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公共机构借力社媒软件 随之也有问题

Social media are changing the ways that police departments and other public agencies do business. New media are helping¹ monitor police and keeping the traffic moving on congested highways. But they are also raising questions.

社交媒体正在改变警察局和其它公共机构的行事方式。不过，新媒体虽然可以监督警察并让车辆在拥塞的公路上保持行进，但它们的使用也带来一些问题。

At the Los Angeles public transit² system known as LA Metro³, workers monitor banks of video screens showing buses on their routes and busy intersections⁴, looking for delays or other signs of trouble. The system uses information from its cameras and sensors⁵, and will soon use data from the social media application Waze, sent by drivers who note real-time traffic conditions.

在洛杉矶公交系统（LA Metro），工作人员监视着在规定路线行驶的公共汽车，观察延误或任何其它麻烦迹象。这套系统利用来自摄像头和感应器的信息，很快还将使用社交媒体应用软件“位智”(Waze)传来的信息，这是由驾车人发送的实时交通状况报告。

Kali Fogel of LA Metro says the transit system must have up-to-date information.

洛杉矶公交的卡利·佛格尔说，交通系统需要最新的信息。

“Data is king, so to have a lot of data is very important. We have a lot of infrastructure⁶ data. What crowd-sourcing and apps like Waze allow us to do is to fill in the gaps," said Fogel.

他说：“数据为王，所以，必须要有大量的数据。我们已有大量的基础设施数据，而‘群众外包’(crowd-sourcing)以及‘位智’这样的应用软件让我们可以填补空档。”

Waze, owned by Google, has partnered with cities from Rio to Jakarta to better understand urban traffic patterns.

谷歌(Google)拥有的“位智”与里约热内卢和雅加达等各地城市合作，更好地了解城市交通规律。

Drivers like Freda Sideroff of Los Angeles rely on Google Maps and other navigation apps to get through the traffic.

洛杉矶的弗雷达·塞德罗夫等驾车人靠谷歌地图和其它导航应用软件来应付塞车。

“It is so useful, I use it every day," said Sideroff.

 “太有用了，我每天都用。”她说。

The California Department of Transportation, known as Caltrans, also communicates with drivers - through message signs on freeways, its highway mapping site called QuickMap, and social media sites like Twitter. Caltrans spokesman Patrick Chandler says traffic managers see millions of trips each day.

加利福尼亚州运输部(Caltrans)也通过在高速公路、他们自己的公路地图网“快捷地图” （QuickMap）以及推特（Twitter）等社交媒体网站上发布讯息标示来与驾车人沟通。加州运输部发言人帕特里克·钱德勒说，交管人员每天要观察数百万的旅程。

“But the system is old. It’s 60, 70-years-old, so we try different things to maximize capacity beyond just building new freeways or interchanges or widen the freeways. We try to inform travelers of the conditions that are ahead of them," said Chandler.

 “但这套系统年代久了，有六七十年了，”他说，“所以我们尝试用不同的方法最大地优化承运能力，而不只是新修或扩建高速公路和交汇口。我们试图把前方路况通知给驾车人。”

Police departments are using social media to communicate with the public.

警察局，比如马里兰州的一家警察局，也利用社交媒体与公共沟通。

But following protests in many American cities over the deaths of African Americans at the hands of police, and the killing⁷ of several officers in separate incidents, some police are worried that applications like Waze that identify police locations can pose a danger to officers.

但是，在非洲裔美国人在警察执法期间死亡的事件引发抗议后，一些警察担心，“位智”这类可以标明警察位置的应用软件有可能对他们构成危险。

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck expressed this concern to Google in December. A Google spokeswoman did not respond directly to his concern, saying only that the company works with police to keep officers and citizens safer.

在警察和其它公共机构不断靠社交媒体与公众沟通并搜集信息之际，民权自由组织也利用他们的社媒应用软件，鼓励民众监督警察。

Meanwhile, civil liberties groups are using their social apps to encourage citizens to monitor police, including applications being distributed in New York and California.

These developments underscore the growing importance of social media for the public, police and other public agencies to communicate and gather information.