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WHAT IS COURT REPORTING?
Using a steno machine
(these days sometimes voice recognition),
court reporters ensure the words
of speakers are immediately available
for review on a computer or television screen.
WHERE DO COURT REPORTERS WORK?
-
COURTS
- FREELANCE AGENCIES
Through
agencies you may be sent to
work at law offices or occasionally
on ocean-going freighters.
-
TV STUDIOS or FROM
HOME (Closed Captioners)
-
INSTITUTIONS (CART
Reporters)
At educational or other institutions providing CART
services for hearing-impaired students and others.
HOW IS IT DONE?
Reporters use phonetic shorthand on a steno machine to write
syllables, words, or phrases. They also code in speaker
identifications as speakers change
and add punctuation and appropriate
annotations, such as start and end times of procedures. The speed of dictation
varies from a rate of 160 to 260 word per minute. (See COCRA description.)
After capturing and display
spoken words in real time, reporters
edit their work afterwards to ensure correctness
of spellings, punctuation and context
- ending up with a 150- to 300-page
document (transcript) for one day's
work.
For more information,
check out excerpts from the online
NCRA
Journal trade magazine or
www.bestfuture.com
and
StenographU.com.
WHAT DO TRANSCRIPTS LOOK
LIKE?
OTHER OPINIONS
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THE CANADIANA CORNER
Appreciating your geographic region is important for good
reporting and general education:
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| A Brief Intro to Canadian English See also Linguistics
- colour, not color; labour, not labor; favourite, not
favorite, etc.
-
practice is a noun; practise is a verb
-
centre, not center
-
lieutenant is pronounced
lef–ten–ant
-
cheques are for transferring
money; checks happen in hockey
-
'til is the contraction for
until;
till is a gardening or farming implement
-
orthopaedic, etc., not orthopedic
-
dialogue, not dialog
-
Z is pronounced Zed, not Zee (Warning: Remember
this when reading access codes to your CAT help desk!)
-
Quotation marks for single words
go inside commas and periods; quotation marks for phrases go
outside of commas and periods
Want More details?
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WHERE TO LEARN COURT
REPORTING
(machine shorthand)
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TRADITIONAL and ONLINE SCHOOLS
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FREE CAT DICTIONARY!
Why
free? Why Share?
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VIDEO GAME PRACTICE HELPS SURGEONS!
I have long been a proponent of
practising "twitch" computer/video games, i.e., where you need to rapidly react.
Not only does this increase
your ability to react quickly using an unnatural mechanical device, as mentioned
in the above article, but it also increases your ability to totally concentrate
over longer and longer periods of time. I would say that makes these games
very similar to the mental agility required in using the steno machine.
Personally, I noticed speed
boosts after playing games such as WinBrick2000 or WinBrick96 (my favourite).
See WinBrick. Other games: Tetris
The main thing is we are not
talking about puzzle-type games such as Solitaire and FreeCell where you can
relax and analyse; we're talking about games requiring fast reaction times.
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IS
THERE REALLY A SHORTAGE OF COURT REPORTERS
IN CANADA?
The facile, glib answer
is there is a shortage of talented
people in every profession.
The reality today is
court reporters are needed today
in legal and captioning areas for
real-time, instant voice-to-speech
transcript. The so-called 'old-fashioned'
machine shorthand steno machine
hooked up to a computer still provides
more accuracy than voice-writing
through a stenomask with voice
recognition software.
There will always be a future for those with excellent
written language skills, particularly English language skills.
TECHNOLOGY UPDATES
MOST IMPORTANT
ASPECT OF MAKING THE RECORD?
It's
the language. It's the correct
words on the page, correctly spelled,
correctly punctuated. A particular
device is absolutely no guarantee
that words in a transcript are
correct; it's the brains behind
the words/method. The
mechanical means of getting the
words where they are supposed to
be must be secondary in this day
and age. However, the effort required
to learn modern machine (CAT)
shorthand generally goes hand in
hand with a commitment to good
language; stenomasking has, on
the other hand, suffered from the
ability to be quickly trained on
the equipment but not the linguistic
finesse required of the reporting
profession. It's not an either/or.
A caveat
and word of warning: Reporting
technology must prove itself on
the job not in short, canned demos
or tests. The proof of voice technology's
arrival will be producing transcript
in real time over the course of
long and lengthy proceedings. Good
steno writers can perform real
time with 99 percent accuracy day
in, day out. We need to see voice
writers do the same.
Voicewriters,
like CAT writers, can't afford
to go cheap on their technology.
Using top-of-the-line voice recognition
software must be a priority, which
puts successful voicewriting for
most people in the $5,000-to-$10,000
range as an investment.
SHORTHAND
REPORTING SELF-TAUGHT
(for the inexorably, overarchingly "frugal")
With guidance
from a mentor, it can
be done.
-
GET
THE EQUIPMENT
-
LEARN
THE THEORY, SOFTWARE and ACADEMIC SUBJECTS
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PRACTISE...with speed tapes and television news and
documentary programmes one to
two hours a day. (See practice and
speedbuilding tips.)
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FIND
A MENTOR
Seek
out a mentor for occasional
guidance:
-
NCRA
Mentor Program
- Local
phone book under "Court
Reporters", "Court
Stenographers"
- Local
courthouse (ask
for Official
Reporter)
- Ask
a lawyer (For
a fee or not,
they will likely
tell you where
to find your
local court
reporting agencies)
-
Know your English
grammar thoroughly.
-
See Training and
Practice for more
details.
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| UNDERSTANDING
THE REPORTING CHALLENGE
FOR NON-REPORTERS
Listen
to the news on television
or simply listen to
an average conversation.
For each word tap one
finger once. You'll
find you're doing this
two, three, four times
a second, approximately
180 to 240 times, i.e.,
180 to 240 words per
minute. For more of
a challenge, try tapping
all ten fingers simultaneously
for each word spoken.
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COURT
REPORTERS AS "SPEECH
TRANSLATORS"
The
art of court reporting
comprises language
skills far beyond those
of the basic office
dicta-typist/stenographer
who is told what to
type, how to spell
it, and how to punctuate
it. Court reporting
is almost a sister
profession to that
of simultaneous translation/interpretation
in the complexity of
material and immediacy
of performing the skill.
Read-backs of shorthand
notes or audio tracks
bring reporters partially
into the realm of interpreting;
real-time reporting
certainly is synonymous
with it.
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GOOD READS
for COURT REPORTERS
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ALTERNATE SEARCH ENGINES
QUICK ONLINE REFERENCES
BOOK/CD-ROM REFERENCE
MATERIALS
TECHNICAL RESOURCES
TECHNICAL LINKS
OTHER SOFTWARE & WEBSITES YOU REALLY NEED
TECHNICAL MAGAZINES
LEGAL NEWS
for REPORTERS
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