Pros and cons of virtual government meetings
Since the pandemic’s start, meetings of all kinds have jumped back and forth between various schemes for safely meeting in person and various pieces of software to meet virtually. As an early user of streaming technology in my former profession as an audiovisual technician, I’ve seen the advantages and disadvantages of virtual meetings from several perspectives.
While state and local governments mull whether to continue offering streaming access to the public, and whether to allow the officials themselves to meet virtually, I think it’s worth highlighting a couple of those pros and cons.
Pros -
Eliminate distance as a barrier
I think the biggest advantage of virtual meetings is pretty obvious; the irrelevance of distance. Even on the county level, traveling to the county seat to contribute to a commissioner’s meeting can be a prohibitively long trip, let alone Lansing or Washington, D.C. If someone lacks a vehicle, driver’s license, or significant money to pay a taxi service, then it effectively leaves them out of the governing process unless they can participate electronically.
Bring busy parents, professionals back into government
Another benefit of virtual meetings is access for busy people, particularly parents and professionals who work long, irregular hours. If you’re a parent, bringing your kids to a council meeting probably sounds like a nightmare, and paying a babysitter might not seem worth the expense. But if you can join a video call from home and keep your microphone muted for much of the time, civic participation and parenthood are no longer mutually exclusive. Same with a busy professional who might be able to tune in from the office while doing other work, or listen to the goings-on while on their commute home.
Cons -
The learning curve of technology
Sometimes technology is confusing, even to the most “inclined” of us. For those of us who didn’t grow up with technology, it can be downright mystifying. Not having more traditional options available like writing, phoning in, or appearing in person likely boxes out some of our older residents, a particular consideration in communities like Houghton with a significant number of retirees. And of course, as soon as you’ve gotten used to one system, they roll out an update, and everything changes.
This can be mitigated somewhat by carefully choosing user-friendly software and using clear instructive communication, but will likely be a perpetual issue with technology-based governance of any kind.
The last disadvantage I want to list is probably the most insidious.
The mute button
I don’t think its potential for abuse is too high at the local level, but at the state level, it has dangerous potential. And it’s simply that once you’re on the other end of a wire, you come equipped with a mute button. The Open Meetings Act guarantees the right of the public to speak at government meetings, but when someone can take that right away with a quick click, the temptation for those in power to abuse it may be too great.
Whatever we decide the future to be, I think we should be wary of how easy we make it for politicians to ‘put us on mute’.
Original Comments:
Good points on meetings, Josh. It seems the pros for virtual meetings outweigh the cons and these open the meetings to a wider audience and more public participation.
Author
I agree, as long as there are good outlets (like the news media) for those voices who may get silenced by government representatives with a mute button.