Modern parliamentary management

By: Lyda Durango*

Perhaps one of the most discussed public efforts is that of parliament. Attendance, debates and voting are factors that are traditionally difficult to control and often subject to informality.

Because of this lack of control, a cloak of doubt has been woven around the way in which the laws governing the destinies of a country are decided.

But history is changing. Thanks to technological systems that combine interactivity and security, the world's parliaments have begun to add transparency to their management.
An example of this, and the most recent, is the wireless debate system installed in the Senate of Colombia, which since July 28, 2009 became the most modern in Latin America and one of the most modern in the world.

One platform, many benefits
This new system is made up of cameras of movement and autonomous tracking, integrated encrypted systems and integration of aspects of video surveillance management, access control and intrusion systems, among other technological resources.
All this is installed on top of the Bosch DCN wireless debate system that has been designed for conferences and seminars in both large and small rooms.

"It is a system of debates and congresses that allows to manage all kinds of deliberation rooms, it can be of the company or of the parliament," explains Rafael Padilla, regional director of Bosch Security Systems for Colombia and Central America.

This software allows the operator to control the system. Even before the start of the meeting or discussion, delegate names can be assigned to all wireless discussion units.

Likewise, during the course of the activity, the operator can control the microphones, start or stop the voting sessions and display their results.

"The system also has the possibility of linking simultaneous translation, video systems to monitor the debate and attendance and to link with audio systems, periphon and even with the Internet to present documents during the session," explains Padilla.

The system has electronic voting and internal instant messaging between congressmen, caucuses and boards of directors.

It also offers the possibility of real-time interaction through teleconferencing and videoconferencing with simultaneous translation. In this way, the Colombian legislative body can connect with other similar ones in the rest of the world.

And as if this were not enough, a simultaneous translation system was installed with two booths, but with capacity for up to 32 channels.

Custom sound
The Colombian Senate consists of 102 seats. Each seat is equipped with a biometric fingerprint reader that is responsible for activating all systems.

It is also equipped with a touch screen that allows each senator to interact with the entire system. In addition, it consists of an audio unit and a microphone, with which the order for the use of the word as well as its duration is assigned.

The unit of the system administrator - which in this case would be those of the president and secretary - is in charge of the general administration. From there the turns for participation, exposure times, voting management and vote counts are governed.

One of the highlights of this system is the audio and video system. Bosch developed the sound system according to the acoustics of the room. "It is an automatic sound that is graduated according to the tone of voice of the user," says Emilio Otero, secretary general of the Senate.

"For this system, important conditions of acoustics, reververance, volume and auditory levels were taken into account," explains Rafael Padilla. "In this way, optimal levels of listening and understanding of the debates can be guaranteed," he adds.

"With Law 5 in hand, Bosch designed this system solely and exclusively for Colombia," says Emilio Otero. "What was applied here can only be applied in our congress," he adds.

Bosch DCN technology has been on the market for several years and has already been launched by several parliaments in the world. "As in offices of the Andean Parliament, General Assembly of Mexico, Assembly of Spain and European Parliament," explains Rafael Padilla.

However, none of them with the modernity of the system implemented in Colombia, as it incorporates the most recent advances.

"Our main objective is to give transparency to the legislative processes and for the country," says Mr. Emilio Otero, secretary general of the Senate. "We want to be close to citizens through technological tools and the internet," he adds.

And it is that one of the projects of the Senate is the transmission of all the sessions through the Internet so that the citizens can see them in real time.

The unification of the systems is also sought. "Thanks to biometric readers as part of access control. This system can be focused on guaranteeing the identity of the person who is participating in the debate but it can expand to more uses," explains Rafael Padilla.

Modernization despite resistance
One of the main challenges of this installation was the care of the building, since the process included a complete remodeling of the enclosure, where the complete update of the infrastructure was made.

"The integrator mounted structured wiring on the floor that feeds the different systems in the most modern, practical and useful way," explains Rafael Padilla. "The start-up was a very well planned process," he adds.

Padilla says that one of the most determining factors has been cultural resistance. "One of the things that ends up happening in this type of facility is that users are forced to act according to the rules that they themselves have but that they do not comply with to the letter," he says.

"We have not been able to do the training 100% so that the entire system can be used in its entirety," adds Emilio Otero. "It's understandable because there are senators who have never touched a computer," he concludes.

- A mechanism to enable multimedia access from various sources for the information, related to the sessions, to be used.

- Fingerprint verification of the attendance of legislators and those who intervene.
Easy handling and interaction with the system thanks to a friendly interface.

- A new sound system, designed for the enclosure, with acoustic handling options.

- An interconnected system via data network, for functions such as information visualization, data sharing, etc.

- New centralized presentation system, with automatic action to follow those who intervene

Note: this article was originally written for an electronic medium following the parameters of digital journalism; therefore, when published in a printed medium, it may not fit the reading format.

*Lyda Durango directs alieno marketing & communications, a virtual media center with an emphasis on specialized content creation. She can be contacted at the email [email protected].