for the past few years through our website shows 39.2 thousand views. We realise some of these could be repeats of the same people watching recordings, but this is an amazing figure.
So how do people link onto a service? Simply on any device (computer, tablet, cell phone), go onto our website (which is our name) www.kapiticoastfuneralhome.co.nz and click the large square to the top right of the home screen that says ‘Live Stream’. Or scroll down to it, on a phone. Give it a few seconds to load and then the service will be playing. If you click on it too early the service may not have started yet, but just stay on the channel and wait, and as soon as the stream begins you will see it. Easy as that. We usually start the stream about 15-20 minutes before the service.
If you missed the service. Live-stream is exactly that, ‘live’. But if you missed the service some, but not all, families are happy for us to ‘host the video’ on our website later so under that same streaming channel you will see “videos’ with those wanting a listing recorded for later viewing for up to 30 days.
Privacy? Most funerals are public funerals, however, if a family doesn’t want to stream we don’t, likewise if they only want a selected group to stream too then we password the stream and then only those with the password will be able to watch. Most people want a public funeral. We also have a 2nd channel on our website (directly below the 1st) when funerals are streamed off-site, such as from a church or other venue.
Amazing technology, connecting loved ones and helping honour those who have died by bringing us together. Shakespeare said “Give sorry words” which is a reason to have a funeral, now we can add “and pictures” to that also!
