Live subtitles
Automatic subtitles can now be enabled for live streams. These subtitles are generated by the same AI-powered engine that we use for archived meetings, which is fully optimised for local authority content. Some of our clients have already enabled this for their live meetings to improve accessibility – check out the live webcasts from Edinburgh City Council as an example.
Contact your account manager or our service desk to learn more about costs and how to enable this for your organisation.
Accessibility statement
All public sector websites must adhere to the accessibility requirements laid out by the government by 23rd September 2020. We have worked hard to make your Public-i microsite meet the government’s accessibility requirements. We have developed tools to make sure that videos are accessible to people with hearing impairments (transcription and subtitling). Using automatic tools like digital voting can also improve accessibility by reporting vote results in text format rather than on an image.
You will soon see an accessibility statement link at the bottom of your Connect microsite pages.
Your accessibility statement includes a contact form, where visitors can request information in an accessible format or report accessibility issues. This form states how quickly you will respond to any enquiries – by default this is set to 10 days. It is important to think about your time to reply carefully, because it is legally binding. If you say you’ll respond within 10 working days, you must reply within that timeframe or face possible sanction. You can change your time to reply and the email address that the enquiry is sent to at any time by going to the Site Settings page of your Admin area.
Webcaster Remote
At Public-i, we are keen to make a product that is client-centric. During our user groups, many of our clients wanted improvements to our Webcaster Remote Control. The Remote allows operators to sit anywhere in the room and control the webcast using a tablet. We’ve made two important improvements:
- We’ve added the ability to turn the microphone automation on and off, which can be useful during votes when you want the camera to be static on an overview of the room.
- We’ve added a way to edit captions and speaker profiles on the current layout, in case the meeting has started and a speaker is sitting in the wrong seat.
This requires the latest version of Webcaster to be installed, so contact us and we can upgrade you remotely.
User group
On top of discovering new features, our user groups are your chance to have an input on the development roadmap. You might have ideas to make the product better and increase transparency. It is also a good way to see how other councils are doing things. Our next user group is on the 2nd October 2019 at Tower Hamlets council. Please contact us if you would like to attend. We look forward to seeing you.