By Matthew Schreiner

Presenters: Michael Alagna and Megan Bixler

Text-to-9-1-1 brings with it many complex issues for which practitioners, standards bodies and private industry must all work together to craft solutions to ensure that text-to-9-1-1 provides the same level of service as voice-to-9-1-1. Many requirements must be met, including:

• Political requirements
• Funding requirements
• Technical requirements, and most importantly,
• Operational requirements

Most of this presentation was dedicated to translation services and the challenges presented by providing this service with text-to-9-1-1. It helped the audience understand how this issue is looming on the near-term horizon and how in some cases, such as Palm Beach, Florida, it is delaying the implementation of their text-to-9-1-1 project.

Some questions posed by members of the audience, not related to translation services, remain undecided. These questions addressed topics such as:

• The low uptake of text-to-9-1-1 by citizens
• Are technologies like Facebook, Snapchat, and other communication methods replacing texting?
• Should technology drive operational workflows, or should workflow direct technical solutions?

But as Michael Alagna said, “The IJIS Institute is dedicated to working with practitioners and providers to find solutions to encourage adoption of text-to-9-1-1.” Megan Bixler also pointed out, “…some of these solutions are transitional solutions, and will evolve over time”.