OpenGov Data publishes several machine-generated text artifacts for each meeting. Each file has a different purpose.
VTT Transcript
The VTT transcript is the timestamped transcript output.
Use it when you want:
- timestamps
- caption-style transcript review
- source alignment with the original recording
- rough navigation by time
This is the closest text artifact to the transcription stage.
Sliced Transcript TXT
The sliced transcript is a plain-text version of the transcript produced during segmentation.
Use it when you want:
- a readable raw-ish transcript
- transcript text grouped by detected segments
- an intermediate artifact between VTT and normalized text
This file may contain extra spacing, transcription artifacts, or segment boundaries.
Normalized Transcript
The normalized transcript is cleaned into sentence-per-line text.
Use it when you want:
- easier reading than raw transcript output
- summarization input
- text extraction
- copy/paste review
- comparing meeting content across files
This is often the best transcript artifact for reviewing meeting text directly.
Meeting Signals
Meeting signals are deterministic candidate evidence lines extracted from normalized transcript text.
Use them when you want:
- possible motions
- possible votes
- roll call references
- money references
- ordinance or resolution references
- contract, agreement, bid, permit, or zoning references
- questions or uncertain transcript lines
Meeting signals are not official minutes, final civic records, or proof that something did or did not happen. They are review scaffolding for finding transcript lines that may deserve closer inspection.
Summary
The summary is a generated meeting summary, when available.
Use it when you want:
- a faster overview
- agenda item review
- motions, votes, and major discussion points
- a starting point before reading the transcript
Summaries are machine-generated and should be checked against the transcript and original recording before official use.
Important Note
All artifacts are machine-generated and may contain transcription, extraction, or summarization errors. Important claims should be verified against the original public meeting recording.