City has new web, email addresses and improved government TV
The City of Minneapolis has a new web address: MinneapolisMN.gov. While the new address is shorter and easier to remember, the most significant benefit is that it provides the public with an added reassurance that it is the official City government site, since only government entities are allowed to have a "dot gov" domain.
The old domain name ci.minneapolis.mn.us – will continue to work indefinitely, but people are encouraged to update their bookmarks and use www.minneapolismn.gov when visiting the City's website.
In addition to the new domain name, City email addresses are also changing. City employee email addresses will be formatted like this: firstname.lastname@minneapolismn.gov. Like the web address, the old email addresses will continue to work indefinitely, so if a person sends an email to firstname.lastname@ci.minneapolis.mn.us, that City employee will still receive the email message.
Minneapolis 79
To coincide with the shift to a new web address, the City also launched a revamped government television channel: Minneapolis 79. Among the changes viewers will see:
- A "live" graphic bug in the upper left corner during live council meetings so viewers can immediately tell when they are tuned in to a live City Council or Committee meeting.
- New "lower third" graphics that provide on-screen information during City meetings.
- A consistent programming schedule so it’s easier for people to know when to tune in to watch a Council or Committee meeting.
- A new set of short public education videos that promote important City news and information. These "Did You Know…" segments are also produced in Spanish, Somali and Hmong.
The program schedule includes more rebroadcasts of government meetings. In addition to airing live and rebroadcast City Council meetings on Minneapolis 79, the City of Minneapolis offers live and archived meetings on its website. Live Minneapolis 79 programming can now also be viewed on most mobile devices at minneapolis.implex.net/video.htm.
The Minneapolis City Council approved the new web domain name in November 2010, and since then the City's Business Information Services department has been working to ensure that all Web pages and email addresses would work properly once the conversion to the new domain name was implemented.
Published Aug. 1, 2011