It’s usually a red flag when a column opens with the dictionary definition of something, but I’m going to run this red flag up the pole to see who salutes.
The folks at Oxford include in their definitions of “zoom” one that references moving away suddenly, at high speed.
Keep that in mind while I zoom out so we can see back to January, when we could still dine out in large groups, masks were for Halloween and lucha libre wrestlers, and your local government representatives made decisions sitting at the same table.
I wrote in a Jan. 31 column, “In praise of the analogue council experience,” that I preferred being in the room to watch council deliberations over the digital and online alternatives.
I did not know that I was writing about something that would soon become a relic of the past. I’d also yet to experience Zoom as defined in terms of the current pandemic.
While outlining all the advantages of being in a council chamber or board room to look our elected representatives in the eyes as they voted on raising taxes or similar vital decisions, I conceded that not everybody can get to a meeting in person.
“One solution Sechelt has been at the forefront of here on the Coast is live streaming meetings over the Internet and posting the videos for people to binge watch afterwards,” I wrote. “Gibsons and the SCRD are getting on board this year.”
And get on board they did. Zoom! Zero to 60 in no time flat into meeting, debating and deciding exclusively online.
My whole work schedule, and even a chunk of my personal life, have come to be defined by Zoom to the point where I can’t stop myself humming the ’80s Aretha Franklin hit Who’s Zoomin’ Who? as I log in.
The traditional August hiatus for Sunshine Coast local governments has given me time to revisit my thoughts on analogue council meetings.
I still believe the best decision-making, and the best oversight of that decision-making, comes from being in the same room and there’s an increasing body of research to show that “Zoom fatigue” contributes to exhaustion, lack of focus and generally sloppy brain function.
I’m not suggesting the decision-making we’ve seen in the Zoom era of local government has been bad, but I think there’s a real danger it might not be as good as it can be if this goes on much longer.
The province issued a ministerial order in June that required local governments make their “best efforts” to allow the public to physically attend open meetings while still ensuring COVID-19 precautions are being followed.
So far, though, that has amounted to setting up a screen in a room where a handful of people can gather to watch the decision-makers Zoom in from their homes and offices.
My worry is our local government representatives may become overly fond of making their decisions in cyberspace with the potentially outspoken public gallery safely across the digital divide.
And that would be moving away suddenly, at high speed from constructive interaction with their constituents.
