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Date: 8/7/2023
HOLYOKE — During the Finance Committee’s July 26 meeting, discussions revolved around Holyoke Media’s plans to expand real-time Spanish interpretation services for all City Council and subcommittee meetings.
Holyoke Media Executive Director Scott MacPherson joined the Finance Committee for the discussion and shared with the committee that the city media group broadcast 281 hours of City Council and subcommittee meetings in 2022.
Currently Holyoke Media’s real-time translation is only offered for the council’s regular sessions. The expanded translation service would cover all city and subcommittee meetings. MacPherson explained that the 281 hours in 2022 would have had an hourly rate of $150 for two interpreters who alternate every 20 minutes.
At-Large Councilor Kevin Jourdain called the hourly rate, “steep” and suggested exploring artificial intelligence for captioning to replace interpreters might be a more cost-effective move for the city in getting translations of meetings out to the public.
“I’m not opining it’s good bad or otherwise. At first blush it does seem that $150 is pricey,” Jourdain said.
Holyoke Media President Jennifer Myszkowski acknowledge Jourdain’s concern but highlighted the specialized skills interpreters need to translate meetings in real time. She added it’s an “extremely taxing” job which explains the hourly rate.
“I think the thing to keep in mind is these people are real time interpreting, that’s a very specialized skill,” Myszkowski said.
MacPherson said if Holyoke Media were to utilize artificial intelligence for translation services, it would require specialized technology capable of integrating text into the livestream. According to MacPherson, this type of technology could cost about $50,000 per output channel, and added the subscription service is costly as well. TransFluenci of East Longmeadow currently handle the council’s interpretation services.
On top of the costly adoption and integration of an artificial intelligence, MacPherson also explained captioning may exclude viewers who are unable to read. Jourdain countered and urged Holyoke Media to consider a more affordable interpreting solution.
Ward 6 Councilor Juan Anderson Burgos rebutted Jourdain’s comments by stating that TransFluenci had been transparent regarding the hourly rate. He added that using artificial intelligence would also eliminate jobs.
“I also wanted to state is the problem I have with AI is it takes jobs away and I think that’s important to know,” Anderson-Burgos said.
The City Council initiated real-time translation in August 2021 for regular sessions after identifying the community need. An agreement with Comcast, the city’s sole cable television provider, designates a portion of annual profits to maintain a cable access channel, a community studio and translation service. The existing contract with Comcast will trigger a renewal as it expires in the upcoming year.
About $12,000 each quarter is deposited into a specific account to support interpretation services. MacPherson explained that the revenues from the Comcast agreement were adequate to finance the proposed expansion.
Under the Comcast agreement, the mayor is authorized to expend the revenue. The mayor then sends cable-related invoices to Holyoke Media for processing, which includes interpretation services.
At-Large Councilor Joseph McGiverin said there needs to be a check and balance in this process, as he questioned whether Holyoke Media or the city should be monitoring and managing expenditures.