KIOSKS KEEPING PEOPLE OUT OF COURT.Byline: Don Holland Staff Writer The gee-whiz technology of e-commerce e-commerce, commerce conducted over the Internet, most often via the World Wide Web. E-commerce can apply to purchases made through the Web or to business-to-business activities such as inventory transfers. and ATMs is making it easier to handle court business without ever setting foot in a courthouse. The Oaks mall is home to one of four brand-new Automated au·to·mate v. au·to·mat·ed, au·to·mat·ing, au·to·mates v.tr. 1. To convert to automatic operation: automate a factory. 2. Court Clerks A court clerk, in British English clerk to the court or in American English clerk of the court is an officer of the court whose responsibilities include maintaining the records of a court. Another duty is to swear in witnesses, jurors, and grand jurors. , user-friendly computer kiosks that allow people to check on criminal cases, pay traffic tickets and handle certain other court matters. The machines, which use touch-screen technology, also make copies, send and receive faxes and provide information on filing small-claims suits - source of some of the most frequently asked questions at the courthouse. ``We have a very strong philosophy on maximizing technology to enhance public service,'' said Margie Borjon-Miller, deputy executive officer of the Ventura County Superior Court. ``We felt technology was in a state where we could take the court to the public, rather than have them get in their cars and come here, especially for high-volume things like traffic citations and questions like how to file a small-claims action.'' Although Ventura County is not the first to use computerized computerized adapted for analysis, storage and retrieval on a computer. computerized axial tomography see computed tomography. kiosks, Borjon-Miller said she's unaware of other counties installing Automated Court Clerks in shopping malls. In addition to the one located near Macy's at The Oaks, Automated Court Clerks have been installed at the Buenaventura Mall in Ventura, Wal-Mart in Oxnard and in the lobby of the main courthouse in Ventura. A fifth machine will be located in the courthouse's jury assembly room to dispense dispense /dis·pense/ (-pens´) to prepare medicines for and distribute them to their users. dis·pense v. To prepare and give out medicines. checks to jurors. Between mid-July and mid-August, kiosks at the three retail sites handled 1,575 transactions - half of those by people who wanted to see a map of the main courthouse. So far, the kiosks have handled about 2 percent of the approximately 100,000 traffic tickets that county courts process every year. ``I see that increasing,'' Borjon-Miller said. ``If you use the kiosk kiosk Originally, in Islamic architecture, an open circular pavilion consisting of a roof supported by pillars. The word has been applied to a Turkish summer garden pavilion and a type of early Persian mosque. , you'll see how user-friendly it is. So I see an increase as people become more comfortable with technology.'' Ventura County courts fielded the first information kiosks in 1992, but their interactive capabilities were limited. The development of the World Wide Web and e-commerce have been a boon Boon A general term that refers to a benefit or improvement for investors. This can include such things as increased dividends, a stock market rally and stock buybacks. Notes: to automating a wide variety of transactions, said John Murphy A number of people have been named John Murphy
``Ventura County has done a very good job of automating and making it easier for their constituents to interact with the county without having to go wait in line somewhere,'' Murphy said. ``They've taken people from standing in line, and they've been able to put them online'' he said. ``A lot of other counties talk about it, but Ventura went ahead and implemented it.'' Based in Kansas City Kansas City, two adjacent cities of the same name, one (1990 pop. 149,767), seat of Wyandotte co., NE Kansas (inc. 1859), the other (1990 pop. 435,146), Clay, Jackson, and Platte counties, NW Mo. (inc. 1850). , Kan., TouchNet wrote software that allows the computer kiosk to access information in the court's main computer system. Only traffic offenders can use the machines to pay tickets with a credit card, ATM card An ATM card (also known as a bank card, client card, or cash card) is an ISO 7810 card issued by a bank, credit union or building society. Its primary uses are: In a year or so, local court officials hope to offer the same services and access to court computer information via the Internet. The same technology is being used to automate To turn a set of manual steps into an operation that goes by itself. See automation. class registration at colleges around the country. And some utility companies are looking at using similar kiosks as bill payment centers. ``We're taking the kiosk beyond being just an informational terminal to make it much more of a transactional device,'' Murphy said. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: (Color) Kiosks such as this enable users to conduct Ventura County court business. Eric Grigorian/Special to the Daily News |
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