The Village of Palmetto Bay has, like a number of other municipal governments, streaming videos of their council meetings. This is a good thing, since it makes those meetings more accessible to many residents who may not be able to attend the actual meetings in person due to one reason or another. The company, Granicus, handles the real time “broadcasting” of these meetings on the internet via the city website, and also provides to the municipalities archived videos of the meetings so that people who missed them can still view them later, whenever they wish, which is also a good thing. For the benefit of the hearing impaired there is something called closed captioning, which appear like subtitles across the bottom of the screen, putting the spoken words into print. This is helpful, and is generally well done. Sort of… We’ve noticed some discrepancies, however. Sometimes what the closed captioning says is a bit different from what the people have said, which can be weird, confusing or even amusing. Let me give you some examples from a recent special council meeting that caught my eye.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, the closed captioning changed the word “terrace” to “terrorists.” It sometimes changed the manager’s name, Silva, to either “Silver” or “Sullivan” (which was really a stretch!). “Concerned Citizens of Old Cutler” turned into “Concerned Citizens of Color,” which sounds decidedly more ethnic. The word “with” became “Ruth” and “their notorious” surprisingly became “meritorious,” which is a very kind rewriting of the person’s intent, to say the least! A resident’s name that sounded like “John Isenhurst” became “about Bible verse,” and another man’s name, “Jay Williger,” became “Jay will have her.” There were many, many other examples during the two hour meeting.
Now this is a tech problem, and admittedly the science of voice recognition is much better now than in the past. Still, it must be a trifle baffling to those who can only read the words on their screens instead of hearing them. No doubt, the technology will improve. In the meantime, it can provide an unintentional source of entertainment for anyone wishing to pay attention to them, and is often more fun than the actual speeches themselves. Technology is wonderful when it works, and sometimes even when it doesn’t!
Note: The Town of Cutler Bay doesn’t have the same system yet, but we hear they’re looking into it. It does however have some other tech features of interest posted on its website.
The Cutler Bay Mobile App “gives residents access to the latest news and events happening in the Town. Residents can also use the app to report any issues or concern via their phone.” The free app can be downloaded in the iTunes Store or Google Play by searching “Cutler Bay FL.”
The Community on Patrol (COP) App: The Town and Miami-Dade Police Department offer the COP App to allow the residents of Miami-Dade to be on patrol in their neighborhoods and report any suspicious activity to the Town’s Policing Unit. This free app can also be downloaded in the iTunes Store or Google Play by searching “Community on Patrol.”
Thought of the Day:
I have noticed that nothing I never said ever did me any harm. – Calvin Coolidge
Gary Alan Ruse contributed to this column.
Got any tips? Contact me at 305-669-7355, ext. 249, or send emails to Michael@communitynewspapers.com.
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