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Your Voice e-mail newsletter a weekly publication of the Florida Association of Verbatim Reporters (Printed with permission.)
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TO THE INAUGURAL EDITION OF "YOUR VOICE" JANUARY 13, 2001, VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 Only he who keeps his eye fixed on the far horizon will find his right road. - Dag Hammarskjold _________ GRAB THAT CUP OF COFFEE! The Florida Association of Verbatim Reporters (FAVR) welcomes you to its inaugural edition of "Your Voice," the online publication designed to include reporters of all methods from all parts of the nation. FAVR endeavors to inform,inspire, and lead voice and steno writers to solidarity, opportunity, and national job security. The mission of "Your Voice" is to provide information to the professionals of court reporting, and closed, theater, and event captioning, including opportunities that utilize the skills of the court reporter in the future of court technology management. "Your Voice" will inform, provide and welcome communication between the voice reporter/captioner and the steno reporter/captioner. "Your Voice" will attempt to further unite those who will carry information technology through this and the next millennium as guardian of all records. Grab your cup of coffee. Get comfortable. Join us for each edition, and correspond with the readers of "Your Voice." Ask the questions that stimulate opinions. Expect answers to tough questions. ___________________________ MAKE YOUR VOICES HEARD! How can you do that and actually see results? By speaking out. Yes, speak amongst yourselves and here at "Your Voice," of course. A great leader CAN make a difference in voice and steno writer job security and opportunity. One such leader is James Bouck,
CVR-CM-RVR. When Jim speaks, people listen. He inspires
audiences of both reporting methods to ask for more information about
voice writers and our ASR (automated speech recognition) technology.
He has encouraged provocative dialogue among the reporting methods,
all the while urging inclusion and camaraderie. What would you like
Jim to ask inquiring audiences from around the nation? The time to begin is now. With leadership from role models like Jim
Bouck, consider this effort begun!
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WELCOME
TO YOUR VOICE FOR JANUARY 20, 2001, VOL. 1, ISSUE 2 Life
has 2 rules: Number 1, Never quit. Number 2, Always remember Number
1. Duke
Ellington. Submitted by Camille LeClair (NJ) ______________________ Thank
you readers. We appreciate your joining us for Saturday morning
coffee and Your Voice. The inaugural issue received tremendous
support and too many comments to publish them all this week. We hope
you will continue to participate with the Florida Verbatim Reporters
Association in bringing together all reporters across the nation.
As
you read through today's issue, in "Dear Your Voice:" you will
see that reporters want to read about each other. You will see an
article about a Florida county working hard to maintain the live reporter
in its circuit court system. Jim Bouck will treat you to some tricks
of speech recognition conflict resolution. There is realtime
equipment available for purchase. Meet
"The Complete Court Reporter."
South Carolina's annual meeting is announced. There's
a Web site featuring reporting history and Your Voice humor
at the end. ________ DEAR
YOUR VOICE: Hey,
nice!! It feels like Saturday morning, again. Donna
Kanabay Harvey, RMR, CRR (FL) ________ In
this fast-paced world of technology and the growing interest in our
profession, there can never be "TMI" (too much information).
I'm looking forward to the next edition. Jennifer
Smith, CVR (SC) _________ Good
morning. Thanks for sending me Your Voice. I look forward to
receiving future copies. Keep up the good work. Catherine
Jarman Rouzer, CVR (GA) _______ Just
a note to say I thoroughly enjoyed receiving my first edition of Your
Voice. Hope I have to do nothing further to remain on the emailing
list! Thanks, Lynda
Habig (LA) __________ Congratulations
- the publication is great and I really enjoyed reading it. Tonie
M. Wallace, RPR (VA) COURT
REPORTING CONSULTANTS ________ Please
be sure to include my email address on future editions of Your Voice.
My friend/mentor forwarded her copy to me. I am a voice writer
student expecting to test in Missouri in April 2001 and look forward to
receiving this new publication. Best wishes in this new endeavor. Andrea
Buckner ________________ Colleagues
and friends: Bravo
on your first edition. I've already read it and printed it to share
with my fellow reporters. You also taught me a new phrase to
reflect my life's credo: Don't wear a catcher's mitt on your hands because
you need one hand free to give something back. What an
outstanding way to deal with life's adversities. Now,
here's my New Year's resolution issue: I want to proceed with voice
recognition. I intend to contact StenoScribe this week, but I must admit
it is with an approach/avoidance effect. Can you offer any
immediate tips other than take a deep breath and then jump in?
At my advancing age, I'm not sure I can learn a new skill. Help, I can
feel the cells dying as we speak! But
I'm old enough to remember Disney's Davy Crockett saying, "Make sure
you're right, then go ahead." Any suggestions?
Signed:
Fearful in Framingham, Massachusetts - Erika Goldberg ________ YOUR
VOICE COMING ATTRACTIONS Next
week meet Donna Kanabay Harvey and Jason Meadors, coauthors of an NCRA
amendment extending membership status to voice reporters.
With shrinking pools of stenos, voice writers can add to the people
power that attorneys, judges, and caption companies critically need. We
will outline the amendment and ask for your opinions on this all-important
and possibly industry-saving proposal. Additionally,
look for an article by Sandra Fein, CCR, CVR-CM-HRVR, on the overly
aggressive behavior of fellow human beings, including and especially found
in the legal environment, by judges, attorneys, and witnesses. What
does this behavior mean for reporters? _________
FLORIDA:
MORE THAN JUST HANGING CHADS AND BUTTERFLY BALLOTS The
Daily Business Review, January 16, 2001 issue ran a cover story,
"Court Reporter Squeeze," subtitled, "Industry upheaval,
shortage of workers disrupts, delays some Broward criminal appeals."
Pretty scary headlines. Many states have dealt with reporter
shortages and delayed appeals by replacing live reporters with digital
recording devices. What makes this outcome different? The
problems are nationwide. Only the names change. In Broward
County, Florida, a convicted racketeer nearly had his 15-year prison
sentence overturned due to lack of an appeal transcript. The Daily
Business Review reported that in Broward Circuit Courts, court reporters
are overworked, underpaid and in short number. Article author, Tom
Collins, writes there aren't enough reporters to go around. Many who
graduate from the nation's 90 NCRA-certified schools bypass court
reporting to take jobs in the closed-captioning business. Add to the
mix, Broward pay lagged behind Dade and Palm Beach Counties. With
just under 1,000 cases tried a year in Broward, the backlog is tremendous.
A judge's panel was ordered to review the court reporting services.
The good news is it was agreed that a substantial pay increase was
warranted to attract qualified reporters. The raise will take effect late
January 2001. The bad news is it may be too late. Many
reporters have left Broward due to the low page rates. Paula
Laws, RPR, CMRS, past NCRA president, and owner/president of Triano Laws
& Associates, in Miami, Florida, is optimistic that the increase in
wages and better overall contract will appeal to reporters from
neighboring Dade County. She said the new deal was carefully
assembled and must be given a chance to succeed or fail. Let's
wish Triano Laws & Associates and other contract bidders good luck in
finding the best qualified court reporters to fulfill the many needs of a
county trying to stay with the live court reporter. _____________ REALTIME
TO THE INTERNET Capitol
Reporting Services and HearingRoom.com teamed up to report all of the
recent Senate confirmation hearings. Becky McClung, CVR-CM-RVR,
leads the Capitol Reporting Services staff of voice reporters and scopists
delivering realtime to the Internet for news group subscribers. As
you may know, the Senator John Ashcroft hearing created the most intrigue.
If you would be interested in a career reporting realtime to the
Internet, contact Becky McClung at Capitol Reporting Services, rmcclung@fuse.net.
_____________ LORETTA
ARMSTRONG, CVR-RDR-CRR, THE COMPLETE REPORTER Your
Voice is proud to introduce Loretta Armstrong, from North Carolina. Loretta
sets up her stenotype machine and her voice reporter equipment each day in
court. There are times she prefers to use the steno machine, and
other times she will use her voice writing system. Being a
dual-method reporter is not the most impressive part of Loretta's profile.
In 1994 she obtained the prestigious NCRA Registered Diplomate
Reporter designation. In 1998 she achieved the NVRA Certified
Verbatim Reporter, which includes dictation speeds of 200/225/250 wpm, and
a written exam. As if that is not proof of her competence, in
December 2000, NCRA notified Loretta that she had achieved Certified
Realtime Reporter status. Loretta
is an example of how ALL court reporters can become "one"!
Are there any other dual-method reporters out there? Contact
VoiceWriter@aol.com. _____________ YOUR
VOICE AUTOMATED SPEECH RECOGNITION TIP Jim
Bouck, CVR-CM-RVR, writes: For
the conflict problem of there/their/they're, I find that my
"there" and "they're" come up practically 100% of the
time. "Their" seems to be a bit more problematic. With
vocabulary building, the problem decreases. However, when doing a
demonstration or in a situation of needing "their" to be correct
each time, I use the spoken form of "their-pos" to achieve
"their." The best part of having "their-pos"
become second nature to you is that it will reduce contextual
misrecognitions when there/they're/their come up incorrectly. In
a lengthy trial, I use the "pos" ending in the spoken form for
many possessive pronouns. The idea is that "pos" stands
for possessive. It's an easily spoken form ending to use in all
cases where you're having possessive noun or pronoun problems. _________ STENOSCRIBE
ANNOUNCEMENT StenoScribe,
Inc., announces the appointment of Nancy Cavender, Fort Lauderdale,
Florida, as communications director. StenoScribe, Inc., is an
innovator of automated speech recognition (ASR) technology for court
reporting and ASR realtime to the Internet for national news services,
with movement into closed-captioning operations and other venues. StenoScribe
will capitalize on the 25-year court reporting career of Ms. Cavender.
She will reach out to the judicial and caption population of
reporters in an effort to educate them to the benefits of ASR. Through
providing seminar programs to court reporting state and national
associations, Ms. Cavender will endeavor to enlighten and encourage use of
automated speech recognition realtime technology through StenoScribe, Inc.
Ms.
Cavender is president of the Florida Verbatim Reporters Association and
managing editor of the online newsletter, Your Voice. _________ SOUTH
CAROLINA COURT REPORTERS ASSOCIATION ANNUAL MEETING
MYRTLE
BEACH, SOUTH CAROLINA March
30 and 31 CEUs
approved: NVRA: 20 NCRA: 12.5/1.25 Hotel
registration deadline: February 15 Convention
Registration Deadline: March 2 For
registration packet, email full name and address to: GMKEMP@SCCOAST.NET ________ YOUR
VOICE CLASSIFIEDS StenoScribe
Realtime System for sale: StenoScribe
Workstation with roller carrier, purchased in 1999 for $12,000. Dual
Pentium III 400 MHz CPUs, dual 9 gig hard drives, 128 Meg SDRAM. Includes
Windows NT, Corel Office 2000, Dragon 4.0 Preferred, Internal CD writer,
3.5 floppy disk drive, internal sound enhancer, microphones, modem and
headphones. This system contained everything you need to become a
realtime voice reporter. Price, $7,000. Call Amanda at
803.739.0786. ______________________ YOUR
VOICE WEB SITES Dred
Scott Case The
Missouri State Archives, along with the St. Louis Circuit Court and
Washington University, are working on a preservation project.
They have scanned and uploaded 170 pages of the original court
documents related to this historical case that helped push the nation
toward the civil war. If
you enjoy history, visit: www.library.wustl.edu/vlib/dredscott _______________________ YOUR
VOICE FUNNIES KITTENS A
three-year-old boy went with his dad to see a new litter of kittens. On
returning home, he breathlessly informed his mother, "There weretwo
boy kittens and two girl kittens." "How do you know
that?" his mother asked. "Daddy picked them up and looked
underneath," he replied. "I thinkit's printed on the
bottom." Submitted
by Barbara Enneking, CVR (OH) ___________ The
Florida Verbatim Reporters Association invites you to join our association
as full or associate members. For an application, email Nancy Cavender at VoiceWriter@aol.com. We include voice and steno
writer members. Look for future articles from many reporters in our
talented organization. Thank
you for visiting Your Voice. We welcomed many new FAVR members this
week. Please, let us know your thoughts and concerns. We will
encourage and publish your communications. To
unsubscribe, send an email with the word "unsubscribe" in the
subject line to VoiceWriter@aol.com. For
permission to reprint from Your Voice, contact VoiceWriter@aol.com. Your
Voice staff, Nancy
Cavender Managing
editor VoiceWriter@aol.com Pat
Baeske, CVR-CM-HM Content
and proofing editor PatBaeske@earthlink.net Gayle
Featheringill, CVR-CM-PNSC Content staff
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WELCOME
TO YOUR VOICE FOR JANUARY 27, 2001, VOL. 1, ISSUE 3 "It
is funny about life: if you refuse to accept anything but the very best,
you will very often get it." --W. Somerset Maugham Found
at www.USCRA.org ________ GOT
YOUR COFFEE? ________ Your
Voice is sponsored by StenoScribe, Inc., innovators of automated speech
recognition realtime technology. StenoScribe shares the mission of
the Florida Association of Verbatim Reporters and Your Voice, bringing all
court reporters together through education and information sharing. Visit
www.StenoScribe.com and find out what a sibilant is! Will you
"stay young" when using StenoScribe technology? Call
800.456.3290 and find out! ________ DEAR
YOUR VOICE: Thanks
to the Your Voice staff and participants for the great information. It's
nice to know I'm part of a whole body of court reporters working to
preserve and improve the profession. Nina
Kohler, CVR (PA and FL) ________ After
reporting the Republican National Committee meeting last week, I got to
shake George W's hand. Got decent pages, too. Ray
Heer (MD) ****Editorial
note: Ray, I think everyone would agree that shaking the hand of a
US President and getting decent pages is a court reporter's dream! ________ A
post from the CRForum: I
was wondering if there is still legislation in California prohibiting
voice writing reporters from getting licensed there? Do you think
there will ever be a place for voice reporters in California?
Karen
Catoire ________ A
post from the AOL Forum: This
proposed NCRA amendment would invite voice reporters to join NCRA.
As a court reporter for over 20 years, it would be my honor to belong to
this powerful and professional reporting association as a full member.
Reporter solidarity may be just the shot in the arm our profession needs.
If
you have views on this topic and many other provocative subjects, you may
be interested in receiving the FAVR online newsletter. Nancy
Cavender, CVR-CM (FL) ****A
response: Welcome
to our world -- even if you've actually been here 20 years! A
reporting professional is a reporting professional, no matter the
technology used. And you're right, we can use all the clout we can
muster. I'm
interested in all aspects of this profession, so please sign me up for the
FAVR newsletter. Eileen
from Arizona ________ EVER
MET A HERO? Bet
you didn't know you worked alongside a couple of court reporting heroes.
Meet
modern day heroes, Jason Meadors (CO) and Donna Kanabay Harvey (FL). What have they done to warrant the title of "hero"? Nothing
but attempt to change the face of court reporting worldwide. In
November 2000, Jason and Donna proposed an NCRA bylaws amendment that
would, with NCRA member approval, allow full membership status to voice
writers alongside the stenotypists and pen writers currently enjoying full
membership standing. Jason
Meadors was a voice writer in the Marines from 1975 through 1978. After
an honorable discharge, with computer technology on the horizon and
finding no market acceptance for voice reporting, he attended stenotype
school and began his career in 1980. In later years when asked about
voice reporting (then known as Stenomask), he'd say, "I used to do
that. I did just as well with that method as I do with my steno
machine." A
watershed moment for Jason came at the 2000 NCRA national convention in
San Diego. Jason had the occasion to visit the AudioScribe, Inc., vendor
booth. AudioScribe is an automated speech recognition product
vendor. When Jason dusted off the vocal cord cobwebs, he spoke into
the mini speech silencer for the first time in over 20 years. He
said it was a great experience, even fun, and he didn't drop a word.
Although using voice macros, Q-mac and A-mac, he was impressed with
this state-of-the-art technology. Jason had come full circle, as he
had begun his voice reporting in the Marines in San Diego County all those
years ago. Now
that we've met modern day hero, Jason Meadors, please meet modern day
heroine, Donna Kanabay Harvey. Donna celebrated her silver reporting
anniversary recently. She was literally born into the profession.
As daughter of Don Kanabay, a stenographer for over 50 years,
reporting is literally in her genes. Donna swears her parents have
said her first words were "initial cap." Donna has done
her homework on voice reporting. She is a member of the Florida
Association of Verbatim Reporters, a dual member organization, and has
attended speech recognition demonstrations and read article after article
on the subject. She has made it a point to meet voice reporters and
study their professional motivations. Donna, being a mover and
shaker in her own right, attracted the movers and shakers of the voice
reporting world. Kanabay
Court Reporters, a stenotype firm in Clearwater, Florida, now employs two
voice reporters. Donna Kanabay is not one to let matters go
unchecked. She quizzed judges and attorneys to which she sent her
voice reporters. Receiving glowing reports, her judgment of the
professionalism and competence of the voice reporter was validated. Donna
is the founder of the Tampa Bay Realtime Writers Club, which she describes
as a koffeeklatch/idea-and-problem-sharing/social group composed of the
creme de la creme of Tampa Bay's court reporting elite. At a recent
Realtime Writers Club meeting, Chris Ales, one of the voice reporters
working with Kanabay Court Reporters, performed a successful automated
speech recognition realtime demonstration. To drop a couple of
names, in attendance were Gayl Hardeman and Monnette Benoit, two giants in
the stenotype field. Look
for the February 2001 JCR and an insightful article on court reporting
history repeating itself. Donna and Jason chronicle the movement
from pen writing to machine shorthand. Read about the parallels to
today's question of "What is a court reporter: steno, voice, or
both?" So
we have a stenographer in Jason Meadors, who began as a voice reporter but
moved over to stenography. We also have a stenographer, Donna
Kanabay Harvey, who was literally born into the profession. These
two reporters have put themselves on the line for the preservation of
court reporting and attendant fields using the reporter for information
dissemination. They step outside the comfort zone and stand tall for
what they perceive as the right thing to do. That qualifies them as
a hero and heroine in anyone's book! ______ WHAT'S
ALL THE FUSS ABOUT? Here
is one of the proposals to be presented before the NCRA membership at the
August 2, 2001, New Orleans, Louisiana convention. Approval requires
a two-thirds vote of the Voting Members at the annual business meeting at
which a quorum is present. The
"Article II-Purposes" of the NCRA Constitution and Bylaws
presently reads: Definition,
in the context of this document, stenographic verbatim reporting refers to
that reporting technology by the use of symbols, manually or by
stenographic machine. Petitioners
propose to amend this language by adding the underlined language as
follows: Definition,
in the context of this document, stenographic verbatim reporting refers to
that reporting technology by the use of symbols, manually, verbally or by
stenographic machine. The
effect of this amendment would be to make voice writers, who meet other
requirements of the membership class, eligible for Participating,
Registered, Student, Honorary, Associate, and Retired Lifetime membership
in NCRA. ________ There is a second amendment if the above one should not pass. It includes voice writers as nonvoting associate members. We will chronicle that amendment in another edition of Your Voice. ________ 2001
NCRA MIDYEAR CONVENTION For
steno writers unfamiliar with automated speech recognition, NCRA is
offering the opportunity for you to see this technology
"up-close-and-personal." Phil Kaufman, president of
AudioScribe, Inc., will be the presenter of an in-depth look into speech
recognition realtime. Visit www.NCRAonline.org to view the exciting
NCRA Midyear Convention seminar schedule. For a preview of this
technology, visit www.AudioScribe.com. ________ PLEASE
SLOW DOWN! By
Sandra L. Fein, CCR, CVR, CM, HRVR I
am pleased to announce that complaints from all reporters, regardless of
methodology, about the lack of consideration shown by fast-talking
attorneys, witnesses, and sometimes even judges -- interrupting each
other, talking simultaneously, and generally overly aggressive behavior --
have become commonplace. Voice writers express these
objections much more frequently since speech recognition (ASR) systems
have become so widely used. Why am I pleased? Until I began asking
other reporters if they were also experiencing problems keeping up with
the proceedings, I thought maybe Father Time was catching up with me and
had liberated my ability to hear clearly. Having
been a reporter for well over 20 years (I quit counting at 20), I cannot
remember in years past this complete lack of common courtesy, and often
basic civility, which is demonstrated by today's litigators. Most
reporters were initiated into the world of litigation later than I and
encountered different expectations from those to which my age group were
accustomed. But, holy hedgehog, what is happening out there?
Are lawyers always so busy that they must talk faster than the speed of
light in order to have time to complete all of the duties they pack into
each hour of every day? But it's not just the legal profession, is
it? I
was half-listening to a Carnival Cruise Lines TV commercial the other day,
and it was typical of intercourse I observe -- and try to report -- among
individuals in today's legal settings. Two ladies, attired in their
bathing suits, are lounging on the deck of a large ship. As they are
talking, they are interrupting each other and simultaneously talking at
approximately 300 wpm. I thought: Wow! This sounds just
like the interactions I regularly encounter during depositions and
hearings I report. Is this generation of lawyers driving in the
world's fast lane and leaving a baffled me on the shoulder of the road?
Like many voice writers, I have always prided myself on my ability to talk
as fast as anyone who was put before me, but it becomes increasingly
difficult by the day. This
week I have been paying particular attention to my own verbal interactions
with people, and I have noticed that we are all guilty, to some degree.
In casual and business conversations we interrupt one another or, worse,
see who can talk the loudest (as if the decibel level determines the
winner). Are you folks having the same problems? I would love
to hear from you. In researching my predicament, I have come across
some interesting observations by experts. I will be sharing those
with you weekly in Your Voice. ________ SOUTH
CAROLINA COURT REPORTERS ASSOCIATION ANNUAL MEETING
MYRTLE BEACH, SOUTH CAROLINA March
30 and 31 CEUs
approved: NVRA: 20 NCRA: 12.5/1.25 Hotel
registration deadline: February 15 Convention
Registration Deadline: March 2 For
registration packet, email full name and address to: GMKEMP@SCCOAST.NET ________
YOUR
VOICE INSPIRATION Subject:
Things Learned. I've
learned that the best classroom in the world is at the feet of an elderly
person. I've
learned that having a child fall asleep in your arms is one of the most
peaceful feelings in the world. I've
learned that being kind is more important than being right. I've
learned that a smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks. I've
learned that one should keep his words soft and tender, because tomorrow
he may have to eat them. I've
learned that opportunities are never lost; someone will take the ones you
miss. Andy
Rooney ________ The
Florida Association of Verbatim Reporters invites you to join our
association as full or associate members. For an application, email
Nancy Cavender at VoiceWriter@aol.com. We include voice and steno
writer members. Look for future articles from many reporters in our
talented organization. Thank
you for visiting Your Voice. We again welcomed many comments this
week. Please let us know your thoughts and concerns. We will
encourage and publish your communications. To
unsubscribe, send an email with the word "unsubscribe" in the
subject line to VoiceWriter@aol.com. For
permission to reprint from Your Voice, contact VoiceWriter@aol.com. Your
Voice staff, Nancy
Cavender Managing
editor VoiceWriter@aol.com Pat
Baeske, CVR-CM-HM Content
and proofing editor PatBaeske@earthlink.net Gayle
Featheringill, CVR-CM-PNSC Content
staff
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WELCOME
TO YOUR VOICE FOR FEBRUARY 3, 2001, VOL. 1, ISSUE 4 Grandma's
Advice: "Whenever you
find a stumbling block, use it for a stepping stone.
"Family Circus ________ YOUR
VOICE TODAY Got
your cup of hot coffee or tea? Here
we go. In
this issue, look for articles on Brown College of Court Reporting and
their talented students. Read
comments related to the February JCR Viewpoint article penned by Jason
Meadors and Donna Kanabay Harvey.
Both reporters were profiled in Your Voice last week.
Read why Loretta Armstrong utilizes voice reporting sometimes and
steno at other times. Walk
through a closed captioning interview with Sheri Smargon.
Heidi Jeffreys asks an interesting question of state associations.
Sandra Fein continues with part two in her observations of what
court reporters must endure. There's
much more in between. Don't
overlook the Your Voice Funnies at the end. ________ YOUR
VOICE AT COMPUSERVE CRFORUM Your
Voice is proud to announce it is hosted at the CRForum. The
CompuServe Court Reporters Forum (CRForum) is open to all reporters.
You need not be a CompuServe ISP consumer. Visit the CRForum
soon and join in the lively communications with court reporters around the
globe! To find Your Voice, go
to www.CompuServe.com. You will find it under "Reporting
Interests" in the CRForum section.
________ A
YOUR VOICE SALUTE TO BROWN COLLEGE OF COURT REPORTING Congratulations
to Brown College of Court Reporting, Atlanta, Georgia, for providing a
valuable community service to the DeKalb County School System (Atlanta
Constitution, 1/22/01). Brown's students are supplying captioning
services for DeKalb deaf/HOH (hard of hearing) students. This good
deed affords a much-needed service to hearing-impaired students at a
reduced cost to the county and gives Brown's students an opportunity to
receive real on-the-job training while still in school. There is an
insignificant number of reporters who are able and willing to do realtime
reporting. Undoubtedly,
a school or church in your neighborhood would appreciate your offer to
caption their classes and services, and at the same time, you have a
chance to sharpen your skills with a very understanding group of people
who are grateful to have you there trying. ________ StenoScribe,
Inc., sponsors Your Voice and shares the desire of court reporters to
unite in making our industry the strongest in its history.
Let's work together with state-of-the-art automated speech
recognition technology and state-of-the-art stenotype technology. The
power generated by a united profession will lead us successfully into the
next millennium. Visit StenoScribe, Inc., the Court Reporters Technology
Source, at www.StenoScribe.com or phone a representative at 800.456.3290 Dear
Your Voice staff: Let
me add my voice to the others thanking you for this wonderful new
publication. I really appreciate your efforts on behalf of voice writers
to inform and unite court reporters for the overall good of our
profession. Thanks, thanks, thanks. Deborah
Turner, CVR (MD) ________ How
about addressing what we can do individually and within our respective
state associations to "widen the circle"? How can we work
together to serve all? Heidi
Jeffreys, RMR, CRR (VA) ________ ****Editorial
note: Your Voice, January 27,
2001, featured comments found at the AOL Reporters Forum posted by Nancy
Cavender, CVR-CM, voice writer for over 20 years.
She expressed the desire to become a full member of NCRA. Below is one reply: Dear
Nancy: Am
I glad you visited the AOL Reporters Forum last week. I had no idea
you were out there, let alone the struggles voice writers were going
through. I believe you should be part of NCRA and hope the amendment
passes, although I am concerned that the word "verbally" might
be construed to mean "tape recorder." Keep us posted! I
also like the idea of having a coffee/idea-and-problem-sharing club, one
which would include everyone here in Tucson. With that in mind, is
there somewhere I can get a list of voice writers in the area? If I
can get a few hatchets buried around here (in some ways, Tucson is still a
very small town), that might be great fun and a great learning experience,
as well. As I am a freelancer, I know almost no officials. I'd
like to see that gap closed. One
last comment (no, I did not intend to write a newsletter of my own!).
While waiting for an attorney who was running late to a depo yesterday,
the witness, a doctor, the attorney for the other side and myself were
chatting together. The doctor kept interrupting and talking over
both of us and I knew I was in for a hard time during the depo. Sure
enough, this neuro-ophthalmologist was hell-on-wheels! Sandra Fein's
observations about civility are right on. People were a lot more
polite and waited their turn 30+ years ago. Reporting is definitely
tougher these days! Eileen
Livingston, CCR (AZ) ________ I
always enjoy Your Voice. FAVR, keep up the good work. Pat
Gough, CVR (FL) ________ Greetings,
Your Voice and Florida Association of Verbatim Reporters (FAVR): First,
I want to thank you all for your hospitality and information at the
FAVR seminar in November.
Special thanks to Kim Johnson, CVR.
What an asset, as well as a powerhouse.
She should package that energy! Secondly, thank you
for Your Voice. It's filled with information. Keep up the good
work in Florida. Best wishes for a happy, healthy, and prosperous
2001. Linda
Lee Barry, CVR (MA) ______ YOUR
VOICE COMING ATTRACTIONS Next
week Your Voice will look for ways voice reporters can support the NCRA
amendment to include voice writers as members.
Also look for a report on events in Arizona resulting in eight
courts replacing court stenographers with audio.
______ THE
COMPLETE COURT REPORTER ****Editorial
note: Your Voice, January 20, 2001, featured an article on Loretta
Armstrong, CVR, RDR, CRR. She
is a dual-method reporter, voice and steno writer.
Many readers asked in which instances Loretta preferred stenotype
and which she chose voice writing. Here
is her interesting answer: Dear
Readers: Generally
I use my steno machine in matters I expect to type up, such as jury
trials, motion hearings, and murder pleas.
I will voice write for guilty pleas, probation violation hearings,
and when my hands hurt. I reported a capital case jury selection
using voice two years ago because my hands hurt. The
reason I use steno for things I expect to type is because I prepare all my
transcripts on a CAT system. That means I must rekey my voice
cassettes onto my stenotype machine so I can run the electronic steno
notes through my CAT system. Loretta
A. Armstrong, CVR, RDR, CRR ________ THANKS
VITAC! . . . JUST SITTING HOME IN FUZZY SLIPPERS I
worked for VITAC for a year and a half. I had already been
captioning for two years before I interviewed, and had my RPR. (They
wouldn't interview you without that.) The interview, at that time,
was three-fold. It was an in-person interview with the head of the
captioners, then a current events test, then a writing test. The
current events test had questions like: "Name
five of the sitting Supreme Court "What
company is known as Big Blue?" "What
are a bull market and a bear market in the stock market?" "Who
won the world series in 1992?" "Who
is the current Speaker of the House of Representatives?""Who
breaks a tie in the Senate?" So
after that trial by fire, you then had to write and transcribe a State of
the Union Message in an allotted time. At that time, it was
President Bush . . . the first one. If
a candidate hadn't passed out by then, you had the rest of the in-person
interview. As
I have stated numerous times, I learned things there that I wouldn't have
learned elsewhere. Amok is amok, not amuck, as a supervisor came
running down the hall to tell us. The soldiers in Bosnia were sent
materiel, not material. I
could win that million bucks with smug Regis . . . and, yes, that is my
final answer . . . all thanks to VITAC. Sheri
Smargon, RMR (FL) ________ PLEASE
SLOW DOWN (Continued
from Your Voice January 27, 2001) Thank
you, Eileen Livingston, for sharing your hell-on-wheels neuro-ophthalmologist
experience. Now we must find a treatment, and perhaps a cure, for
these fast-talkers' infirmity. In thinking about why this situation
seems to be getting worse, I have formulated a hypothesis to explain why
they (and sometimes we) behave in this fashion. An
illustration comes from a time management seminar given by Dr. Spencer
Johnson entitled "Who Moved My Cheese?" As an example of
our fast-moving, dynamic times, Dr. Johnson tells about a father visiting
his daughter's bedroom one night. Upon entering her room, he finds
her sitting in front of her computer, involved in a Web search; a cell
phone stuck in one ear as she talks to a friend; the TV blaring
nonsensical adolescent programs; a headset attached to a CD player stuck
in her other ear, blasting soft- and hard-rock tunes at an ear-splitting
volume, while she drinks a Coke and eats potato chips -- her room a
veritable hurricane of activities. When the father asks her what she
is doing, she replies, "Just doing my homework, Dad." Dr.
Johnson explains that she was indeed doing her homework and amazingly
absorbing most of what she was seeing, hearing, tasting, and feeling.
This
young lady is a member of the computer age's multitasking generation, as
are most folks under 35. They routinely experience so much stimuli,
it is now an expected part of their daily regimen. They must speak quickly
in order to squeeze their input into conversations with everyone.
Even though this age group is being constantly bombarded with a
cascade of information that they seem to use efficiently, recent studies
have shown that, consequently, the information is not being retained for
an appreciable length of time. Those of us who predate the digital
revolution are rushing around, doubting our hearing abilities, doubting
our intellect, and trying hard to keep up and compete with this group of
youngsters. (Bring on the high potency vitamins! Double our
Carter's Little Liver Pills intake!) All that to say this behavior
did not begin in law school but, rather, during the attorneys' preschool,
elementary school, and puberty years. What we see is the forceful
grown-up version resulting from an over-stimulated environment. I
recently read the report of a randomized, controlled trial conducted by
the Departments of Pediatrics and Medicine, Stanford Center for Research
in Disease Prevention, and Stanford University School of Medicine (January
2001, Journal Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine), with the
objective of assessing the effects of reduced TV, videotape, and
video-game use on aggressive behavior of children and their perceptions of
a "mean and scary world." The study participants were
third- and fourth-grade students. Initially,
youngsters reported an average of approximately 15½ hours' worth of
weekly TV viewing. That amount of time was reduced by about one-third by
the end of the course and coincided with reports of less peer aggression.
The measures of outcome were calculated by parent reports and
review by peers. Combine 15½ hours of TV time with children's
participation in dozens of other activities [yawn], and it seems
reasonable to expect that type of schedule to affect the balance of that
child's life into adulthood. In
next week's Your Voice, I will attempt to tie all of this together so we
can all better understand what angry, aggressive, over-stimulated children
have to do with what we perceive as inconsiderate fast-talking attorneys
and, of vast importance to us, what court reporters can do to change this
scenario. But until next week, let's all practice our skills of
capturing the record of these fast talkers. Sandra
S. Fein, CRR, CVR-CM-HRVR ________ YOUR
VOICE FUNNIES I
had been teaching my three-year-old daughter, Caitlin, The Lord's Prayer.
For several evenings at bedtime, she would repeat after me the
lines from the prayer. Finally, she decided to go solo. I
listened with pride as she carefully enunciated each word, right up to the
end of the prayer: "Lead us not into temptation," she prayed,
"but deliver us some email. Amen." Submitted by Barbara Enneking, CVR (OH) ________ Thank
you for visiting Your Voice today.
We welcome each new subscriber. Please let us know your thoughts
and concerns. We will encourage and publish your communications.
To
unsubscribe, send an email with the word "unsubscribe" in the
subject line to VoiceWriter@aol.com.
For permission to reprint from Your Voice, contact VoiceWriter@aol.com. Your
Voice staff, Nancy
Cavender, CVR-CM VoiceWriter@aol.com Pat
Baeske, CVR-CM-HM Gayle
Featheringill, CVR-CM-PNSC |
|
WELCOME
TO YOUR VOICE FOR FEBRUARY 10, 2001, VOL. 1, ISSUE 5 One
man can completely change the character of a country and the industry of
its people by dropping a single seed in fertile soil. -John
C. Gifford ________ YOUR
VOICE TODAY Your Voice invites you to perhaps try a cup of European blend
coffee as you read along today. We
are proud to feature comments from Fausto Ramondelli, an accomplished
reporter in Italy. As the
world has grown smaller, so have our reporting issues become similar.
We host just two of many comments from steno writers endorsing the
NCRA amendment providing full membership to voice reporters.
Read the Your Voice survey of questions posed by Jason Meadors and
a sampling of comments from voice writers Chris Ales, Vickie Wiechec, and
Brenda Douglas. Jim Bouck
writes about "one of the world's true court reporting
associations," excerpted from Bridge Building in Realtime. South
Carolina has reporter openings in the Classifieds.
Your Voice Headlines provides the Web address for the JCR Viewpoint
article. We urge everyone to
read this provocative piece. Visit
Valentine's Inspiration, and Your Voice hopes you leave us today with a
smile on your face after reading the Funnies. Next week look for the conclusion to Sandra Fein's article "Please Slow Down!" ________ Dear
Your Voice: I
am a parliamentary reporter in the Italian Senate and I have been using
machine shorthand since 1981, modestly with good performance. I have spent
a large part of my life working and studying the shorthand and the
reporting field, having the good luck of meeting many colleagues in every
part of Europe and USA. My
studies and my job put me recently in front of the speech recognition
technology. In Senate we are experimenting with it since 1995
(IBM VoiceType), although results only recently have become very good. I am
pushing my colleagues to meet this new tool as I am convinced that a
huge change is going to happen, a change that we should not defend from but
that we should accept as a challenge for improving the reporting profession
which nowadays is always more demanded, in spite of the lack of good
supply. I
do not spend more words for stating how I am interested to the matters
that
you deal with in the Your Voice, because you probably can tell it from
this
short note. I wait for next issues. Fausto
Ramondelli ( Italy) **** Dear
Fausto: On
behalf of the Florida Association of Verbatim Reporters and the Your Voice
readers, we welcome you each Saturday morning.
While Your Voice is proud of every US and Canadian reader, we might
be proudest of you. It is a testament to your dedication to the
preservation of court reporting worldwide that you should place such
interest in steno and voice technology.
Bravo! ________ YOUR
VOICE HEADLINES If
you treat yourself to nothing else this week, read the February 2001
Journal Of Court Reporting, Viewpoint article Voice Writers as Members:
Two Opinions, written by the teams of Jason Meadors and Donna Kanabay
Harvey, and Irving Starkman and Bill Carroll.
This very exciting time for court reporters is heating up!
Who said things were looking dim?
They're actually looking bigger and better than ever.
The Web link is: http://www.ncraonline.org/jcr/0102/0102_viewpoints.htm ________ YOUR
VOICE VIEWPOINT I
support 100% the amendment to allow voice writers to become full members
of NCRA. I think any voice writers who join will be a true asset.
Working together, our profession will be strengthened. The weakest
link we have right now is the fact there are unfilled jobs around the
country because there are not enough of us.
In Wisconsin, we've had that situation, and it has led to
investigation of alternative methods.
Unfortunately, it was easier for those on the committee (judges,
administrators, and others) to feel more comfortable with digital
recording than voice writing simply because not much was known about the
voice method. It would have
been very helpful to be able to say that voice writers are recognized by
NCRA as equal to steno writers and are full members whose schools are
receiving input from NCRA, just like the steno schools do. To only provide
for association membership would be an insult to the voice writers, in my
view. If I were one,
I'd really have to think twice about joining if limited to an associate,
because I'd feel like a second class citizen.
We need to recognize what these folks do for what it is.
They are court reporters, period, not "almost court
reporters." I would also
like to point out to everyone who may not know this that voice writers
also have two levels of certification similar to the RPR and RMR but the
speeds required to achieve each are higher. As
a member of NCRA, I thank Jason Meadors and Donna Kanabay Harvey for
introducing this amendment. Gwenn
Bever, CRR President
Wisconsin Court Reporters Association _______ Regarding
the JCR Viewpoint February 2000 issue, cheers to Jason and Donna for
setting the record straight on voice writing.
Jeers to Irving Starkman and Bill Carroll for thinking that voice
writing is competition for machine writing.
I see it as another option. In fact, voice writing is what is going
to save my court reporting career! After
25 years of machine writing, my fingers, wrist, elbow, arm, and shoulder
have had it. I was very close
to giving up my court reporting career.
Now I have another chance at it through voice writing.
I wish the transition could happen overnight. I
absolutely think voice writers should be full members of NCRA.
The "I'm-better-than-you-because-I'm-a-machine-writer attitude
portrayed in the "CON" portion of the Viewpoint article is
unprofessional. Shame on that
attitude. Lillian
Freiler, RPR (PA) ________ YOUR
VOICE WEB SITE SPOTLIGHT! AUDIOSCRIBE.COM Get
the RECOGNITION you deserve. SpeechCat is designed by court
reporters for court reporters utilizing a speech silencer. Our
SpeechCat software applications offer unparalleled ease-of-use,
flexibility and affordability. SpeechCat's
flexibility gives you freedom of choice. Our building block options
enable you to find a solution to fit your individual needs and budget.
Contact The AudioScribe Corporation at www.AudioScribe.com or phone
1.800.869.0569. ________ DANACHIPKIN.COM DanaChipkin.com
- a new resource for reporters by the author of Successful Freelance Court
Reporting (West Legal Studies). Visit this informative, fun,
interactive site with bulletin boards like "Witness/Attorney
Dartboard." ________ YOUR
VOICE SUGGESTION BOX I
would like to encourage voice writers to make known to machine writers
that voice reporters are working, capable, client-generating, qualified
court reporters. I would
encourage voice writers to adopt realtime en masse.
It's certainly what turned our (machine writing) profession around
and the surest way to achieve credibility with any backward-thinking
machine writers. Finally,
I would encourage them, if they would like to join NCRA, to make their
wishes known. Our
opposition states that voice writers have not expressed an interest in
joining. I maintain it's
because they knew they were not welcome. Jason
Meadors, RPR (CO) Coauthor
of JCR February 2001 Viewpoint, Voice
Writers as Members: Two Opinions. ________ YOUR
VOICE "SURVEY SAYS!" Jason,
you asked, and you shall receive. This
weekYour Voice hosted a sample survey of some of the questions you posed. Next week we will publish answers to your further questions. ________ Survey
submitted by Christine Ales (FL) Q.
Do you think if you were a full member of NCRA that the past
prejudices of method would then diminish? A.
I have never had any prejudices in this regard.
I always felt that it was their problem, not mine.
So this would not in the least bother me. Q.
Would you be interested in joining NCRA as a full member? Why? A.
Yes. Because I desire to learn from others and share mutual
concerns. I feel unity is power. After
all, isn't the end product what really matters. Q.
Why do you think voice writers should move to ASR? A.
ASR enhances our skills, our productivity, and the quality of our
work product. There is a need, and the technology is here and available.
All one needs to do is reach out, grab it, and use it.
Attorneys and judges are amazed that we have this at our
fingertips. ________ Survey
submission from Vickie Wiechec (GA) I
am a student voice reporter. I
was a stenotype reporter in CT in early 1994, reporting only for about six
months. The court reporting
agency I worked for (sole owner) underbid (less than $2 a page) to get
jobs. Needless to say, it was
not a good experience. My
hiatus lasted until the fall of 2000, when I pulled out my steno machine,
dusted it off, ordered a case of paper and speed tapes, and started
practicing. I also joined the
NCRA as a student reporter. In
January of this year, I spoke with a friend who was thinking of getting
back into the business. She
was a student at a steno school years ago but did not finish.
She told me about voice writing.
I found it exciting that I, as a trained stenotypist, could learn
how to become a voice writer in less than a year!
I joined the National Verbatim Reporters Association, hooked up
with Peggy Weldon (what a blessing she is) and started practicing to
become a voice reporter. I
think the main focus here should be on reporting, not the differences of
methods. I understand some
courts are replacing live reporters with tape recorders.
In my opinion, that is the issue at hand. Here
are my answers to the Your Voice survey questions: Q.
Do you think if you were a full member of NCRA that the past
prejudices of method would then diminish? A.
Every single voice reporter I have spoken to, both officials and
freelancers, have been very helpful.
My experience with stenowriters was not the same at all.
Q.
Would you be interested in joining NCRA as a full member?
Why? A.
I would definitely join NCRA as a full member. The focus should be on keeping reporters and not being
replaced by tape recorders. Q.
Why do you think voice writers should move to automated speech
recognition technology (ASR)? A.
Because of the many possibilities with speech recognition software.
For one, my goal is to become a realtime voice reporter. ________ Survey
submission from Brenda Douglas, CVR (SC) Q.
Do you think if you were a full member of NCRA that the past
prejudices of method would then diminish? A.
I've never felt any prejudices in this field. I do feel there have been prejudices among the stenotypists.
I believe that would diminish once full membership in NCRA by voice
writers was implemented. They
would get to know us and learn our method is just as efficient, and we are
just as skilled. They will
also come to know that voice writing is the way of the future and an
alternative method for them should they need or chose to experience it. Q.
Would you be interested in joining NCRA as a full member? A.
Not at this time due to my health.
I am limiting outside association involvement. Q.
Why do you think, that voice writers should move to ASR? A.
It is the wave of the future and voice writers should always strive
to be "at the top" with all the latest technology. ________ I
have been truly blessed as a voice writer by being allowed membership in
what is one of the few true court reporting organizations in the world,
the Missouri Court Reporters Association.
Our membership is made up of pen, machine, and voice writers who
are freelance, official, agency, and military court reporters.
On a daily basis, we work hand-in-hand to pursue and enhance the
interests, education, and professionalism of our chosen craft.
In most cases, we work side-by-side with a reporter who utilizes a
different method of capturing the record and producing either a paper or
electronic transcript. While
pride is taken by each of us in our chosen methodology, one doesn't go
where another cannot. One
does not have what another is not allowed. We do not talk in terms of
disenfranchising anyone because of methodology.
We are proud to be the Missouri Court Reporters Association. James
Bouck, CVR-CM-RVR (MO) The
first recipient of the NVRA Realtime
Verbatim Reporter (RVR) designation. (Excerpted
from Bridge Building in Realtime and edited by Your Voice.) ________ YOUR
VOICE CLASSIFIEDS SOUTH
CAROLINA OPENINGS Openings
for four resident family court reporterships, three circuit (civil and
criminal) resident reporterships, and four at-large (traveling)
reporterships. Inquiries to: Ms.
Desiree AllenSouth Carolina
Court Administration 1015
Sumter Street, Suite 200 Columbia
South Carolina 29211 ________ ESTABLISHED COURT REPORTING AGENCY FOR SALE Established
court reporting firm for sale. Mostly
deposition work in southeastern Massachusetts.
Great potential and diverse clientele.
Inquiries to 508.993.0510. ________ YOUR
VOICE VALENTINE'S INSPIRATION We've
grown to be one soul -- two parts; our lives so intertwined that when some
passion stirs your heart, I feel the quake in mine. -Gloria
Gaither ________ YOUR
VOICE FUNNIES Submitted
by Sandra Knight, CVR (NC) 1.
I'm not into working out. My philosophy is no pain, no pain. 2.
I am in shape. Round is a shape. 3.
I've always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific. 4.
Ever notice when you blow in a dog's face he gets mad at you, but when you
5.
I have six locks on my door, all in a row. When I go out, I lock every
other one. I figure no matter how long somebody stands there picking the
locks, they are always locking three of them. ________ Nancy
Cavender, VoiceWriter@aol.com, Your Voice managing editor Pat
Baeske, Your Voice proofreading editor. |
| WELCOME
TO YOUR VOICE FOR MARCH 31, 2001, VOL. 1, ISSUE 12 The noblest search is the search for excellence. - Lyndon Baines Johnson Found at USCRA.org. ________ WELCOME TO A CUP OF COFFEE AND YOUR VOICE The Florida Association of Verbatim Reporters (FAVR) welcomes you to a cup of coffee and Your Voice. It is the mission of FAVR to work in tandem, steno and voice, to secure the future of court reporting everywhere. We are making progress as we work together. Minds are changing, and doors are opening. Join FAVR by writing VoiceWriter@aol.com for an application form. We have a full or associate membership waiting just for you. ________ THOUGHTFUL EXPRESSION I loved the quote by Karla Wollin Boyer from the March 17, 2001, Your Voice issue regarding speech recognition already being here and people needing to open their minds to its reality. That has been my theme regarding reporting technologies for over 25 years. Technological change can be our best friend or our worst enemy. It is not in the hands of a new technology to make the choice as to which it is to be; it is within ourselves. Unfortunately, many in the reporting field would do well to pay heed to the quote from the wonderful long-gone cartoon, "Pogo," by the late Walt Kelly, "We have met the enemy, and it is us." Martin H. Block Executive Vice President VITAC Corporation ________ STENOSCRIBE DOES IT AGAIN! StenoScribe, Inc., innovators in court technology, announce the release of their highly successful Techlennium realtime system on a computer powered by PTIII 1 Gig technology. If you thought realtime on the Techlennium was fast before, blaze through proceedings on a Gateway computer powered by 1 Gigabyte! This PTIII 1 Gig Gateway sports new internal 8X CDRW writer and 512 Megabytes of RAM. Why not realtime with the best? StenoScribe, The Court Reporters Technology Source! Visit www.StenoScribe.com or phone 800.456.3290 and order your PTIII 1 Gig Techlennium today. ________ FREE AT LAST! FREE AT LAST! WITH BENEFITS TOO? Tired of devoting your life to court reporting, spending nights and weekends in front of your computer? We have just the answer for you. There are several positions immediately available in Atlanta and Covington, Kentucky, for voice writers with good dictation skills and an interest in captioning using speech recognition. Become part of the Atlanta Center for StreamingText, Inc., or Capitol Realtime Services. We offer excellent salaries, health benefits, and . . . FREEDOM FROM TRANSCRIPT PREPARATION! Paid training and computers are provided. Interviews are now being scheduled. Curious? (You bet!) Phone Sandra L. Fein, at the Atlanta Center for StreamingText, Inc., at 770.730.0041. To reach Capitol Realtime in Covington, Kentucky, phone Becky McClung at 859.578.8000. Pssst, somebody hand me that phone! ________ REPORTER FOR A CAUSE The philosophy I adopted many years ago was acquired from a reporter of renown in Jacksonville, Florida. Her name is Lillian Balboni, a now retired stenotypist and a legend in this area of the state. I was her notereader for several years. She would not employ me as a reporter because of my "method" of reporting: voice writing. Notwithstanding that fact, after I established my own firm and no longer noteread for Ms. Balboni, I could always call her if I had a question. Finally, one day I asked her: "I always appreciate your help, but now that I'm your competitor, why are you always so helpful." She responded, "Because what you do wrong reflects on me and my profession (court reporting), and what you do right reflects on me and my profession." I have found this to be inspiring to new reporters, and a philosophy that always works to one's own advantage. Gayle Featheringill, CVR-CM-PNSC (FL) ________ YOUR VOICE QUOTATION "I think the two forms of making the record (steno and voice reporting) need to work together in our common interest and get past the parochial protectionism of how the record is made." Ed Johnson (WI) NCRA Legislative Activist of the Year Past President Wisconsin Court Reporters Association ________ COURT REPORTERS' IDENTITY CRISIS Ever wondered who you are? As we take certification examinations and earn designations behind our name, and then add to them, it becomes increasingly difficult to know which designation to use. As a voice reporter earning the Realtime Verbatim Reporter (RVR) designation, which requires the Certified Verbatim Reporter (CVR) certification to sit for the RVR, does that allow the RVR to stand alone? If a steno reporter has attained the Registered Merit Reporter (RMR) designation and then attains the Registered Diplomate Reporter (RDR) certification, which requires the RMR to accomplish the RDR, are the RMR initials dropped to acknowledge the prestigious RDR? Next week we will begin to publish court reporter certification levels and their designations. It's just too confusing to begin now! Where is Andy Rooney, from 60 Minutes, when you need him? ________ YOUR VOICE BOOK OF THE MONTH CLUB You will be doing yourself a favor by visiting DanaChipkin.com. There you will find links to acquiring Successful Freelance Court Reporting, authored by Dana Chipkin and published by West Legal Studies. This 334-page book spans nearly every situation a freelance reporter may run across during years of court reporting. The official reporter has not been left out. Ms. Chipkin guides the novice through what they should expect from a reporting school curricula, machine and software preferences, what to bring to the job including dress and deportment, sticky reporting situations that only a hardworking court reporter would ever have experienced, everything through complete preparation of the transcript. Successful Freelance Court Reporting assists the journeyman reporter as a refresher course and provides very useful information in the chapter, "Other Forums for Your Skills." You will learn about information reporting, CART, closed captioning, official reporting in the court system, voice reporting, legislative reporting and many other forums. Ms. Chipkin brings to the table experience imparted intelligently. As a 25-year-veteran reporter, I can say Successful Freelance Court Reporting touched on many issues I have participated in and offered sound explanation for what many reporters may encounter. This book should be a must for every court reporting school across the nation. For anyone interested in court reporting or interested in problem solving in the reporting field, Ms. Chipkin has researched and written wonderful opinions and examples. Congratulations to West Legal Studies and author Dana Chipkin on a book for ALL court reporters. Nancy Cavender, CVR-CM President, Florida Association of Verbatim Reporters ________ YOUR VOICE WEB SITES For those who would like to learn HTML, the Los Angeles Times is running a 10-part series on Building Your Own Web Page. Parts 1 thru 6 are available now at: http://www.latimes.com/business/cutting/webbuild/ Submitted by David Rogala, CVR-CM (IL) ________ YOUR VOICE FUNNIES REAL RESUME BLOOPERS Here are my qualifications for you to overlook. I was proud to win the Gregg Typting Award. I'm a rabid typist. I procrastinate -- especially when the task is unpleasant. ____ Small Typos That Can Change The Meaning: Education: College, August 1880 - May 1984. Work Experience: Dealing with customers' conflicts that arouse. Develop and recommend an annual operating expense fudget. Instrumental in ruining entire operation for a Midwest chain operation. ________ Thank you for visiting Your Voice today. We look forward to seeing you next time. Nancy Cavender, CVR-CM Your Voice managing editor VoiceWriter@aol.com Pat Baeske, CVR-CM-HM Your Voice content and proofing editor Gayle Featheringill, CVR-CM-PNSC Your Voice staff member |
|
WELCOME
TO YOUR VOICE FOR FEBRUARY 17TH, 2001, VOL. 1, ISSUE 6 I've
learned not to be on time for things. Be AHEAD of time, and if you stay one
step ahead of the threat that's breathing its hot breath down your neck,
you'll beat it every time! - Author unknown ______ COFFEE,
TEA, AND YOUR VOICE The
Florida Association of Verbatim Reporters welcomes you once again to Your ________ Visit
Your Voice sponsor, StenoScribe, Inc., the Court Reporters Technology
Source, at www.StenoScribe.com, or call 800.456.3290.
Purchase a system in February and become enrolled in the Gateway
3-year loaner program. Be a
StenoScriber! ________ BROWARD
COUNTY, FLORIDA, REPORTER RATE HIKE The
17th Judicial Circuit, encompassing Broward County, Florida, will receive
an immediate original and two copy page rate increase, with an additional
rate hike on October 1, 2001. The
rate increases include circuit county criminal and grand jury courts, with
added compensation for expedite and realtime services.
These rate improvements place Broward ahead of Dade County reporter
transcript and per diem rates. The
pay increases were designed to attract reporters to Broward .______ CRITICS
CORNER Dear
Your Voice: I
have been a certified shorthand reporter in Illinois for 25 years now.
My first reaction to voice writing was fear of another force threatening
my profession. On the other hand we don't have enough court reporters to
fill positions throughout the country. After reading a few
newsletters and after some deep thought, I would be open to voice writers
joining "the family" so to speak.
Keep those newsletters coming. You have sparked my interest. Sincerely, Pat
Houlf pattiann73@yahoo.com President-elect Illinois
Official Court Reporters Association ________ YOUR
VOICE SURVEY Last
week Your Voice asked questions posed by Jason Meadors, coauthor of the
NCRA amendment allowing for voice writers as full members.
Today we spotlight responses from voice writer firm owners and
entrepreneurs regarding their observations, accomplishments, and
contributions to the field of court reporting. ____ Dear
Your Voice: Yes,
I would like to retain my membership with NCRA as a full member based on
my voice writing accomplishments, not my history as a stenographer. I
am the president of the Tri-State Court Reporters Association, which is
comprised of Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana voice reporters. Also,
I am a former machine writer and presently am a videographer and
voice reporter, as well as an agency owner. My CVR and CM
certifications have always been kept current by CE compliance and regular
national convention attendance. Along with my wife, Becky McClung,
CVR-CM-RVR, recently Realtime Verbatim Reporter certified, we own Capitol
Realtime Services. Capitol
Realtime reported the recent Presidential Cabinet confirmation hearings.
President Clinton's January 2000 State of the Union speech was our first
foray into realtime to the Internet technology through Hearingroom.com.
For the past two weeks Capitol Realtime reported the Congressional hearings
on the Clinton pardon of Marc Rich. Capitol
Realtime Services also reports financial conference calls in realtime for
clients such as Dow Jones. We are currently doing Webcasts for the
Public Service Commission of Kentucky. These utilities hearings of
the transcript and video can be seen and uploaded at http://www.psc.state.ky.us,
then click WebCast. Along with these reporting ventures, we own a
thriving general court reporting business. Several
years ago when contracting became an issue in Kentucky, I played a part
in creating and passing the legislation which made contracting
illegal. The voice reporters
worked in tandem with the stenographers in our state. In short,
I believe I am one of many, many voice reporters who are playing a role on
the national level in an attempt to bring all reporters up to speed with
the latest technologies leading us into the next century. Allen
McClung, CVR-CM President,
Tri-State Reporters Association Immediate
past president, NVRA ******** Dear
Your Voice: I
certainly would be interested in joining NCRA as a full member. In
fact, I have known the past president of the Ohio Shorthand Reporters
Association for years, and she has talked to me numerous times about
joining. There is strength in numbers.
Several stenotype reporters are members of NVRA, and I think it
would be great if we had the same opportunity with NCRA. Over the years
probably half of the reporters working for me have been stenotypists.
I have always looked for good people whom I felt could be good
REPORTERS and produce an excellent end product. The method has never
been of any concern to me. My theory has always been if a person goes into
a hearing or deposition with a paper bag and a pencil, as long as they can
produce a verbatim transcript, the method is of no concern. I
have been a voice reporter in Cincinnati for 22 years and have had a very
good rapport with fellow reporters in the area, regardless of method of
reporting. There are, however, some who feel that voice writers are
not real reporters, will take away their jobs, etc., the whole scenario we
have heard for years. I do think that the perception of voice
writers would change if we were all members of the same association.
NVRA members being members of NCRA and NCRA members being members of
NVRA is, in my opinion, a giant step in the right direction. Gary
Baldwin Baldwin
Reporting, Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio ________ LOSE
WAIT! WITH SEARCHMASTER Forgotten
your New Year's Resolution? Bet
it included "Lose Wait!"
Lose the World Wide Wait by going to one site for all your Internet
research. SearchMaster invites you to stop by http://www.gosearchmaster.com
where you will find three powerful multiple-wildcard-searchable dictionary
search engines, as well as the Acronym Finder.
Between them they contain millions of definitions!
SearchMaster has added another new search engine, Merriam-Webster's
Dictionary. Look up
definitions by typing in a few letters or a word ending, or use the
Phonetic Dictionary function. One
URL, millions of definitions, synonyms, antonyms, and acronyms from
hundred of dictionaries. Simplicity,
power, speed -- and all from one FREE Web site: WWW.GOSEARCHMASTER.COM.
Make it your home page! Isn't
it time you lost wait? ______ PLEASE
SLOW DOWN! (Continued
from Your Voice January 27 and February 3, 2001) Sandra
L. Fein, CCR, CVR-CM-HRVR During
my articles in the past two issues of Your Voice, I have discussed the
increase in speed with which attorneys and witnesses speak and the
frequency of interruptions occurring in depositions and other court
proceedings. This is definitely a sign of the times and distressing for
those of us whose profession it is to maintain an accurate and complete record.
My friend, Judy Brentano, and
I complain about this quandary every time we get together, and we have
frequently traded ideas on actions we can take to change this behavior.
One strategy on which we both agree is to communicate the problem to
attorneys, most of whom share our professional interest in maintaining an
accurate record. Judy has written an article suggesting how to
communicate this point in the February 2001 issue of the Journal of Court
Reporting entitled "Tips for the Benefit of Counsel: Making the
Realtime Record." Although Judy's article is specifically
geared toward realtime reporting, her advice is easily adaptable to any
reporting situation. Regardless
of your method of court reporting, and whether or not you are a realtime
reporter, for your sake and for assistance to our profession, make a
statement in this regard. Explain to attorneys and witnesses,
preferably prior to commencement of the deposition or hearing, that you
cannot for very long report more than one person speaking. Interrupt
attorneys and witnesses every time they ignore your advice. Many of
us have used back-up recorders for so long that, when speakers continue to
overlap, we just sit silently as it happens and hope we can separate
speakers by listening to the back-up tape. That certainly does not
speed up the proofing process and may do great damage to the instant
record. Judy
recommends a version of her article that can be distributed to your
clients, which can be found at the NCRA Web site at www.NCRAonline.org/jcr/index.html.
It is available for print-out through Adobe Acrobat. I have just
downloaded my copy of Judy's article, and I will be sending it out to
clients as soon as possible. This is a very good advertising
strategy: Get your name in front of your clients as often as
possible. And perhaps it will benefit us all. Please let us
know how it works for you. Good luck! _____________ YOUR
VOICE CELEBRATES CHEETAH Our
latest focus at Cheetah International, Inc. is our greatly anticipated
Windows based software for Court Reporting. You can join us in
celebrating this new arrival, following a successful beta testing cycle
period. In
accordance with this celebration, Cheetah International, Inc. is offering
these exciting promotions: Switch-n-Save. Switch from any other PC based Cat system to TurboCAT
Professional for only $1595! To
save time purchasing your new TurboCAT Professional software or to renew
your service agreement, visit our new online store at www.caption.com or
call us at 888-333-2287. ________
Maricopa
County in Phoenix, Arizona, will be opening the first four of eight
electronic courtrooms (e-courtrooms) in February 2001.
The second four e-courtrooms are scheduled to be completed by June
2001. These e-courtrooms will
be equipped with audio/videotape machines, provision for exhibit imaging
with juror monitors, teleconferencing accommodations but no live court
reporters. To see how these
Arizona court reporters are fighting back and what you can do to help,
visit http://www.machineshorthand.com/Associations/ACRA/issues.htm.
Even though this event is taking place in Arizona, it affects each
of us. The
Florida Association of Verbatim Reporters boasts the connection to a judge
of national prominence, the Honorable Jeffrey Rosinek, Eleventh Judicial
Circuit, Miami, Florida. Judge
Rosinek, past president of the American Judges Association, speaks to
attorneys about e-courtrooms in an article for The Metropolitan Corporate
Counsel: "Trials and
depositions are more technically complex now involving patent infringement
cases including participants from many different countries and a complex
product. To assure that the
record is captured accurately requires a great level of understanding, a
large vocabulary and wide base of technical knowledge. The decision not to
staff the e-courtrooms with court reporters will impact you and your
clients by taking away your ability to order transcripts in what form best
suits your needs -- in addition to well-known difficulties attempting to
produce an accurate verbatim record from audio/videotapes." Excerpted
and edited by Your Voice from http://www.machineshorthand.com/Associations/ACRA/issues.htm ________ Law.com
Strikes Licensing Agreement With StenAccount To Develop Windows-Based
Management Software for Court Reporters Agreement Expands Law.com's
Offerings to $5.5 Billion Courting Reporting Industry San
Francisco, CA – Jan. 18, 2001 – Making good on its promise to be the leading
technology solutions provider in the legal industry, Law.com has formed
a licensing agreement with StenAccount that will allow it to develop a Windows-based
version of the court reporting industry's most popular management
software suite. "As
our industry changes and attorneys come to rely on their court reporters
for critical historical information, multimedia capabilities and
electronic certified transcripts to name a few, we need powerful
technological tools designed specifically for these needs," said
Tonie Wallace, CEO of StenAccount. "I'm
excited about what this strong, ongoing alliance with Law.com will bring
to the reporting industry. By
integrating our management solutions with the leader in e-Transcript
technology, realLegal, we can equip reporters to become total information
managers for law firms." Tonie
Wallace, RPR, is a member of the Florida Association of Verbatim Reporters .________ Thank
you for visiting Your Voice. Please
let us know your thoughts and concerns. We encourage and publish
your communications. See you next week over coffee! Your
Voice staff, Nancy
Cavender, Managing editor, VoiceWriter@aol.com Pat
Baeske, CVR-CM-HM, Content and proofing editor, PatBaeske@earthlink.net Gayle
Featheringill, CVR-CM-PNSC, Content staff |
|
WELCOME
TO YOUR VOICE FOR FEBRUARY 24, 2001, VOL. 1, ISSUE 7 "Stand
up for what is right, even when you're standing alone!"
- Anonymous _________ INSPIRATION
FROM A CHAMPION Many
years ago, my mother wrote out the following as an inspiration for my
sister and me in getting through life.
I have no idea from where she obtained it.
I think the language is appropriate to the joint causes of all
reporters, especially those interested in moving forward with innovative
technology. A
BLUEPRINT FOR ACHIEVEMENT BELIEVE
while others are doubting. PLAN
while others are playing. STUDY
while others are sleeping. DECIDE
while others are delaying. PREPARE
while others are daydreaming. BEGIN
while others are procrastinating. WORK
while others are wishing. SAVE
while others are wasting. LISTEN
while others are talking. SMILE
while others are pouting. COMMEND
while others are criticizing. PERSIST
while others are quitting. Submitted
by Karla Wollin Boyer, RDR, CRR, CSR (Michigan and California) NCRA
National Champion, INTERSTENO World Champion ________ StenoScribe,
Inc., The Court Reporters Technology Source, invites voice and steno
reporters who may be upgrading their reporting systems to visit
StenoScribe.com or phone 800.456.3290 and speak to a StenoScribe Certified
Trainer. Your Voice is
sponsored by StenoScribe, Inc. ________ The
Florida Association of Verbatim Reporters (FAVR) welcomes you to a cup of
coffee and Your Voice once again today.
We are an association welcoming voice and steno reporters as full
or associate members. FAVR is
proud to participate in the movement to join together with voice and steno
state and national organizations in an effort to forge our permanent place
in the court and deposition rooms across the globe.
Please join FAVR and show your support for this effort.
Write VoiceWriter@aol.com for an application. ________ Camille
LeClair, president of the Quad-State Court Reporters Association, and a
steno become voice reporter from Atlantic City, NJ, wrote an article for
the JCR Feedback section of the February 2001 edition.
Camille left steno reporting due to repetitive stress injuries and
has revived her career with the help of automated speech recognition (ASR)
realtime technology through AudioScribe, Inc.
Her JCR Feedback comments were in response to a November/December
2000 article, Theater Captioning. Camille
explained her father had lost his hearing during World War II, and he had
missed out on many of the arts and theater events he loved.
With theater captioning, he can now enjoy what he has missed for so
many years. Camille
and husband, Ed LeClair, through the Camelion Group, are doing their own
part in bringing new technology to different venues.
Businessmen can enter the CyberCafe and produce or have produced
for them letters, legal and corporate documents all via ASR.
Camelion Group has a few other surprises in store, and Your Voice
will report on those in future editions. ________ REPORTERWORKS.COM ReporterWorks
is affordable and comprehensive management software for all reporters from
the solo practitioner to the largest firms. The Solo ($99) is available
for about the cost of a nice dinner for two!
The office packages ($349 and $599) give you complete office
management at a fraction of the price of competing systems. ReporterWorks
was designed by reporters for reporters.
It handles invoicing, rebilling, calendar, correspondence, and a
host of other features. Find
out how ReporterWorks can work for you by calling our toll-free line at
877.482.1505 or reviewing our Web page at http://www.reporterworks.com/.
(ReporterWorks is a trademark of Meadors Court Reporting, LLC.
Jason Meadors, president.) ________ Realtime
humor found at the CRForum: I
ran across this error as I was editing a job. It made me laugh out
loud, so I'll pass it along."And when you used the hand radios, did
you put the radio up to your rear?" Rob
in San Diego ________ Gayle
Featheringill, CVR-CM-PNSC, FAVR officer, Your Voice staff member, is a
court reporter of many talents. Her
designation, PNSC, earned in 1993, stands for the NVRA Past National Speed
Champion. Gayle advises
reporters, "Dictation at 350 wpm can be done.
It will improve your reporting skills."
;Reporting is almost a sideline these days for Gayle.
She is an actress in professional theater, commercials, and
training films, like those produced for the Federal Law Enforcement
Training Center. Last year
she won a costume design award for the production of "Quilters,"
about women trekking West in the 1840's. You will hear her say
"Acting is hard work," but as a seasoned voice reporter, it
can't be any more difficult than listening to testimony and repeating it
verbatim, fast and clear. Gayle, a reporter since 1974, owns a reporting firm in
Jacksonville, Florida, employing stenotypists (some with the agency for
over 20 years). When
NCRA held testing in Florida, Gayle was happy to assist the stenotypists
hosting the test. She
remarked, "I never knew so many reporters would pay that amount of
money and not transcribe their notes!"
She offered her encouragement, nevertheless.
Gayle felt honored that the local reporting association asked her
to be president. Because of
work and her acting time constraints, she was unable to serve. Gayle has had the experience of belonging to NCRA in the past
. . . until someone read the fine print beside "Reporting
Method." Inserted was
"Stenomask." Her
monies were returned, and she was told she didn't qualify to belong to
their organization. Ouch! Well,
bygones are bygones, and today Gayle would love to be a full member of
NCRA. Do
you think Gayle Featheringill, CVR-CM-PNSC, should be included as a full
member of NCRA? I sure do! Nancy
Cavender, CVR-CM, President, Florida Association of
Verbatim Reporters ________ WORLD'S
FIRST SPEECH DRIVEN MOBILE WEARABLE COMPUTER Well,
it's here! Xybernaut and
Conversay have teamed up to present the world's first wearable computer.
The Xybernaut Mobile Assistant is a wearable computer weighing less
than two pounds. It boasts
the connectivity and functionality of a desktop PC with sophisticated
noise filtration and cancellation capabilities.
The Xybernaut is worn on the body with a SVGA head-mounted color
display with a microphone for dictation, and an eyepiece through which the
user sees a full-sized video screen.Present uses for this appliance are
industrial applications where computer content would include inspection,
assembly and repair information. Conversay
speech technology provides a handsfree voice browser enabling users to
talk with the growing number of industrial manuals and procedures
documents written in HTML. e-Blast
February 7, 2001, the above article sponsored by Natural Speech
Communication. ________ KENTUCKY
COURT REPORTERS ASSOCIATION MEETING The
KCRA will hold its only seminar scheduled in Kentucky for 2001 on March
17th-18th in Covington. Distinguished speakers include:
Vicki Akenhead-Ruiz, Ethics; Judy Brentano, Closed Captioning; Jim
Bouck, Speech Recognition/Realtime; George Russell, Accident
Reconstruction; Toni Schklar, Stress Management; and Tonie Wallace,
Organizational Management. Don't miss this value-packed seminar
program!Registration deadline is March 5th.
For information phone 606.846.4847. ________ YOUR
VOICE WEB SITES Online
Encyclopedias http://libraryspot.com/features/encyclopedia.htm?news Look
up everything under the sun. ******** xrefer.com http://www.libraryspot.com/rsom/0201xrefer.htm?news The
Web's reference engine. ********* Where
can I find tax forms and help? http://www.libraryspot.com/ask/asktax.htm?news ********* Thank
you for visiting Your Voice today. We
look forward to your communications. Write
VoiceWriter@aol.com with comments. For
reprint permission or to unsubscribe, write VoiceWriter@aol.com.
Your
Voice staff, Nancy
Cavender, CVR-CM, managing editor, VoiceWriter@aol.com Pat
Baeske, CVR-CM-HM, content and proofreading editor Gayle
Featheringill, CVR-CM-PNSC, staff |
|
WELCOME
TO YOUR VOICE FOR MARCH 3, 2001, VOL. 1, ISSUE 8 "If
we don't all hang together, we will all hang separately." Movie
quote submitted by Jason Meadors (CO), coauthor with Donna Kanabay Harvey
(FL), of the NCRA amendment allowing for voice writers as full or
associate members. ________ TIME
FOR A YOUR VOICE COFFEE BREAK! The
Florida Association of Verbatim Reporters once again welcomes you to a cup
of coffee or tea and Your Voice. Today's
issue is varied. We've never
published a birth announcement, but we've never had the most well-known
court reporter in the world introduce her first baby.
Will this new baby grow up to live in the "Intelligent
House"? You can count on it! Speaking
of well-known, Erika Goldberg, the "Nanny Reporter," receives
some answers to her previous questions about automated speech recognition
(ASR), even as she accepts shipment of her new ASR realtime system.
Next, who needs a vacation when you can visit the FCRA Web site
designed by talented Rick Greenspan?
Today we will post the certification tables for NVRA and NCRA.
Next week look for California, Georgia and other state
certification criteria. Scroll
down to honor your mother and father or someone special who served in
World War II. Your
Voice is sponsored by StenoScribe, Inc., the Court Reporters Technology
Source. Visit
www.StenoScribe.com or call 800.456.3290 and order the Techlennium,
automated speech recognition realtime on a notebook.
The future has arrived! ________ FEEL
LIKE WALKING IN SUNSHINE? Shake
the snow off with swaying palms, the deep blue sea, and bright
Bougainvillea flowers. Sound like a travel guide?
Turn up the sound on your computer and visit www.fcraonline.org.
You will be serenaded through the information packed pages of the
Florida Court Reporters Association Web site. Research has never been so entertaining! Meet the FCRA officers and honored members through the
wizardry of site creator Rick Greenspan, CSR, RMR, CRR, SCM. See you in Margaritaville! ________ NEW
COURTROOM 21 AFFILIATE ARRIVES We
welcome our latest Courtroom 21 Affiliate, Carsten Kent Kelley.
Carstenmade his appearance on February 23, 2001, at 12:05 p.m.
Father and mother, Barry and Courtney Kelley, and baby, Carsten,
are doing well. Carsten at birth weighed 8 pounds, 4 ounces and was
22 1/2 inches in length with beautiful strawberry blonde hair. Nancy
Archibald, Associate Director for Operations and AdministrationCourtroom
21William & Mary Law School ________ AUDIOSCRIBE
"IGNITES" NCRA IN SAN ANTONIO AudioScribe,
Inc., president, Phil Kaufman, will make a presentation at the NCRA
"Ignite the Future" Midyear Conference, March 30-April 1, 2001,
in San Antonio, TX. Don't
miss his two-part program "Another Way to Realtime.
How Voice Writers do it." Explore the world of speech
recognition voice writing through realtime technologies.
Covered will be voice-to-print software, potential impact on the
reporting world, marketing opportunities, and more.
Visit www.AudioScribe.com. Take
advantage of NCRA's Midyear Conference preregistration discount rates
through March 12th by calling 800.272.NCRA or visit www.NCRAonline.org. ________ REPORTER
CERTIFICATION TABLES AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL Before
you read on, it has been wisely pointed out that certification tables are
only a portion of the actual certification process.
Continuing education requirements validate reporter certifications.
NATIONAL
VERBATIM REPORTERS ASSOCIATION CERTIFICATION TABLE: CVR: Written knowledge test with 75% or higher pass level. Literary
Matter: 200 wpm - 95%
accuracy Jury
Charge: ;225 wpm - 95%
accuracy Two-Voice
Testimony: 250 wpm - 95%
accuracy Reporter
must attend a one-day NVRA Basic Workshop before testing. CM: Written knowledge test with 90% or higher pass level. Literary
Matter: 225 wpm - 97%
accuracy Jury
Charge: 250 wpm - 97%
accuracy Two-Voice
Testimony: 300 wpm - 97%
accuracy RVR: Must currently hold the CVR.
Professional dictation two-voice Q & A for five minutes with 96% or better accuracy.
Must set up equipment and convert material to an ASCII text file.
________ NATIONAL
COURT REPORTERS ASSOCIATION CERTIFICATION TABLE: RPR: Written knowledge test with 70% or higher pass level. Literary
Matter: 180 wpm - 95%
accuracy Jury
Charge: 200 wpm - 95% accuracy Two-Voice
Testimony: 225 wpm - 95%
accuracy RMR: Written knowledge test with 70% or higher pass level. Literary
Matter: 200 wpm - 95%
accuracy Jury
Charge: 240 wpm - 95%
accuracy Two-Voice
Testimony: 260 wpm - 95%
accuracy CRR: Consists of 5 minutes of professionally recorded straight
matter with one
minute lead-in. Exam involves
three steps: 1)
Set-up equipment. 2)
Accurately
writing realtime for 5 minutes ranging in speeds from 180 to 200 wpm. 3) Converting
material to an ASCII text file. Pass
with a score of 96% or better. Additional details on NCRA's certification programs can be
found at:http://www.ncraonline.org/pd/testcert.htm ________ SPEECH
RECOGNITION REALTIME - MISSION POSSIBLE! ****Editorial
note: The below comment,
abbreviated, was published in the January 27, 2001, issue of Your Voice. "Can
you offer any immediate tips to automated speech recognition success other
than take a deep breath and then jump in?" Erika
Goldberg, CVR-CM (MA) **** Dear
Erika: I
understand your anxiety. I
tell reporters I train, that with dedication, they will undoubtedly be
successful. Automated speech recognition (ASR) isn't magic. Think
back to tackling a new word processing or condensing program or the
challenge of moving from DOS to Windows.
It will take a good deal of training on any ASR system to
achieve excellent results. The stenotypists I have heard from say
they went through these learning steps years ago when they moved from
manual steno machine to computer-aided transcription and then to realtime.
Many steno reporters are still working on their realtime skills.
Add to the mix the new venue of steno closed captioning with
Federal mandates ordered by 2006. ASR
training is much like teaching a child right from wrong.
It takes repetition. Dedication
to telling the speech engine (Dragon) what it should have heard and making
sure your dictation is accurate and clear is the way to achieve excellent
recognition. Speech
recognition and realtime technology will always be improving.
The challenge is there for everyone to take if they wish. This ASR
assignment is definitely "Mission Possible"! Cindy
Staples, Certified
StenoScribe Trainer ________ YOUR
VOICE GOES HOLLYWOOD Actor,
Tom Hanks, and Your Voice invite military veterans to become charter
members of the National World War II Memorial to be built on the National
Mall in Washington, DC. This
is a long overdue tribute to the men and women who helped win World War
II. Contributions by family
or friends in the name of a military veteran can secure a place of honor
in the Registry of Remembrances. Anyone
who helped win the war, either a veteran or someone on the home front, is
eligible. Phone Cindy Blank at 703.696.6323, or email Ms. Blank,
satherc@wwimemorial.com. Make
sure you or your loved one becomes a Charter Member.
Visit www.wwiimemorial.com. ________ MOVE
OUT OF DUMB HOUSE INTO INTELLIGENT HOUSE! Blue
Bell, PA - After a long hard day in the big, bad legal world, wouldn't it
be great to come home, kick off your shoes, tell your house to turn up the
heating, and turn on your favorite TV program?
You there, yet? ;To
help realize that science fiction dream, Unisys announced that it has
provided advanced speech expertise to develop voice interaction
capabilities for the new "Orange at Home" project.
The house of the future is an experiment exploring future use of
advanced technology in the home. The
Unisys solution enables the Intelligent House to react instantly to spoken
requests from householders, like "dim the lights" or "turn
on the television." Unisys'
technology allows natural conversation to take place just as if the user
is talking to another person. Communication
now is through a small lapel-type microphone.
Future enhancements may include microphones built into each room of
the house. The
Unisys voice interface allows you to control any number of household
appliances, even your electric blanket!
The Intelligent House, based in Hertford, north of London, is being
billed as an example of how people will interact with their homes in the
future. "House,
draw my bath. I'm on my way
home from court. You DO scope
don't you? Ahhhh . . ." eBlast
February 14, 2001, Article Sponsored by VoiceGenie ________ SUCCESSFUL
FREELANCE COURT REPORTING Successful
Freelance Court Reporting by Dana Chipkin. Finally a bookdedicated
to ALL FREELANCERS. Invaluable insights/details from a
veteranreporter/educator. Purchase through West Legal Studies
at<A HREF="http://www.westlegalstudies.com/">http://www.westlegalstudies.com/</A>
(ISBN #0-7668-1746-6) or DanaChipkin.com. ______ YOUR
VOICE FUNNIES A
little boy was overheard praying: "Lord, if you can't make me a
betterboy, don't worry about it. I'm
having a real good time like I am!"Submitted by Barb Enneking, CVR
(OH) ________ The
Florida Association of Verbatim Reporters thanks you for visiting Your
Voice today. See you next
time. Your
Voice staff, Nancy
Cavender, CVR-CM, Managing editor, VoiceWriter@aol.com Pat
Baeske, CVR-CM-HM, Proofing and Content Editor Gayle
Featheringill, CVR-CM-PNSC, Staff |
|
WELCOME
TO YOUR VOICE FOR MARCH 10, 2001, VOL. 1, ISSUE 9 Restlessness
and discontent are the first necessities of progress. - Thomas Edison ________ The
Florida Association of Verbatim Reporters once again welcomes you to Your
Voice. Like those of you reporting in the real world, the Your Voice staff
juggles work, pleasure, and family activities.
One of our editors is performing reporting duties on a pro bono
case, another is running for city alderman, while a third is busy managing
her office and performing in a stage play.
We know you readers are taking the time right now to peruse this
issue, and we appreciate it. Today is a quick cup of coffee with a few nuggets to think
about until next week! ________ CALIFORNIA
STATE CERTIFICATION TABLE The
California Shorthand Reporters Board gives that state's certification
levels as: A three-part
written test. English skills,
pass rate of 70%. Professional
Practice, a legal test of California laws and procedure, pass rate of 75%. The reporter machine skills test is a four-voice dictation at
200 wpm for 13 minutes; the first three minutes are a lead-in.
Pass rate for this portion of the test is 97.5%, equating to 50
allowable errors out of 2000 words. The
next test is June 1st and 2nd. Registration
deadline is April 17. For
further information visit www.courtreportersboard.ca.gov. Submitted
by Nancy Palmer, CVR (CA) ________ GEORGIA
STATE CERTIFICATION TABLE Georgia
requires a written test consisting of 100 questions, including Georgia
reporter rules and regulations, basic law, vocabulary, medical and legal
terminology, grammar and punctuation skills.
The reporter must score a minimum of 85% to pass.
The reporter machine skills test includes two-voice dictation at
160 wpm literary; 180 wpm jury charge; and 200 wpm question and answer,
each requiring a minimum of 96% accuracy.
Test applicants retain credit for passing two of the three
dictation sessions for one testing period.
Failure to pass the remaining section at the next exam results in
zero credit. Submitted
by Leslie Johnson Clerk,
Georgia Board of Court Reporting ________ UNITED
STATES COURT REPORTERS ASSOCIATION CERTIFICATION LEVEL The
United States Court Reporters Association (USCRA) sponsors the Federal
Certified Realtime Reporter exam. This
prestigious certificate includes a three-voice testimony, prerecorded and
dictated at speeds ranging from 180 to 200 wpm for five minutes.
A minimum of 96% accuracy is required to pass.
The Federal Court Realtime Reporter (FCRR) is recognized by the
Administrative Office of the United States Courts as certification for
realtime court reporting. To
learn more about USCRA, visit www.USCRA.org.
Submitted
by Dennis
Dinkel, RMR, CRR President-Elect, United
States Court Reporters Association ________ GO
STRAIGHT TO JAIL March 5, 2001 - The Miami Daily Business Review A
judge in the 17th Judicial Circuit, Broward County, Florida, in an unusual
move, ordered a court reporter to complete and present a murder trial
transcript or face time in jail. The
trial transcript is missing portions of testimony from an August 1999
trial which led to the conviction of a man for the murder of two young
sisters. The judge gave the
reporter an additional seven days to produce the missing testimony -- or
report to jail. The Florida
Supreme Court must have the complete trial transcript to consider the
pending appeal. **** Your
Voice previously reported that due to a low pay scale, there were reporter
shortages in Broward County. This
shortage was recently remedied when county officials studied the lack of
qualified court reporters in its court system and implemented a
substantial page and court per diem pay raise in an effort to attract
reporting candidates. Note
that the county's study determined that the reporters in Broward County
had been severely overworked, underpaid, and lacked time off to prepare
appeal transcripts. The new
competitive pay scale may alleviate Broward's reporter shortage. Broward County includes Fort Lauderdale and smaller adjoining
cities. ________ ALL
COURT REPORTERS? Spirited
members of the National Verbatim Reporters Association have spent the past
two weeks debating the language to be included in a board of directors
suggested amendment providing for a bylaws change regarding general voting
membership status. The root
of the debate has centered on what category of court reporter would be
included in the bylaws language. NVRA
members have received assurance from the board of directors that the
language would provide general membership and voting status for voice,
steno, and pen reporters only. ________
Comments
from one such "Spirited" member on the proposed NVRA bylaws
change: "I Submit This Change To NVRA'S Bylaws: The term 'Verbatim
Reporter' as used in the preceding paragraph and in all other places
throughout these bylaws shall mean a court reporter who, personally orally
or stenographically, reports proceedings to enable the production of a
complete and accurate transcript of said proceedings. Throughout
these bylaws, the term 'Verbatim Reporter' applies to all individuals
whose profession the preceding definition describes, regardless of whether
another term applies to said profession in a particular
jurisdiction." It's
true: United we stand, divided we fall. If court reporters don't
face the future together, we won't have one. David
Rogala, CVR-CM (IL) **** For a complete transcript of David Rogala's Your Voice
submission, please email VoiceWriter@aol.com with your request.
Space prevents us from printing it in its entirety.
________ YOUR
VOICE INSPIRATION "I
believe in the Initiative and Referendum, which should be used not to
destroy representative government, but to correct it whenever it becomes
misrepresentative." -
Teddy Roosevelt Submitted
by David Rogala, CVR-CM (IL) ________ Thank
you for visiting Your Voice today. See
you next time. If
you would like to unsubscribe to Your Voice email VoiceWriter@aol.com with
your request. For reprint
permission, email VoiceWriter@aol.com. Your
Voice staff, Nancy Cavender, CVR-CM Managing
editor VoiceWriter@aol.com Pat
Baeske, CVR-CM-HM Content
and proofing editor Gayle
Featheringill, CVR-CM-PNSC Staff
member |
|
WELCOME
TO YOUR VOICE FOR MARCH 17, 2001, VOL. 1, ISSUE 10 "It's
not that speech-recognition technology is coming. It's here now, and it's
impressively efficient and accurate when utilized by a skilled, highly
competent voice writer. Fear it, fight it, resist it, criticize it, attack
its proponents, and you'll get left behind. Open your mind to the
possibilities and probabilities, and you'll join in on the fun!" Copyright
2001 by Karla Wollin Boyer Printed
here with special permission See
Karla's Hot Quotes at www.uhbiz.com/ckboyer Your
Voice editorial note: Karla
Wollin Boyer holds titles and certifications as follows:
RDR, CRR, CSR ( Michigan and California ), NCRA National Champion
and INTERSTENO World Champion. ________ TOP
'O THE MORNING TO YOU! The
Florida Association of Verbatim Reporters welcomes you to a cup of Irish
Coffee and Your Voice on this Saint Patrick's Day!
Thank you for joining us today even if you have a parade to march
in, a technology conference or association meeting to attend. ________ StenoScribe,
Inc., innovators in court technology, and Your Voice sponsor, invite you
to their Web site, www.StenoScribe.com.
View features of the Techlennium realtime on a notebook and the
StenoScribe CAT (self-transcriber) systems.
Experience StenoScribe's USB sound enhancer technology that shields
your record from electrical interference and hardware that pumps up the
volume of those hard to hear speakers.
Call StenoScribe, the Court Reporters Technology Source,
800.456.3290. ________ "RIVERDANCE"
TO COURT Have
you ever seen Riverdance, the Irish dancing show that tours the world or
can be seen on a PBS television station?
If you haven't, please get tickets when it comes to your area, or
rent one of several video versions that are available.
When you walk away from the performance, you will definitely be in
high spirits. Keep those high
spirits in your soul, and take them with you when you go to your reporting
jobs. Make your clients
understand the depth of enthusiasm you possess for your profession. Your
enthusiasm will be contagious and benefit your reporting skills, attitudes
of attorneys, judges and witnesses. ;Your
enthusiasm and professionalism may even filter to the bookkeeping
department of your attorney/client or court/finance department personnel,
getting you paid in a timely manner.
Happiness
isn't only the "Luck of the Irish."
We each make our own. Make
yours for court reporting positive and professional! ________ NCRA
LEGISLATIVE ACTIVISTS OF THE YEAR NCRA,
at their recent Boot Camp held in Washington, DC, announced the winner of
their Legislative Activist of the Year as Ed Johnson, RPR, CRR, Port
Washington, Wisconsin. Ed is
past president of the Wisconsin Court Reporters Association.
The winner and other nominees were voted upon by the NCRA
RAINmakers. Russell
Welder, CVR-CM, was among the nominees selected from across the nation. He has worked over the past two and a half years on
getting mandatory certification for all court reporters in Missouri,
official and freelance alike. After three meetings with the Civil
Practice subcommittee of the Missouri Bar, Mary Conway, CVR, Diana Taylor,
lobbyist Mark Rhoads, Frank Rankin and several others finally hammered out
a change to Supreme Court Rule 14 to provide a mechanism for testing for
certification. This was an arduous process, and there were several
attorneys who provided Russell and the others with a great deal of help.
Presently
the Missouri Court Reporters Association has a bill in the legislature,
thanks to Randy Dunn and the MCRA lobbyist, which will put
"teeth" into the rule change.
It provides basically that no deposition may be used in a court in
Missouri, nor any deposition on appeal from an administrative agency may
be used unless prepared and certified by a certified court reporter.
Russell
says, "Of course, this was not a lone wolf effort.
There were a lot of people working on this. We managed to
obtain the endorsement of several statewide organizations such as the
Missouri Organization of Defense Lawyers, the Missouri Organization of
Prosecuting Attorneys and the Missouri Organization of Criminal Defense
Attorneys, along with many local bar associations and individual
attorneys. Being the skeptic that I am, I won't start celebrating
until the pending legislation is passed and the governor signs the bill
which truly makes certification in Missouri mandatory. Let me say
that I am guardedly optimistic at this stage of the game, having been
close before and then the rug gets yanked." Congratulations
Ed Johnson and Russell Welder! ________ A
"STAR" IS BORN Visited
www.STARonline.org? STAR
stands for Society for the Technological Advancement of Reporting.
STAR has been in place for a little less than a decade.
What does that mean for voice reporters?
Only that another technology committee within a stenotype
organization is studying the advancement of automated speech recognition
and the voice writer. STAR is composed of primarily reporting agency owners
interested in advanced technology for stenotype court reporters. A
quickly prepared appearance has been orchestrated for a voice writer
realtime demonstration today at the Marriott O'Hare in Chicago, IL.
The STAR Technology Committee will observe a voice writing realtime
demonstration by voice reporters, Norbel Marolla, CVR (MI) and Michael
Zajdel, CVR-RVR (MO) of their AudioScribe SpeechCat realtime technology. David Rogala, CVR-CM (IL) will also be in attendance.
STAR is a well-known organization among stenotypists, whose
Technology Committee is chaired and made up of progressive and
well-informed individuals. Visit www.STARonline.org, another Web site
created and administered by Rick Greenspan, CSR, RPR, RMR, SCM, CRR, of
Coral Springs, Florida. ________ THECourtReportingSchool.Com THE
Court Reporting School, offering courses in voice writing, is located in
Natchez, MS. School Director,
Margaret Lawson, the first voice writer to practice court reporting in
Atlanta, GA, has opened the doors to her online voice writing school, THE
Court Reporting School. Margaret
has educated several accomplished voice reporters in her teaching career.
To name a few, Sandra Fein, CVR-CM, HRVR, Courtroom 21 Speech Recognition
Key Advisor; Roberta Newberry, CVR-CM, director and creator of Superior
Reporting School; and Nancy Cavender, CVR-CM, Florida Association of
Verbatim Reporters, president, and StenoScribe Communications Director.
Visit www.THEcourtreportingschool.com. ________ insmod-a
(Don't even ask) This
is the first in a series of periodic articles highlighting advancements in
the world of voice recognition (VR).
Herein, you will get a glimpse of how and where VR is making
inroads into the national public infrastructure, and by extension, the
legal industry. Like a roller coaster, the phenomenally rapid advances in VR
may seem scary at first, but relax and enjoy this fast ride, comfortable
in the knowledge that you have industry leaders like AudioScribe and
StenoScribe on your side. Our
first drop is into the world of Personal Digital Assistants (PDA's).
It seems that everywhere you go nowadays, you see pagers and cell
phones fastened to belts, purses, automobile sun visors, et cetera.
Kyocera's Smartphone, introduced by Verizon, combines a Palm PDA
with a cell phone. It looks
like a regular wireless phone until you flip down the keypad, revealing
the standard Palm look and feel. Smartphone's
telephone functionality is everything you'd expect today, including voice
dialing via speech recognition. Just flip down the keypad to start the PDA.
All the standard Palm functionality is there, including the ability
to beam data to other Palms, synchronization and more.
You can place a phone call from the Palm address book, and during
your call, all Palm functions remain active.
You can read the Internet via the included browser, and you can
also access your email account. Check
it out at http://www.kyocera.com. Author,
David Rogala, CVR-CM, Chicago, IL, is a network administrator at a Fortune
500 technology company. ;He
is coarchitect of his company's current email system and has designed and
implemented enterprise-wide systems including network-based faxing,
electronic software distribution, data storage and recovery, virus
detection, and Internet architecture. ________ YOUR
VOICE FUNNIES DILBERT'S
RULES OF ORDER 1.
I can only please one person per day. Today is not your
day. Tomorrow is not looking good either. 2.
I love deadlines . . . I especially like the whooshing sound
they make as they go by. 3.
Tell me what you need, and I'll tell you how to get along
without it. 4.
Needing someone is like needing a parachute. If they
aren't there the first time, chances are you won't be needing them again. 5.
I don't suffer from stress. I am a carrier ________ Your
Voice thanks you for taking the time to read our publication.
Voice and steno reporters have many of the same concerns. As we
grow to a closer understanding and relationship with each other, our
profession will become even stronger and more beneficial to the live court
reporter. See you next time. Your
Voice staff, Nancy
Cavender, CVR-CM, Managing
editor VoiceWriter@aol.com Pat
Baeske, CVR-CM-HM Content
and proofreading editor PatBaeske@home.com Gayle
Featheringill, CVR-CM-PNSC Staff
member To
unsubscribe write VoiceWriter@aol.com with your request.
To receive reprint permission, please write VoiceWriter@aol.com. |
|
WELCOME
TO YOUR VOICE FOR MARCH 24, 2001, VOL. 1, ISSUE 11 "A
friend never gets in your way except to clear it for you." -
Anonymous "Restlessness
and discontent are the first necessities of progress." - Thomas
Edison Submitted
by Pat Baeske, CVR-CM-HM ________ JOIN
FAVR FOR A CUP OF COFFEE AND A LITTLE NEWS FAVR
(Florida Association of Verbatim Reporters) welcomes you to Your Voice.
Today we have a Judy Brentano authored article on the state of court
reporting. Let's follow her lead when she says, "It is time for ALL
reporters to talk up Reporting as an I-T profession and help change
its image." The Wisconsin Court Reporters Association is working to
do its part in solidifying opportunity for all reporters.
The Courtroom 21 Project has an exciting press release. Need help
before the April 15th IRS deadline? Visit
Your Voice Web Sites for some very helpful tax return links.
________ STENOSCRIBE
ADDITION Your
Voice sponsor, StenoScribe, Inc., takes great pleasure in introducing its
newest staff member, Michael Sherwood. Michael brings with him years
of court reporting experience and an engineering background.
To utilize his diversified skills he has joined the StenoScribe
engineering and support department. StenoScribe,
the Court Reporters Technology Source, speech recognition technology
written for court reporters by court reporters!
Phone 800.456.3290 or visit www.StenoScribe.com _________ YOUR
VOICE COMING ATTRACTIONS Next
week look for a report on an Italian rendezvous that took place this past
week between Fausto Ramondelli and Allen and Becky McClung.
Martin Block, Executive Vice President of VITAC Corporation, makes
important remarks regarding speech recognition technology.
We will have a Your Voice book of the month review on Successful
Freelance Court Reporting, by Dana Chipkin.
In the meantime, visit the new DanaChipkin.com Web site. Be ready to take the first steps in HTML and create your own
Web site. Do court reporters
have an identity crisis? Find
out in our next issue. ________ "VOICE
WRITERS IN WISCONSIN COURTS" "WCRA,
like NCRA, is considering the future of voice writers in connection with
this association and potentially advocating the use of voice writers in
Wisconsin courts (motivated by concern regarding the shortage of
stenographic reporters and the idea of strength in numbers and unity).
This matter will be discussed at the business meeting in Eau Claire at the
spring convention." Presented as published in the Spring 2001 issue of
the "Wisconsin Reporter." ________ NCRA
BOOT CAMP CHANGES OUR IMAGE At
the recent NCRA Boot Camp attended by over 85 reporters and instructors
from around the nation, Judy Brentano, a past NCRA President and Chairman
of the School Partnerships Task Force, presented a session on
captioning and CART and specific recruitment and training requirements.
This was all tied into the NCRA legislative efforts to raise $20 million
in appropriations to develop training programs to help meet, one, the
FCC mandate that all programs be captioned by 2006 creating a demand for
an additional 3000 trained broadcast captioners, and two, the training of
CART reporters to meet the mandates of the ADA. The number of CART
reporters needed at the academic level is infinite. In
her remarks, Ms. Brentano reflected on the Tom Peters' quote in Time
Magazine concerning dying professions wherein he stated that court
reporters would be replaced by voice recognition. Ms.
Brentano stated: "Voice
Recognition (VR) is very real. It is a viable technology.
It is being used in various realtime reporting venues on a daily basis in
this country now . . . today! The key point here, the one Tom Peters
misses completely, as does most of the uninformed public including some
broadcasters, is that VR in any of the environments we work in still
requires a well-trained, highly-skilled human being to drive the
technology." Statements like Peters'
has hurt recruiting causing far too many schools to close their
programs, thus creating a reporter shortage. The need for reporters
for the judiciary, CART, and broadcast captioning is huge today, and
the need is growing faster than we may be able to train people to fill the
jobs. It is time for ALL reporters to talk up Reporting as an
I-T profession and help change its image as a "dying
profession." Judy
Brentano, RPR (GA) ________ AUDIOSCRIBE
ANNOUNCEMENT Dear
Your Voice Readers: Allow
me to introduce myself. My name is Elizabeth Webster and I am the
newest member of the AudioScribe staff. I will now be handling the
communication and marketing efforts for the company. On that
note, I would like to take a few minutes to announce the release of our
latest version of software, SpeechCAT 4.0.5, which became official on
Monday, March 19. Any of you who were familiar with the previous
version will find that Version4.0.5 offers greater ease of use than ever
before, provides better documentation, and the manuals on CD are now in .PDF
format. We’ve alreadyburned over 100 copies of the new version and
are in the process of sending it out to all users with support that was
current as of December 2000.Any questions or comments can be directed to
me at elizabeth@audioscribe.com or info@audioscribe.com. Elizabeth
Webster ________ GREATER
WASHINGTON SHORTHAND REPORTERS ASSOCIATION (GWSRA) The
GWSRA March 17th spring seminar was a big success. We thank each of
our speakers and those in attendance.
Jim Bouck's presentation of voice reporting and speech recognition
was outstanding. Everyone found it informative.
I was happy to have seen the quote in last week's Your Voice from
Karla Boyer, which I just happened to read early that morning before
heading to the seminar. There were many questions directed to Jim
relating to reporter training and voice reporter methodology. Jim is
an excellent speaker and does such a magnificent job presenting how the
technology works and how important it is that the person using the
equipment be highly trained and competent. Visit www.GWSRA.org and learn about the complete seminar
program and more. Dennis
Dinkel, RMR, CRR, FCRRPresident, Greater Washington Shorthand Reporters
Association ________ A
COURT REPORTER'S DILEMMA Karen
Yearwood Cole (SC) posed a question to reporters this week asking for law
on the rules of providing an original transcript for a witness to read and
sign. An attorney demanded Ms. Cole present the witness the
original to read and sign at his law office. A
CompuServe Court Reporters Forum post outlined the below Federal rule:
Johnson vs. Alcan, U.S. District Court, Atlanta Division, holds that
no court reporter in the United States is obligated to make an original or
read-and-sign copy available to a deponent or counsel outside of the court
reporter's own office. ________ YOUR
VOICE WEB SITES A
participant at the CompuServe Court Reporters Forum posted this
informative Web address for a Glossary of Steam Locomotive Terminology.
Visit this site and link to many associated sites, including
Railway Technical Web Pages and Modern Railway Glossary. http://www.trainweb.org/railwaytechnical/st-glos.html#BELPAIREBOILER ____ YOUR
VOICE TAX TOOLS Visit
www.Library.com to assist in downloading and filling out tax forms and
more. Can't
find a form? Need to look up a law? Start here: Federal
Tax Forms State
Tax Forms New
Tax Laws Tax
Tips Explore
more at http://www.libraryspot.com/tax/ ________ YOUR
VOICE CLASSIFIED U.S.
District Court for the District of Columbia is seeking applicants for the
position of Official Court Reporter. Must have minimum of four years
prime reporting experience, either freelance or courts. Must possess
CVR or RPR certificate. Realtime is required. Send resume by
April 3, 2001, to Beverly Byrne, Court Reporting Supervisor, U.S. District Court, Room 6810, 333 Constitution Avenue, N.W.,
Washington, D.C. 20001. PHONE:
202-273-0882Testing will be held on Monday, April 9, 2001, at 10:00 a.m. ________ CYBERCOURT
CONCEPT TO BE TESTED IN EXPERIMENTAL COURTROOM 21 Recently
the Governor of Michigan proposed the nation’s first “Cybercourt.” Intended
for prompt and efficient resolution of civil business disputes, the
Cybercourt will permit trials in which only the judge and court clerk
are in the courtroom; all other participants could appear remotely through
modern technology. The proposed Cybercourt is modeled in part on
William & MaryLaw School’s Courtroom 21 high technology facility.
The Courtroom 21 Projectwill test the Cybercourt concept with the case of
United States v. Linsor. Linsor involves a defendant whose accomplice
placed a bomb aboard a United States military aircraft in England. The
resulting explosion killed the pilots and caused the aircraft to collide
with a civilian jetliner over London, causing numerous fatalities.
Witnesses will testify live from Australia, India, and the United Kingdom.
A British barrister will conduct witness examination live from England. The
trial will be published live to the Web complete with audio, video, text,
and documentary evidence. The
Honorable James Rosenbaum, United States District Judge for the District of
Minnesota will preside over the trial which will take place in William
& Mary’s McGlothlin
Courtroom in Williamsburg, Virginia, on Sunday,April 1, 2001, beginning at
9:00 a.m. The simulated case will be tried as realistically as possible to
determine the current practicality of Cybercourt proceedings. The
case will use an enormous range of technology options, including high
technology court record, technology enhanced evidence presentation,
technology augmented foreign language interpretation, jury room
deliberation technology, and assistive technologies. A blind witness
will testify with the assistance of scanned documents printed in Braille. A
number of experiments will be conducted as part of the trial, including a
comparative analysis of different ways in which to present deposition
evidence. The
Courtroom 21 Project is a joint project of William &
Mary Law School and the National Center for State Courts. It
works to determine how to improve the legal system through the use of
appropriate technology. The Project includes in the Law School’s
McGlothlin Courtroom the world’s most technologically advanced trial and
appellate courtroom. The Linsor case is being supported by Courtroom 21's
associated project and Leeds, United Kingdom, and Canberra, Australia. For
further information contact Anne Kimber at (757) 221-3792; for general
information concerning the Courtroom 21 Project visit
www.courtroom21.net ________ Thank
you for visiting Your Voice today. We
look forward to your joining us next week, too! Your
Voice staff, Nancy
Cavender, CVR-CM, President Florida Association of Verbatim Reporters, Managing
Editor of Your Voice, VoiceWriter@aol.com Pat
Baeske, CVR-CM-HM, Content and proofing editor of Your Voice, PatBaeske@earthlink.net Gayle
Featheringill, CVR-CM-PNSC, Your Voice staff member |
| WELCOME
TO YOUR VOICE FOR APRIL 7, 2001, VOL. 1, ISSUE 13 The word "impossible" is not in my dictionary. - Napoleon Bonaparte ________ TIP OFF YOUR ASSOCIATION The Florida Association of Verbatim Reporters (FAVR) welcomes you to Your Voice. This morning, as you're sipping that hot cup of coffee or tea, think about the rumors or factual news you've heard being discussed by colleagues during the work week. Do you know of a jurisdiction that is investigating use of digital recording devices? Have you heard that per diem or page rates are going to be increased or decreased? Has your judge mentioned a meeting with administrators that pertains to court reporting responsibilities? If you have heard anything pertaining to reporter security, anything at all, mention it to other colleagues; email or call your state or national association leaders. There are organizations in place to protect the court reporter. Organizations like FAVR need YOU. You are the most valuable asset of any organization. You are the eyes, ears and heart of a successful association. With detrimental changes encouraged by many administrative officials to courts nationwide, it is the court reporter, with the help of state and national organizations, who will fight back each and every challenge to the live reporter. Help us help you. ________ STENOSCRIBE IN JAG SCHOOL Your Voice sponsor, StenoScribe, after months of extensive, comparative real world testing and evaluation of products and support, has been implemented at the Navy JAG Court Reporting School in Newport, RI. Visit StenoScribe, the Court Reporters Technology Source, www.StenoScribe.com, or phone 800.456.3290. ________ CRITICS CORNER Dear Your Voice: I loved Marty Block's, "We have met the enemy and it is us." How true, how true. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be many business-minded owners of court reporting agencies, by the number of firms that give away compressed copies and give away ASCIIs. Do attorneys give away their services? No, way. The attorneys criticize us for what we charge. Why? Because they don't have a clue what it takes to produce a quality transcript. Why? Because we haven't educated them. If you own an agency, at some point you have to make the decision: Am I a businessowner first and reporter second or vice versa. As one who many years ago made the transition from reporter to businessowner, it is disturbing that shortsightedness and narrow vision have persisted in this industry for too many years. We should all be together as one force with forward thinkers, visionaries, and leaders who embrace technology and not fear it. Old prejudices should be done away with. What difference does it make how a record is produced? The important thing is the record be accurately produced by a professional court reporter. Glad to hear from you, Marty! Mary Moore M. Ritchie, CVR Court Reporting Services Raleigh, NC ________ Dear Your Voice: I agree that voice writing is just another method of reporting, as is pen writing and steno. The important thing is getting it down and accurately, regardless of the method. In this time when live court reporters are being replaced with recording equipment, it is especially important to band together to promote our profession as the only true way of preserving a verbatim record. And, as we've heard many times before, realtime can be an important asset in winning the battle between live reporters versus recording equipment. Buffy Topper, CCR, RPR 2000 Arkansas Court Reporter of the Year CE Chairwoman, Arkansas Court Reporters Association ________ ROMAN HOLIDAY Thursday last (March 22), Rome, Italy, was sunny and in the mid-70s. My wife, Becky, and I were in Rome, sitting in an open-air cafe facing the Pantheon, having coffee and discussing court reporting with Italy's premier reporter, Fausto Ramondelli. Fausto is an official reporter for the Italian Senate. Fausto is interested in speech recognition and realtime transmission of testimony and proceedings to a Web site. He wrote the book -- literally -- on the stenographic theory of court reporting in Italy. After coffee and conversation, Fausto invited Becky and me to visit the chambers of the Senate where he works. After passing through security, we entered a large dome-shaped room with desks and seating surrounding us. The room was layered upward with more desks and seats. The carpet was the color of burgundy wine, and the walls were dark polished wood. There was a dais in the front of the room which seated the officials and presiding officers of the Senate. The entire room was large enough to hold 300 people, with a balcony for 300 guests. In the center of the room was Fausto's work station. His steno machine was not what I expected. Instead of the familiar stenograph (or datawriter) used by American reporters, Fausto's "machine" had keys like a piano; even the black and white ones. Four machines were integrated into a cabinet-like affair, facing one another in a square. We had a brief demo from Fausto, but since he writes in Italian and I read English . . . got the picture? The machine produced symbols on a paper tape, just like the steno machine, and the reporters then dictate the proceedings for typists/transcriptionists. Fausto and his colleagues are moving toward a computer-compatible writing method, but he keeps an open mind for other methods of reporting too -- like speech recognition. All in all, we spent an enjoyable and informative hour or two with our Italian friend. We visited his office outside the Senate room and met another colleague/reporter. Monday of this week (March 26), Fausto is in Washington, D.C., visiting American reporters, observing more speech recognition technology, and sight-seeing around our nation's capital. He is on his way to the NCRA's midyear convention in Texas. Thanks to Your Voice for facilitating this unique international meeting. Allen S. McClung, CVR-CM President, Tri-State Reporters Association (Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana) ________ CONGRATULATIONS, PAT! Pat Baeske, CVR-CM-HM, Your Voice proofreader, was reelected last Tuesday for another 4 years as alderman (councilman) of her city in Illinois. Pat received 70% of the vote! She says it feels as though she has met and shaken hands with every citizen in the city - twice. Pat's energy and generosity know no bounds. She donates her entire after-tax salary to her city's schools for the children's enrichment programs. Her husband, Mel, is not quite as excited about this recent win. He's ready and due for a long vacation. ________ ON THE ROAD WITH AUDIOSCRIBE Phil Kaufman, president of AudioScribe, and Chris Ales, trainer, attended the NCRA midyear seminar in San Antonio the weekend of March 30th. Phil addressed issues of voice reporting in the past, present, and future, as well as the capabilities of voice writers to work as CART reporters and to have the capability of voice writing via the Internet. Chris Ales did a brief, random Q and A from a 1,000-page transcript to demonstrate SpeechCAT. For the remainder of Phil's presentation, Chris CARTed sections of his speech for the audience. After the presentation, Phil and Chris were approached by several machine writers, including Bill Oliver, who thanked them for an informative demonstration. They also had the opportunity to meet associates of one of AudioScribe's Italian contacts, Gian Paolo. Fausto Ramondelli, a stenotypist, and Attilio Di Nepi, a reporter who has been using Dragon along with a speech silencer AudioScribe sent him, had flown all the way from Italy to attend this convention in an effort to further research speech recognition. Elizabeth Webster AudioScribe Marketing and Communications Director www.AudioScribe.com ________ YOUR VOICE CLASSIFIEDS Rapidly growing South Carolina firm looking for professional court reporter with certification or working toward certification and at least one year of experience. Please email CDREPORT@aol.com with qualifications and contact information. ________ REPORTER CERTIFICATIONS The National Verbatim Court Reporters Association Certifications: Certified Verbatim Reporter (CVR) Certificate of Merit (CM) Realtime Verbatim Reporter (RVR) Honorary Member (HM) Honorary Realtime Verbatim Reporter (HRVR) ____ The United States Court Reporters Association: Federal Certified Realtime Reporter (FCRR) The FCRR is recognized by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts as certification for realtime. ____ Next week Your Voice will spotlight the many certification levels of the National Court Reporters Association. ________ FROM NANNY - TO MOM I suspect I'm pregnant, not with a child per se, but with a baby called voice recognition. My new "baby" arrived last week, and I was so intimidated, I didn't open the box for three days! My partner kept saying to me, "Aren't you going to open it? When are you going to open it? You can't keep ignoring it; it's not going to go away!" So on the fourth day I gave birth. Yes, I gave birth. I examined it; it looked physically intimidating. I held it in my arms and actually spoke to it. It made me feel better. The next day I took "her" to work. I spoke to her again as I gently inserted the various cords. I was furious when she wouldn't recognize my fourteenth time at a particularly difficult paragraph reading. I angrily unplugged her cords at the end of the second day. By the end of the week, however, "she" and I were bonding well. I can even say with some assurance, that I think we are communicating. My "baby" has come a long way, but I tremble at how far we need to go. I have to admit I have a fairy godmother that I turn to when trouble occurs; her name is Claudia Hutchison, at Stenoscribe. She is an angel. She has made this "experience" sooo much easier. She has humor, sensitivity, warmth, and a kind soul. I am sure that with her help, this next phase will be successful. I encourage people to look into speech recognition but to also remember that it takes fortitude, self-assurance, and a kind and patient heart to give birth to this new technology you are adopting. Good luck!!! I'll need some, too. Erika Goldberg, CVR-CM (MA) Editorial Note: (Erika is the reporter from the infamous "Nanny Trial." She recently moved from manual reporting to speech recognition.) ________ Two weeks ago we printed that a CompuServe Court Reporters Forum (CRForum) posting asserted that the Federal trial court case ruling of Johnson v. Alcan, U.S. District Court, Atlanta Division, held that no court reporter in the United States is obligated to make an original or read-and-sign copy available to a deponent or counsel outside of the court reporter's own office. O.D. Landry, CVR-CM-HM, NVRA's guru of sticky situations, disagrees with the above interpretation of opinion which was posted by another reporter on the CRForum and he has written a lengthy article on the topic. Unfortunately, however, his submission is of such a length that it is too long to print in Your Voice. Therefore, if you would like a copy of his opinion on this topic, email him at odlandry@starfishnet.com. ________ YOUR VOICE FUNNIES The benefits of growing older (and you thought there weren't any). In a hostage situation, you're likely to be released first. No one expects you to run into a burning building. People no longer view you as a hypochondriac. There's nothing left to learn the hard way. Things you buy now won't wear out. You can have a party without the neighbors realizing it. Your eyes won't get much worse. Your secrets are safe with your friends; they can't remember them either. Your supply of brain cells is finally down to a manageable number. Deborah Slocum (LA) ________ Thank you for visiting with FAVR and Your Voice today. To receive republishing permission or to unsubscribe, please email VoiceWriter@aol.com. Your Voice staff, Nancy Cavender, CVR-CM Managing editor VoiceWriter@aol.com Pat Baeske, CVR-CM-HM Proofing editor Gayle Featheringill, CVR-CM-PNSC Staff member |
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TO YOUR VOICE FOR APRIL 14, 2001, VOL. 1, ISSUE 14 What do we live for if it is not to make life less difficult for each other? - George Eliot ________ HAVE A TEXAS-SIZED CUP OF COFFEE THIS MORNING The Florida Association of Verbatim Reporters once again welcomes you to Your Voice. Today's issue is different in that it will cover with greater depth the path a steno student is taking to complete her reporting education. The reporting future is in our students and ability to attract competent, enthusiastic individuals to our profession. Below you will hear a cry for help from one such student -- and there have been many more in her shoes. See how this student and enlightened educators are making a difference. Once you read "A Cry For Help!," you may more clearly see the importance of passing the NCRA amendment providing full member status to voice writers. We, as a profession, must not allow our developing students to leave because there is a lack of schooling in their desired method. Is the NCRA membership willing to let go of potential members who are the caliber of Texan, Kathleen Sanderbeck? This is the time of year in which prospective college students are receiving letters of acceptance or rejection from colleges of their choice. Don't place potential reporting students in the rejection column because there is no voice writing course conveniently available to them! Your Voice has placed this urgent issue front and center. Next week we will continue with certifications and other topics. Who would have thought there wouldn't be enough weeks in the month to report the important and interesting news of our profession? ________ STENOSCRIBE IN GERMANY StenoScribe Techlennium realtime systems are being used in Germany! The new Gateway 1 gigabyte notebook computer features even faster StenoScribe speech recognition capabilities. Keep up with the world whether voice or steno reporter. When you are ready to make the leap forward into speech recognition, be the best you can be! Visit StenoScribe, The Court Reporters Technology Source, www.StenoScribe.com or 800.456.3290. ________ FAVR OFFICER HEADING TO BUDAPEST Florida Association of Verbatim Reporters (FAVR) vice president, Kimberley Johnson, CVR, of Tampa, will be departing the US for Budapest, Hungary, on April 22nd. Kim is the official reporter for Judge Alexander L. Paskay, Chief US Bankruptcy Judge Emeritus of the Middle District of Florida. This past weekend, the Johnsons hosted a luncheon reception at their home for Judge Paskay and honored guests in preparation of their group departure. Judge Paskay will be hosting the International Bankruptcy Symposium in Budapest which is sponsored by the Stetson School of Law. Approximately 40 lawyers from the Tampa/St. Petersburg area and several reporters will be attending this event, joining other jurists from around the globe. ________ A STUDENT'S CRY FOR HELP! No voice reporting schools in Texas . . . WHY NOT? It happened. Not it may happen or it can happen. It definitely happened. I am presently enrolled in a court reporting program through Houston Community College. We were just informed the college is canceling the program! Now I can only imagine little ants are out there running around trying to put "something new" into action. In reality, Texas got caught with their bluejeans down around their cowboy boots when it came to an alternative reporting method, voice writing! Machine writers in Texas are not graduating in numbers like they used to. I learned that while (in the past) there might have been 300+ applicants taking the state test, that only 50 or so did this year. Alternative methods have to be implemented immediately. My classes generally had 5 to 8 students. In the past, these same classes were just about standing room only. I was told that for many years the court reporting program at Houston Community College helped "keep it afloat." With the drop of enrollment, it was not cost effective any longer or "allowed" to continue by the State. Alternative methods have to be implemented and recognized by the State of Texas, immediately. As a result of "a thing called money," I was told that my school was "dropping the program." My life just flashed through my mind over the next numbing weeks. I had quit a good paying job to do this. I had been in school and working part-time for four semesters rocking right along with a 3.67 GPA. But for what? The program was ending. I had not taken enough actual court reporting classes to have the speed needed to pass the state machine writing test. God bless the folks that are in their high speeds who can work their fingers to the bone to make it. But it was not going to happen for me. I wasn't at that point. I was able to get the academic classes out of the way so I could change degrees and go a whole different direction. But no. That's not for me, either. See, this was my mid-life crisis career change. I thought you only got one of those! Alternative methods have to be implemented and recognized in Texas immediately. I say implemented, because it turned out there were no schools in Texas for a person to be taught the alternative method of voice writing realtime COURT reporting. I capitalize COURT because I still mean REPORTING. Whatever the method! But no schools. Research was done and we were told about schools in New Orleans, Natchez, Atlanta, and Charlotte. With New Orleans and Natchez about a six-hour drive from Houston, myself and some fellow students seriously contemplated carpooling to learn the voice writing technique! Alternative methods have to be implemented in Texas immediately. Just prior to our paying to go to the school by carpooling, our instructor had a meeting with administration at Houston Community College (HCC). He advised us that the meeting resulted in HCC deciding to implement a voice writing program within their curriculum beginning with the fall-2001 semester. What victory! Now recognized. WHY isn't voice writing recognized in Texas? Alternative methods have to be recognized immediately. A shortage of reporters is within sight. Whatever the method, reporting must be done. Every reporter should just be a REPORTER and then each reporter could use the METHOD they so desire. Just so the job is done, the result is the same. Can someone tell me WHY? It's going to happen. Voice writing has been implemented in Texas. It will be recognized. Why not encouraged? This alternative method must be implemented, WELCOMED, and recognized in Texas immediately. After all, myself and others almost left reporting before we began! Kathleen Sanderbeck (Texas) ________ YOUR VOICE QUOTE The teacher does not bid you enter the house of his wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind. - Kahil Gibran ________ A REAL TEXAS PIONEER Who is reporting student Kathleen Sanderbeck's instructor at Houston Community College? Ronald Way, pioneer! Ron has, along with HCC staff, investigated voice reporting via automated speech recognition (ASR) realtime technology for some time. He cites early barriers and then recent successes with implementing ASR: "I was concerned about acceptance of voice writers in the protective Houston market because of negativity generated by those using the established method. After much consideration and discussion with the advisory committee regarding the growing shortage in the market for qualified realtime court reporters, we have decided to switch our program here at HCC to voice writing and speech recognition technology. It's been a long arduous battle on many fronts, but I'm sure the correct decision has been made. In talking with several firm owners about ASR and realtime, they have expressed the willingness to hire a realtime capable voice reporter if they were not able to acquire a machine writer with realtime capabilities." We'll be happy with small steps! "Adding to the achievement of ASR implementation at HCC, because I'm so convinced that voice writing technology is the future of court reporting, I successfully persuaded the North Forest Independent School District to offer court reporting to their high school students under my direction for the second year. I have recommended that we teach speech recognition computer to these students. This school district is very excited at the prospect and has taken my advice!" These state-of-the-art educational developments will benefit students and enhance the reputations of the Houston Community College System and the North Forest Independent School District. Ron Way, Department Chair Court Reporting Department Houston Community College Houston, Texas ****Editorial comment: Mr. Way's quotes are written in conjunction with comments by the Your Voice editor. ________ BROWARD COUNTY, FLORIDA, REPORTER RATE HIKE This week Dade County, Miami, Florida, Administrative Office of the Courts announced an updated court reporting fee schedule. The page rates for county deposition and court transcripts have been increased to match the Broward County recent rate increase. Per diem for court appearance by contract holders was increased along with rates for overnight, daily, and unedited draft. Many of these increases are substantial and will encourage qualified reporters to seek work in Miami, alleviating shortages. ________ SOUTH CAROLINA AND NORTH CAROLINA JOINT MEETING Recently, the South Carolina and North Carolina Court Reporters Associations met in a joint conference. The SCCRA is composed of voice writers and stenotypists. While we have in years past been sort of on opposite sides of the table, it seems that things are beginning to get a little better. We are becoming friendlier to one another and more tolerant and appreciative of each other's methods of reporting. There was one student, a beautiful lady, who is in school in Columbia, SC, (stenotype is all we offer here) who was more than somewhat intrigued by voice technology. She was very interested in learning as much as she could about speech recognition. A lot of young stenotype reporters are interested also -- they know what's coming with carpal tunnel, just as we voice writers do who have typed for 30 years. So all in all, it was a very, very nice conference. Many barriers are beginning to come down -- I think they are more than beginning; they're at least halfway there. There are always going to be holdouts, reporters thinking their way is the only way, but those individuals are becoming fewer. Judy Jordan, CVR (SC) ________ YOUR VOICE CLASSIFIEDS As a new StenoScribe trainer, I am upgrading to the realtime system and must part with my StenoScribe System III Self-Transcribing CAT System. This system includes a Gateway laptop computer, hands-free mini mask stand, microphones, external CD writer, manuals, and carrying case. I have also included the new USB Sound Enhancer (valued at $500) and one full day of free training. You will also have free upgrades, macro setup, and tech support. This complete package for $5,000. For more information, please call Karen Yearwood Cole at (803) 781-8594 or (803) 622-4442 or email at cdreport@aol.com ________ SUCCESSFUL FREELANCE COURT REPORTING Successful Freelance Court Reporting by Dana Chipkin. Finally a book dedicated to ALL FREELANCERS. Invaluable insights/details from a veteran reporter/educator. Purchase through West Legal Studies at http://www.westlegalstudies.com/ (ISBN #0-7668-1746-6) or DanaChipkin.com. ________ ATTENTION REPORTERS AND SCOPISTS! FREE USE OF EQUIPMENT! Tired of devoting your life to court reporting, spending nights and weekends in front of your computer? We have just the answer for you. There are several positions immediately available in Atlanta and Covington, Kentucky, for scopists and voice writers with good dictation skills and an interest in captioning using speech recognition. Become part of the Atlanta Center for StreamingText, Inc., or Capitol Realtime Services. We offer excellent salaries, health benefits, and . . . FREEDOM FROM TRANSCRIPT PREPARATION! Paid training and computers are provided. Interviews are now being scheduled. Curious? Phone Sandra L. Fein, at the Atlanta Center for StreamingText, Inc., at 770.730.0041. To reach Capitol Realtime in Covington, Kentucky, phone Becky McClung at 859.578.8000. ________ COURTROOM 21 AND AUDIOSCRIBE While AudioScribe has been part of the Courtroom 21 project at the College of William and Mary since 1998, efforts are made to demonstrate our cutting edge technology on an ongoing basis. The weekend of March 30, an AudioScribe trainer gave a very successful demonstration at Courtroom 21. We have had very positive feedback from the demonstration and those in attendance noted that the demonstration of voice writing was intriguing. To learn more about these and other projects, visit us on the web at: http://www.audioscribe.com http://www.courtroom21.com ________ Thank you for visiting Your Voice today. The Florida Association of Verbatim Reporters encourages camaraderie between voice and steno reporters. Our mission is to inform and elucidate issues affecting all phases of the court reporting profession. ________ To request republishing permission or to unsubscribe, please email VoiceWriter@aol.com. ________ Your Voice staff, Nancy Cavender, CVR-CM, Managing editor, VoiceWriter@aol.com Pat Baeske, CVR-CM-HM, Proofing editor Gayle Featheringill, CVR-CM-PNSC, Staff |
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TO YOUR VOICE FOR APRIL 21, 2001, VOL. 1, ISSUE 15
When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us. -- Alexander Graham Bell Reprinted with permission from the NCRA Journal of Court Reporting, April 2001 issue, CART column entitled "Taking a Risk," author, Tambria L. Stoneberger. ________ REAL TEAMWORK StenoScribe, Inc., Your Voice sponsor, was represented at the Arkansas Court Reporters Association Seminar program on April 19th, by Candace White, CVR, Little Rock. Candace heroically stepped up to fill in for the scheduled StenoScribe representative. Just days before the presentation, she agreed to demonstrate her Techlennium system to the ACRA seminar attendees. Candace had never done a group presentation of realtime. She explained to an appreciative audience of reporters what she does each day when reporting withher StenoScribe Techlennium. Mimi Ambrose, CVR, assisted in the Q&A realtimed by Candace. The audience had many questions of this everyday working realtime reporter. Candace remarked, "I would like to thank the ACRA seminar attendees and staff for their participation and support. You made this a very enjoyable experience." Candace would also like to thank the AudioScribe seminar representatives for their technical assistance. Now that's what we call TEAMWORK! ________ I'M MAKING THE SWITCH -- BACK TO COURT REPORTING Even though I'm a very proud stenotypist, I've decided to switch to automated speech recognition (ASR) because of problems I'm having with my right arm. After pounding keys for 26 years, I have severe pain and swelling and many other symptoms related to overuse syndrome. My alternative was disability. No way! I've got a lot of years of reporting ahead of me, and I love this profession. I've done some research through voice writer associations and the companies that offer ASR software. The realtime capabilities are amazing. There is intense training and testing before you're able to become a voice writing reporter. I personally don't think it will eliminate the court reporter's job. We must have competent court reporters. Remember, pen writing evolved into machine shorthand reporting. I also believe we will see a resurrection of reporting students if they go to a court reporting school that offers speech recognition. I blame the decline of court reporting students and closed reporting schools on the fact that the stenotype theory is too hard to learn compared to what it was when I went to school. The outlines for some phrases, medical words, and conflicts are incredibly difficult. Speech recognition is here and, boy, am I glad it is. Lillian Freiler, RPR (PA) ____ RELAX WHETHER WRITING OR DICTATING Escentually Yours Aromatherapy www.escentuallyyours.com Lillian M. Freiler, is the owner of Escentually Yours Aromatherapy, and a certified aromatherapist. She has attended several Bioelements workshops and body treatment seminars and is a professional member of the National Association of Holistic Aromatherapy. If voice reporting had not found its way into her professional life, she would have completely abandoned reporting to devote her time to Escentually Yours. We are delighted Lillian found an alternative reporting method. At the end of your grueling day of reporting, visit www.EscentuallyYours.com, and find a body soothing potion! ________ A COURT REPORTING "SURVIVOR" Who says court reporting is dull? After graduating from Ohio State University, Allen McClung, CVR-CM, completed stenotype school and began his career as a stenographer. The path of machine writer took him from official reporter in the state courts of West Virginia and Ohio, to a position as Official Reporter for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. With a willingness to accept change, and sensing that voice writing was a new frontier, Allen trained to become a voice reporter, earning the NVRA CVR-CM. Not letting grass grow under his feet, he added videographer to his resume soon after the Kentucky Rules of Civil Procedure implemented videotape as a method of making the record for depositions. Not finished yet, he and his wife, Becky (CVR-CM-RVR), opened Capitol Realtime Services in conjunction with Hearingroom.com and StreamingText.com to provide off-site Internet realtime of Senate and House hearings, as well as realtime financial conference calls for Fortune 500 companies. Last fall, his adventure led him to Kentucky Public Service Commission (KPSC) public hearings, which he reported and produced via Webcast. The general public and consumers had the ability to go to the Web site of the KPSC to see and hear the video, as well as read the transcript of the proceedings. During these adventures and accomplishments, Allen took a course in legal mediation and became a Certified Mediator. Recently, he began mediating cases for clients whom he has come to know over the years through his court reporting agency, Allen McClung and Associates, located in Covington, Kentucky. Along with his certification as a mediator, he holds the distinction of being a Certified Arbitrator. Next on his agenda: online remote mediation service. Stay in your office with your client and mediate your case online via videoconferencing. Allen advises he's not finished yet! ________ CAMELION GROUP REPORTER/CAPTIONING INTERNSHIP IN MANHATTAN Visit Marymount.mmm.edu and find the Marymount Manhattan College internship program for court captioners and reporters. Camille and Ed LeClair, owners of Camelion Group, have acquired this internship in their effort to introduce speech recognition captioning and reporting to the public. Marymount Manhattan College, New York, boasts internships with Fortune 500 companies. Court reporter/captioning is now being offered alongside the various internship programs generally found at this prestigious college. The Marymount student internship Web posting is as follows: "Marymount Manhattan College connected enthusiast brings an unusual new field to our attention: court captioning! Also has a theatrical component - theater captioning. Growing hot field within the court reporting profession that uses computer, speech recognition software and calls for smart, language-savvy folks. Involves transcribing, judgment, writing, through automated speech recognition and would be a great area for many different majors: communications, law, IT, education. Company provides training - no cost to you. Two days a week. Lots of info in special books in the office, showing the wide-ranging possibilities of this field. Note, by the way, captioning at the opera???" So much to gain including college credits! ________ DON'T FORGET TO PAY THOSE DUES! Richmond Eustis Fulton County Daily Report April 20, 2001 A Georgia prosecutor's failure to pay Bar dues jeopardizes a murder conviction he gained this week. A defendant was convicted of murder for beating an entrepreneur to death in his mansion in 1996. Though the state lacked fingerprints, a murder weapon, and a reliable time of death, the prosecutor secured a guilty verdict with a timeline, two hairs, and a missing computer case. While the jury was deliberating, the presiding judge received word from the Georgia Bar that the prosecutor was delinquent in dues. A motion for mistrial was denied, but the judge indicated this was certainly an appealable issue. Moral of this story, pay those state and national court reporting association dues. Do not allow your CE credits to lapse. Many states require CE and will suspend reporters for not achieving the required amount in the CE window. Even more importantly, check your notary expiration date and renew promptly. Do not give any attorney the opportunity to appeal a case because of a court reporter's oversight! For the full story on the Georgia prosecutor's problem, visit http://www.law.com/cgi-bin/nwlink.cgi?ACG=ZZZ7QKZ2RLC ________ VOICE REPORTING IN TEXAS SCHOOLS AudioScribe is very excited to announce bold steps into the future of court reporting being taken by two schools in Texas that heretofore have offered only stenotype theory-based court reporting programs. Bill Oliver, president of the Cedar Hills Campus of Northwood University and past NCRA president, along with Northwood's court reporting instructor, Vanessa Boettler, CSR, have been working with Phil Kaufman and AudioScribe since January of this year in preparation for teaching speech recognition voice writing utilizing the AudioScribe SpeechCAT system. Last week, as you read here in Your Voice, we received word from Ron Way, court reporting department head at Houston Community College in Houston and past TCRA president, that they have received approval to begin preparations to set up a 20-station class to teach speech recognition voice writing, also utilizing the AudioScribe SpeechCAT system. Both schools intend to begin teaching the program at the end of August. These are exciting times! ________ COMPUSERVE COURT REPORTERS FORUM A recent exchange spotted at the CompuServe Court Reporters Forum: How do I find "metabolite?" Have you not been to http://www.gosearchmaster.com ? There, you will find a multiple-dictionary, multiple-wildcard search engine that would allow you to type in, say, m*t*b*l*te, to find the spelling of this word (and over two and a half million other words) -- *and* provide the definition. There is also a PHONETIC dictionary search engine that would allow you to type in an off-the-wall spelling like "matabbolyte" and show you the correct spelling. Jim Barker, SearchMaster.com ________ YOUR VOICE CLASSIFIED Official reporter opening in Missouri: SALARY: $55,707 - $61,278 plus retirement and benefits (Depending upon Qualifications and Experience) CLOSING DATE: Open Until Filled QUALIFICATIONS: The qualifications of a court reporter are determined by the Judicial Conference (28 U.S.C.§753 (a). An applicant for appointment, as a court reporter in the United States District Court, shall possess as a minimum requirement at least four years of prime court reporting experience in the freelance field of service or in other courts or a combination thereof, and have qualified by testing on the registry of professional reporters of the National Court Reporters Association or passed an equivalent qualifying examination. Realtime court reporting experience preferred. The National Verbatim Reporters Association examinations and the Certified Shorthand Reporters examinations required by some state governments may be acceptably equivalent to the National Court Reporters Association testing. APPLY: Applicants must submit a cover letter and resume to: U.S. District Courthouse Charles Evans Whittaker Attn: Room 7452 400 E. 9th Street Kansas City, MO 64106 ________ YOUR VOICE FUNNIES WHO'S ON FIRST? A football coach walked into the locker room before a game, looked over to his star player and said, "I'm not supposed to let you play since you failed math, but we need you in there. What I have to do is ask you a math question, and if you get it right, you can play." The player agreed, and the coach looked into his eyes intently and asked, "Okay, now concentrate hard and tell me the answer to this. What is two plus two?" The player thought for a moment and then he answered, "4?" "Did you say 4?" the coach exclaimed, excited that he got it right. At that, all the other players on the team began screaming, "Come on coach, give him another chance!" Submitted by Barbara Enneking, CVR (OH) ________ Thank you for visiting Your Voice today. We are honored to have readers from the world of stenotype and voice reporting. Your Voice is published through the Florida Association of Verbatim Reporters (FAVR), whose mission is to generate understanding and camaraderie between voice and steno reporting methods. To request a membership application from FAVR or unsubscribe, please write VoiceWriter@aol.com. Your Voice staff, Nancy Cavender, CVR-CM, Your Voice managing editor VoiceWriter@aol.com Pat Baeske, CVR-CM-HM Proofing editor Gayle Featheringill, CVR-CM-PNSC Staff member
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TO YOUR VOICE FOR APRIL 28, 2001, VOL. 1, ISSUE 16
You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. -- Eleanor Roosevelt ________ TIME FOR A COFFEE BREAK! The Florida Association of Verbatim Reporters welcomes you this morning to a hot cup of coffee or tea and Your Voice. Join us and review the many NCRA certifications, check out limited time offers from Cheetah International, and learn why you will soon speak to the Internet on your phone! Hear from two reporting gurus, one voice and one steno. GCCRA.org debuts, find out how to get your edition of the new Dragon 5 Guidebook, and learn why everyone's favorite Mr. Modem has an article featured on the cover of Reader's Digest New Choices Magazine. Next week, let's take a trip down education lane, then relax and go to Hawaii! ________ STENOSCRIBE 1 GIG TECHNOLOGY StenoScribe, Inc., announces the release of their highly successful Techlennium realtime system on a computer powered by PTIII 1 gigabyte technology. Blaze through proceedings on a Gateway notebook powered by a 1 gigabyte processor, 512 megabytes of RAM, an internal CD writer, and watch realtime scroll across your 15-inch screen. Call Your Voice sponsor, StenoScribe, at 800.456.3290 and visit www.StenoScribe.com. StenoScribe, The Court Reporter's Technology Source! ________ IN THE WORDS OF A VOICE WRITER Sandra L. Fein, CVR-CM-HRVR, is often asked questions about automated speech recognition and the Dragon NaturallySpeaking speech engine. Sandra was awarded the HRVR (Honorary Realtime Verbatim Reporter) in the year 1999 and the NVRA 2000 Court Reporter of the Year for her contributions in the field of realtime speech recognition technology for voice writers. She has studied this technology with and for speech recognition software and hardware developers for almost a decade. Your Voice features questions Sandra has been asked and has answered over the past several years. The first realtime speech recognition system for reporters debuted in Atlanta by AudioScribe, Inc., at the NVRA annual convention of August 1997. QUESTION: Will speech recognition replace the court reporter? MS. FEIN: Automated speech recognition (ASR) systems cannot report multiple speakers without a single user inputting the speech. By far the greatest fear is that a microphone will be placed on the conference table and the ASR system will accurately translate conversation of the parties. Legal proceedings cannot possibly be reported without a court reporter being there to interface with and manipulate the ASR system. QUESTION: How does ASR work when the parties are speaking simultaneously or at speeds of 300 words per minute? MS. FEIN: If parties are permitted to speak concurrently, we ASR voice writers encounter the same problems as the machine writer. Our recognition/translation suffers greatly. NVRA or NCRA speed champions would be incapable of accomplishing prolonged accurate reporting in those situations of 300 words per minute. The court reporter is essential to maintain control of the record. Look to Your Voice for further Q & A columns by Sandra L. Fein, and other speech recognition specialists. This technology can benefit us all: pen, steno, and voice reporter! ________ A STENO THEORY Laurel Eiler, RMR, was recently asked her steno theory for writing years. She responded: I write any year from 1990 to 2009 in one stroke. It's well worth it for me, and they come up so often they're not hard to remember. The basic logic I use for the '90s is applied to the 2000 series, just with the TW beginning. Although, there are different strokes for different folks, I use 000 and ,000 in amounts and money. But I write NI*/NE for 1999. I have settled on the following: NAO* would be 1992, but I admit it rarely comes up. NAOE* for 1993 (to avoid conflict with knee) NAOUR for 1994 NAOEUF* for 1995 (to avoid conflict with knife) NIX* for 1996 (to avoid conflict with nix) NEFRN for 1997 NAEGT for 1998 TWAO for 2000 TWUN for 2001 TWAOT for 2002 TWAOE for 2003 TWAOR for 2004 TWAOEIF for 2005 TWIX for 2006 TWEFRN for 2007 TWAEGT for 2008 and TWAO*EIN for 2009 and that's as far as I've gotten! ________ MR. MODEM IN READER'S DIGEST My May 2001 Reader's Digest New Choices Magazine arrived yesterday, and whose column is featured on the cover? None other than everyone's favorite Mr. Modem, a/k/a Richard Sherman. Richard has become a columnist for this colorful and informative new Reader's Digest publication and in each issue writes a column, "Online With Mr. Modem." This month, if you're looking to control spam email and would like some suggestions on email etiquette, visit www.newchoices.com to subscribe to Reader's Digest New Choices, or ask for it at your local bookstore or newsstand. Congratulations once again to Richard Sherman, court reporter, author, columnist. Can movies be far behind? Nancy Cavender President, Florida Association of Verbatim Reporters ________ NCRA CERTIFICATION LEVELS This week Your Voice lists the NCRA certification titles: RPR: Registered Professional Reporter RMR: Registered Merit Reporter RDR: Registered Diplomate Reporter CRI: Certified Reporting Instructor MCRI: Master Certified Reporting Instructor CLVS: Certified Legal Video Specialist CMRS: Certified Manager of Reporting Services CRR: Certified Realtime Reporter "A certification program for scopists is on the way." Visit www.NCRAonline.org ________ CHEETAH INTERNATIONAL Check out these three great deals from Cheetah International! STUDENTS! Congratulations, you have worked hard to graduate. Reward yourself now by signing up and using the number #1 court reporting software. As our gift to you, if you sign up prior to July 31st, 2001, you will receive: · One year of technical service · TurboCAT 6.5 for DOS** · SmartCAT for Windows ** TurboCAT for DOS will not be included after July 31st, 2001. This offer is available only to students within 90 days of graduation. As outlined below, joining as a group entitles you to further discounts beyond the unprecedented low price: Number of Students and Price 1 -- $1295 2 to 4 -- $1195 5 to 10 -- $1095 11 or more -- $995 This is a special offer for students or recent graduates of court reporting schools only. ======================== Now is the time to SWITCH-N-SAVE! Switch from any PC-based CAT system to TurboCAT Professional or SmartCAT for only $1,595! (Limited time offer) ======================== Deal Number 3 CAPTIONERS! Bundle CAPtivator Online with your current TurboCAT Professional system at an amazing 50% off price: $1,995! (Very limited time offer!) To take advantage of this great program, call us NOW at 800.829.2287 or email to: sales@caption.com ________ GCCRA WEB The Georgia Certified Court Reporters Association recently announced the development of their Web site, www.GCCRA.org. The site offers reference links, a message board for court reporters to chat, and an online version of their newsletter. The GCCRA is composed of Georgia steno and voice reporters who invite you to join from all states. GCCRA nonmembers may enjoy the future member only sections of the Web site until June 1, 2001. Visit www.GCCRA.org and sign up for the 2001 Spring Seminar Program to be held at Lake Lanier Island, Georgia, May 19-20. Network with reporters from all over the state and visit the many product vendors present, including StenoScribe and AudioScribe, automated speech recognition software developers. ________ CAREER DAYS FOR COURT REPORTING Pat Baeske reports she participated in a Career Days for graduating middle-school students sponsored by her city's Rotary Club. Pat demonstrated voice writer realtime court reporting, using AudioScribe's speech-recognition software, and she explained the various career paths possible for voice writers (official, freelance, captioning, and working with the hearing impaired). She answered the students' questions regarding voice writing. "Most knew what a court reporter is. None of them had ever seen realtime and none realized that it's a court reporter who captions for the TV, even though they knew about the words coming across the screen. I also had a deaf child who came by with her personal sign-language interpreter in tow. I explained voice writing and the 'signer' used sign language to explain how a court reporter would do the same thing the 'signer' was doing, only the deaf student would be able to read it instantly verbatim on the screen." Fifty careers were represented at Career Days. The students were to go back to class and write an essay for which the winner of the essay contest will get $500, plus the winners of the top 16 essays (including the $500 winner) will get the opportunity to spend a day with the person representing the career about which they wrote. Pat says, "If one of the top 16 winners should write about voice writer court reporting, I'll have to put the student with another voice writer because I'm currently retired." ________ VOICE WRITING SCHOOL Superior Court Reporting School in Atlanta, Georgia, is the only NVRA-endorsed program for both home-study and resident course. Students are enrolled from around the country and may go at their own pace. Voice writing schools which are licensed to operate with the Superior Court Reporting School curriculum are in North Carolina, Arkansas, Atlanta, and Mississippi. For course information phone Roberta Newberry, CVR-CM, 800.235.5964. The Atlanta Peachtree Court Reporting School is open for resident study. For information phone 770.452.1311 or write AtlPchSchool@aol.com and ask for Roberta Newberry, school director. ________ DRAGON GUIDE FOR VERSION 5 RELEASED SayICan.com and author, Dan Newman, announce the release of the new Dragon NaturallySpeaking Guide, Third Edition. This top-selling book on Dragon has been completely revised and expanded for version 5 of Dragon software. It covers all the new features such as Quick Correct, dictation shortcuts, better Web browsing, and interface improvements. It includes all-new screen shots, reference tables for useful voice commands, how to best use NaturallySpeaking if you have an assistant, getting the most from portable voice recorders, and much more -- plus dozens of tips to improve accuracy and troubleshoot problems. "Thanks to its clear instructions and practical advice, the Dragon NaturallySpeaking Guide by Dan Newman makes speech recognition easy to understand." -- Mobile Computing & Communications The book is officially certified by Dragon Systems and used by Dragon's own technical support department. The new Third Edition is over 300 pages long but the price has stayed the same -- just $19.95. To learn more or to order: http://www.sayican.com/dragnatguid.html ________ YOU MAY HAVE TO SPEAK TO COMMUNICATE! Sprint Signs Deal for Voice Technology KANSAS CITY -- Sprint and HeyAnita Inc. announced an agreement under which HeyAnita will provide the software and services to deploy nationwide access to voice activated Web content. Sprint customers will be able to access the Web and connect to applications such as stock quotes, news, weather, and sports reports just by the clear sound of their voice. "Sprint's nationwide wireline and wireless networks are an unrivaled combination that enable seamless deployment of services clear across the country and we needed a company like HeyAnita that could match that scalability," said Chip Novick, vice president of consumer marketing for Sprint PCS. "Our customers want to use their voice to control their communications, and with voice-activated information applications Sprint can deliver this service." "Sprint really did its homework and spent months thoroughly evaluating various voice technology software and application companies. HeyAnita is proud that the results of their tests have confirmed our technology leadership in this space," said Sanjeev Kuwadekar, CEO, HeyAnita. "Together, we are committed to providing the best voice services and technologies available in the industry today." Information for this story was gathered from Gold System, Sprint, and HeyAnita. e-Blast! April 18, 2001 ________ Thank you for visiting Your Voice today. We'll see you next time with more news relevant to court reporters everywhere. For Florida Association of Verbatim Reporters member applications, write VoiceWriter@aol.com To submit articles, unsubscribe, or request reprint permission, please write VoiceWriter@aol.com Your Voice staff, Nancy Cavender, CVR-CM Managing editor VoiceWriter@aol.com Pat Baeske, CVR-CM-HM Proofing editor Gayle Featheringill, CVR-CM-PNSC Staff member
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TO YOUR VOICE FOR MAY 5, 2001, VOL. 1, ISSUE 17
There are better things ahead than any we leave behind. -- C. S. Lewis ________ YOUR VOICE CAFE The Florida Association of Verbatim Reporters welcomes you to another edition of Your Voice. Pour yourself a hot cup of coffee or tea. Pull up your chair and take a tour through a few current events in the court reporting industry that illustrate why it is important that we continue discussing the timeworn philosophy of CHANGE. ________ Dear Your Voice: I attended steno school in Massachusetts for almost 3 years (even through the summer months!!) I left right before the final semester, due to a lack of funds. In Massachusetts and the neighboring state of Connecticut, you didn't need to be certified to report, but most agencies had a test, Q&A at 225, you must pass before you were permitted to report. I ended up working with a firm in Connecticut, but the owner seriously undercut the competition, (I didn't understand page rates and such then) and I was typing depositions at $1.80 a page.) We moved from Massachusetts in the summer of '94 to Georgia. I had thought about taking the state test, but I instead began working in a law firm and ended up doing paralegal work for a few more years. In December of 2000, I pulled out my steno machine, bought a case of paper and tapes from StenEd and started practicing. At the same time, I was surfing the Web and stumbled across information on voice writing. What a revelation!! I'm very focused on voice writing through automated speech recognition realtime. I see similarities in building a voice dictionary and the brief forms I used in steno school. Using a notebook for my reporting machine will allow me to scope even if I'm on vacation, at my daughter's basketball game, or wherever. I recently took the NVRA Certified Verbatim Reporter test and am anxiously awaiting my scores so I can move ahead as a certified professional court reporter even though I'm no longer a machine writer but, instead, a voice writer! Vickie Wiechec (GA) ________ VOICE WRITING TOGETHER WITH MACHINE WRITING? Dear Your Voice: I've been enjoying your newsletter every week. When I received information from NCRA about their convention in August, I noticed there will be a session on voice writing. I've been a steno writer for 25 years now. I would like to see our software companies hook some kind of voice writing up to our realtime translation to possibly help clean it up a bit. I don't even know if it's possible, but it's a pipe dream of mine. You had better believe if I were unable to report due to physical reasons, I would be checking into voice writing in a flash. I would much rather work with voice writers than electronic recording. Thanks again. Pat Houlf, CSR (IL) ________ VOICE WRITING SKILLS By Sandra L. Fein, CVR-CM-HRVR QUESTION: Do you anticipate an excess of court reporters with the advent of speech recognition realtime? MS. FEIN: Not everyone can be successful with automated speech recognition (ASR). ASR requires excellent reporting skills, including quality articulation with quiet but sufficiently audible utterances. Essential to your employment longevity is your ability to provide ASR, particularly to attain those positions which require ADA compliance. There is currently a tremendous shortage of court reporters in most states, especially those capable of realtime reporting or captioning. Insufficient numbers of court reporters will inevitably equal conversion of courtrooms to audio/video systems without court reporters. ________ STENOSCRIBE FREE MINI PORT REPLICATORS Mini port replicators will be given to the next 6 StenoScribe system purchasers who mention they want to become a "StenoScriber." These mini port replicators are portable base units that remain plugged into your large monitor, printer, CD writer or other peripheral. The mini docking station provides a single connection to your notebook without the hassle of extra cables from notebook to separate hardware. Phone StenoScribe, The Court Reporters Technology Source, and Your Voice sponsor, 800.456.3290, or visit www.StenoScribe.com. ________ ALOHA E KULIA I KA NU'U KA KOU "Strive for excellence" Ann Matsumoto, president of the Hawaii Court Reporters Association, invites you to visit their new Web site. The HCRA February 2001 convention program is posted and pictures will soon be added. Meet the officers, and leave your greeting. Visit http://www.hcra.net. ________ AN INSPIRING AMENDMENT VIEW Dear Your Voice: It's my belief that if we were to unite, welcome voice writers into NCRA, work together and all simply move forward improving our own skills, professionalism, knowledge, and vision, we could have a marvelous profession. Voice writers are simply people -- a category of reporters that can bring tremendous support, contribution, and more, to our lives, as we could do for theirs as well. Kudos to that profession to offer alternatives to steno writers who because of injury can't continue. I could just as easily see a scenario of a growing, stronger profession if we simply act kind, supportive, improve our own skills, focus on our own personal growth and grow together. There's such a HUGE world out there and there is so much opportunity for all of us. We could all thrive fantastically. I would personally welcome voice writers and it would be a dream of mine to see people unite, support each other, and together grow this profession to heights way beyond our immediate thoughts. Anita Johnston, CSR, CRR, CRI (formerly Anita Paul) President, Anita Paul International Las Vegas, Nevada Web site www.anitapaul.com ________ PENGAD ONLINE! For all of your court reporting supply needs, check out Pengad's new Web site at www.Pengad.com. Our Web site features online ordering, monthly Internet specials, and our new and most popular products! Tom Pierson Pengad, Inc. www.Pengad.com 800.631.6989 ________ By Gayl Hardeman, RMR, CRR CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) is a good possibility for realtime voice writers - but the percentage of accuracy MUST BE 98% or higher on 180 wpm literary material, and the vocabulary is decidedly "non-legal" so there must be awareness and inclusion of this. Part of the "tool bag" of a CART provider is the ability to "fingerspell" and to create new words on the fly. Chris Ales' example in our recent article of "oralism" illustrates this point. She is working with software programmers to ensure that there be this ability to add "ism" to the previously uttered word, for one example. (Please see the Web link to this article coauthored by Gayle Hardeman and Chris Ales. Look for the link in the below article, CART and the Voice Writer!) In addition, one must have sensitivity to the audience which CART serves - deaf, late-deaf, and hard-of-hearing individuals; it must be taught/learned. A good place to start is www.PEPNet.org (Post-Secondary Education Programs Network), and their one-hour Online Training. I'm creating for Stenograph University Online (SUO) a CART course (online), with the idea in mind that non-steno modules can certainly be taken by voice writers through a school which subscribes to SUO. I send greetings and would love to see Peggy Huffman, CVR-CM, and FAVR member. She was my first typist when I began court reporting lo these many years ago! Gayl Hardeman Visit http://www.machineshorthand.com/CARTWheel.htm to learn about CART. To view the article penned by Gayl Hardeman and Chris Ales, FAVR member and voice reporter, read the below article and visit the accompanying Web site. ________ CART AND THE VOICE WRITER! For the latest news on CART reporting ‘hot off the press’ check out an article co-authored by Chris Ales (CSMR, certified AudioScribe trainer) and Gayl Hardeman, RMR, CRR, at http://www.audioscribe.com/docs/CARTarticle1.pdf. You won’t want to miss the door prize giveaway at GCCRA. AudioScribe’s Digitran software will be given as one of the prizes. ________ STENOSCRIBE HAS A GIFT FOR YOU! Everyone receives a gift from StenoScribe. Certified StenoScribe Trainers, Brenda Davis and Cindy Staples, invite you to stop by the StenoScribe booth at the GCCRA convention May 19-20, at Lake Lanier Island, Georgia, to receive your gift. Learn about new StenoScribe realtime and CAT features. Find out how to have fun while you become proficient in automated speech recognition. Visit www.StenoScribe.com or call 800.456.3290. Get more information on the Georgia Court Reporters Association convention by visiting www.GCCRA.org. ________ REPORTERWORKS.COM WORKS! ReporterWorks is an affordable and comprehensive management software for all reporters from the solo practitioner to the largest firms. The Solo ($99) is available for about the cost of a nice dinner for two! The office packages ($349 and $599) give you complete office management at a fraction of the price of competing systems. ReporterWorks was designed by reporters for reporters. It handles invoicing, rebilling, calendar, correspondence, and a host of other features. Find out how ReporterWorks can work for you by calling our toll-free line at 877.482.1505 or reviewing our Web page at http://www.reporterworks.com/ (ReporterWorks is a trademark of Meadors Court Reporting, LLC. Jason Meadors, president.) _______ BE KIND TO ANIMALS Your Voice salutes all animals in celebration of Be Kind to Animals Week. Actually, we celebrate Be Kind to Animals Week every week! In honor of this calendar designation, we offer a special acknowledgment to the US War Dogs who served in all branches of our Armed Forces. The War Dog served as guards, scouts, messengers, and fighters during wartime. They often were dispatched to comfort the wounded until help arrived. The Vietnam Dog Handler Association, a veterans group, is spearheading a drive to honor America's War Dogs with a national memorial. To learn more about the US War Dogs and contribute to this fund, visit www.vdhaonline.org. ________ Thank you for visiting with the Florida Association of Verbatim Reporters and Your Voice. We endeavor to produce news articles of interest to the voice and machine writer. By creating an understanding of our similarities, perhaps the differences will disappear. Your Voice staff, Nancy Cavender, CVR-CM Managing editor VoiceWriter@aol.com Pat Baeske, CVR-CM-HM Proofreading editor Gayle Featheringill, CVR-CM-PNSC Newsletter staff
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WELCOME
TO A MOTHER'S DAY TRIBUTE BY YOUR VOICE, MAY 13, 2001 Sleep
tight, Tigerlily, and have wonderful dreams of the scent of jasmine
through the window screen, a soft breeze blowing the curtains, and night
birds calling to each other in the dark, saying that all is well. Judith
Jordan, CVR (SC) ________ AN
ITALIAN LOVE STORY I
am still thinking how wonderful would have been these past years if I
could have spent them with my mother. She went 16 years ago but the pain
is still here . . . Too short my life with her, but the richness of her
smile, the thought of thousand situations have led me so far. Words are
sand in the wind, she lives in every little moment of my life, everlasting
Mamma!!!! Fausto
Ramondelli (Italy) ________ YOU
ARE IN MY HEART When
tomorrow starts without me, don't think we're far apart.
For every time you think of me, I'm right here, in your heart. I
know how much you love me, as much as I love you.
And every time you think of me, please know I'm loving you! Submitted
by Camille LeClair (NJ) from a poem floating on the Internet. ________ A
CELEBRATION! The
Florida Association of Verbatim Reporters welcomes you to Your Voice.
We are celebrating our mothers this Mother's Day weekend.
Today you will read inspirational thoughts from several of our
court reporting friends. We
pay homage to mothers and the children who cherish them, like Gayle
Featheringill who proudly shares the work of her mother, an accomplished
artist. Pat and Mel Baeske
regularly travel long distances to retrieve her mother for extended
visits. Barbara Enneking
worries about the health of her mother who has successfully raised eight
children. Charlene Bowman has
for a decade lovingly cared for her invalid father and mother.
You may not have met these individuals, but the circumstances may
strike the chord of familiarity. Look
for the article from student, Kathleen Sanderbeck, in reply to last week's
submission by Anita Johnston (formerly Anita Paul).
We
sincerely hope you enjoy today's special Mother's Day tribute. ________ A
CHAMPION'S GOLDEN LIGHT My
mother's continuing boundless energy with selfless devotion for her family
astounds me. Her openness to
receiving intricate and intimate details of my life remains true and
sufficiently nonjudgmental even at her widsom-filled age of 73.
We have traveled to exotic places together and have also
successfully traversed the path of heartening self-revelatory discourse
and banter. We argue and
agree or disagree respectfully while admiring each other's strong will.
Given my professional accomplishments and personal delight for
having followed my passions in reporting and in teaching reporter
training, I honor her with rightful sole responsibility for encouraging my
entree into a field which has brought me rich rewards in the form of
career success and development of precious friendships and loving
relationships. In short, her generosity, foresight, and caring personality
are without parallel. Her
name is Dolores Wollin, and I could not have wished for a more superb
mother to guide my life and nurture my soul.
Her golden light will never fade for me.
Happy Mother's Day to my mama and to all other good mothers of the
present, past, and future. Karla
Wollin Boyer, RDR, CRR, CSR (Michigan and California) NCRA
National Champion, INTERSTENO World Champion ________ No
matter how old a mother is, she watches her middle-aged children for signs
of improvement. --
Florida Scott-Maxwell ________ THE
TABLES HAVE NOW TURNED I
can expound intelligently on lots of subjects but find it very difficult
to talk about the things nearest and dearest to my heart. One of these
things is my parents. When I think of my mother, I can't help but remember
all the sacrifices she made for me. She saw to it that I had dance
lessons, music lessons, college, trendy attire -- the whole bit. But there
is something so much more important that she gave me. She gave me through
her genes so many of the truly important things: honesty, integrity,
strength of body, mind and spirit, intelligence, ability and eagerness to
learn and to work, and sense of humor. She has done so much for me all my life, and now the roles are
reversed. I'm so grateful for this payback opportunity I have.
She still helps me so much, infirm though she is, as evidenced by
the following: I had a pretty bad problem and it was obvious that I was not
exactly myself. She asked
what was wrong and I told her in general terms that I had a bad problem.
When she asked what she could do to help, I said, "There's nothing
you can do." She responded, "I'm not able to do much anymore,
but I can still pray." So she does still help me each and every day
with her prayers. Margaret
Lawson (MS) Director
of THE Court Reporting School ________ If
you bungle raising your children, I don't think whatever else you do
matters very much. -- Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis ________ IT'S
ALWAYS TOO SOON Last
summer at the NVRA convention, Kim Johnson and I sat together during the
inspirational seminar given by Wade Garner.
If you have been privileged to participate in one of Wade's
presentations where he pays tribute to his beloved mother, you know the
powerful emotions in his words. Watching,
I began to feel Kim trembling, then crying.
I asked what was wrong. She
told me she had lost her precious mother the previous spring, and it was
just too soon to face her loss once again.
I put my arm around her trying to console.
Kim taught me a lot that day.
It's always too soon to face the loss of your mother. Nancy
Cavender ________ I
attribute my success in life to the moral, intellectual, and physical
education which I received from my mother.
-- George Washington ________ AN
"INQUIRING" MOTHER One
thing I'll always remember about my mom, she once wrote in a tip to the
"National Enquirer" and they published it.
If you only use a plastic fork, knife, or spoon in your
horseradish, it will never turn brown.
Try it, it really works. Having
lost my mother in the spring, I did a deposition several weeks later on
Mother's Day for a good client. I
was thrilled to do it to avoid the heartache of that special date. Kimberley
Johnson, CVR (FL) ________ NOT
EVEN "WITH TIME" I
lost my mom, very unexpectedly, not quite five years ago.
However, it could be ten years, and I would still feel the fresh
pain and sorrow as though it were just yesterday.
When they say "with time" . . . well, I'm still waiting.
I've always felt that I was way too young to have lost my mother,
but she taught me so many valuable lessons that I take with me daily. She's
still teaching me those lessons even today.
She was a most integral part of my life before, but even more so
now. My
mom and I attended court reporting school together.
It was always a dream of ours to have our own court reporting
agency. That is why this
business and profession means so much to me.
And, yes, she's still with me in every job, every transcript, every
business decision. I was
truly blessed with an unbelievable mother.
I just hope that one day after I've taught my boys the same
valuable lessons my mom taught me, that they will feel the same way!
Jennifer
Smith, CVR (SC) ________ I
opine . . . "Judicious mothers will always keep in mind that they are
the first book read and the last put aside in every child's library."
-- C. Lenox Redmond ________ A
MOTHER'S SWEET KISS Many
of us are privileged to have our mothers in our presence.
Many of us are not. I
would like to tell you a little about a very special woman to me, my
mother. She chose to adopt me before I was born.
That makes her very special, indeed.
She instilled in her family the value of assisting those who need
help, human or animal. Just last week, I performed one of her teachings.
We adopted another pet. I
didn't care to keep him at first, but when I looked into his eyes, I saw
my mother's gentle gaze. His
eyes are gold, my mother's favorite color.
I'd
like to tell you about the time my mother accompanied me to a distant
courthouse where I was to report a hearing on a serious traffic accident.
She didn't want me to travel alone at night.
The case ahead of mine was of a 16-year-old boy who had been
driving in this small municipality with one bald tire on his work truck.
He had to pay a fine immediately or be held in jail until he could
pay. He was a laborer in
tattered clothes. Of course
he couldn't pay the fine and was taken to the side to await processing.
He was terrified. I
noticed while I was reporting my job, that my mother had gotten up and
gone over to the area where fines were paid.
She then went over to the young boy who was awaiting incarceration.
They spoke, and she handed him some papers. He got up with her, and then he left. She had paid his fine and given him money to fix his tire.
On the way home, I laughingly told her she couldn't go to court
with me anymore because she and dad just couldn't afford it!
My
sister became a machine writer in Florida, while I became a voice writer
in Georgia. Mother never felt
either one of us was superior or even different from the other.
In her wisdom she saw two daughters, both court reporters.
For over twenty years, when asked what her daughters did for a
living, she replied, "They're both court reporters."
It never occurred to her that there was any difference at all
because there wasn't. She
and my father bought my sister her first CAT system when she moved from
manual to computerized steno machine.
We were all thrilled at what the future held for her.
My mother and father bought me my first CAT system when I moved
from manual voice to automated speech recognition.
Again, they marveled at what the future would hold for me. Last
November, as she slipped away from her family, in whose arms she lay, her
values, humor, and compassion were left for us to carry forth in her
absence. I still feel her sweet lips on mine as we said goodbye.
Happy Mother's Day, Mom. Nancy
Cavender, CVR-CM (FL) ________ Do
not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and
leave a trail. --
Ralph Waldo Emerson ________ AN
INSPIRING AMENDMENT VIEW Editorial
note: The Anita Johnston (formerly Anita Paul) Your Voice submission from
May 5th included: "It's
my belief that if we were to unite, welcome voice writers into NCRA, work
together and all simply move forward improving our own skills,
professionalism, knowledge, and vision, we could have a marvelous
profession." The below
is one reader's response: Dear
Anita: I read and understood your message in this week's Your Voice
regarding coming together as a family (so to speak) and being unified.
I am struggling with the reality that there is such a big wall
between machine and voice writers. I just can't understand it.
I am still a student. Since
my machine program was canceled by the college for lack of attendance, I
am now studying voice writing. I
am from Texas, and this is the first voice writing program for this area.
Therefore,
since I am a "baby," I am just now realizing the situation.
In Texas, voice writers are not recognized.
Work is hard to find, but that will change because of the lack of
reporters, especially realtime reporters, which is where the voice writers
are coming in. Currently,
voice writers can't be in our steno state association.
That's okay, because we have started our own .
. . BUT WHY???
I think it is all so silly. My
question is: "Does the machine shorthand association hear our
cries?" I feel that they
need to be getting the message directly, and it may be a silly question,
but "Are they?" We
all should be REPORTERS and have a choice of which theory one would like
to use in order to take down testimony. The final product is the same . .
. it is a free country . . . why the wall?
I feel as though I am in a position to help bring down the wall.
I feel that I must. Perhaps
someone needs to tell me, but so far I can't figure out what the deal is.
For me, the mystery continues. In
closing, your testimonial was taken seriously from this writer, as well as
appreciated. Kathleen
Sanderbeck (TX) ________ Some
are kissing mothers and some are scolding mothers, but it is love just the
same, and most mothers kiss and scold together. --
Pearl S. Buck ________ HAPPY
MOTHER'S DAY TO EVERYONE'S MOM Mother,
you know that you are dear to my heart, and because of that we will never
part. Through childhood days of gladness, sorrow, laughter, and tears, you
where always there with knowledge to share. Now
that I am grown and able to reflect. I have chosen those qualities which
you exude best. Be it a winning smile, a kind word, or a helping hand, on
you everyone can depend. So
on this special day mother, I am proud to say, that it is because of you
these virtues shine through. Happy
Mother's Day, I Love You Mom (Today's
Your Voice spotlights quotes and the above Mother's Day message from
ToInspire.com.) ________ Thank
you for visiting with Your Voice on this Mother's Day weekend.
We look forward to your joining us next time, as well. Your
Voice staff, Nancy
Cavender, CVR-CM Managing
editor VoiceWriter@aol.com Pat
Baeske, CVR-CM-HM Proofreading
editor Gayle
Featheringill, CVR-CM-PNSC Staff
member
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WELCOME
TO YOUR VOICE FOR MAY 19, 2001, VOL. 1, ISSUE 19i People
are pretty much alike. It's
only that our differences are more susceptible to definition than our
similarities. -
Linda Ellerbee ________ VISIT
YOUR LOCAL FORUM BOARDS Have
you visited the CRForum, AOL Reporters Forum and/or the VRForum recently? If not, you're missing some very provocative discussion about
everything from the state of our children today and their opportunities,
to the best route to take for a job interview, to the NCRA amendment
providing full membership to the voice writer.
Play a role in your profession.
Read or post along with your colleagues at these lively Web sites. ________ STENOSCRIBE
AT ERWIN TECHNICAL CENTER Erwin
Technical Center, Tampa, Florida, announces the addition of voice writing
for court reporters to their established machine writing curriculum.
Steno and voice writer classes will begin in the fall of 2001.
Program director and instructor, Barbara Warr, will teach voice
writing utilizing the StenoScribeTechlennium realtime system.
Kimberley Johnson, CVR, past president of the Florida Association
of Verbatim Reporters, will provide assistance to Ms. Warr in the smooth
transition to voice writing techniques for the voice reporter.
The
Florida Association of Verbatim Reporters congratulates Erwin Technical
Center and StenoScribe, Inc., on their endeavor together to produce
well-educated and well-prepared voice writers who will enter the field of
court reporting utilizing state-of-the art technology.
The future graduating classes of voice reporters from Erwin will
have the advantage of the same educational courses and instruction Erwin
machine writing students enjoy. We
wish the voice and machine writing students the best of luck as they move
closer to their goal of becoming professional court reporters! ________
LET'S
GO TO ITALY! You've
read Your Voice articles featuring Fausto Ramondelli, an Italian Senate
reporter. Allen McClung, who
visited Fausto in Italy recently, wrote of the Michella piano-looking
steno machine used by Italian Senate reporters. To
view this fascinating steno machine, visit wwww.oe-pages.com/SCIENCE/Computer/boyerphotos4
and browse the photo gallery of international reporters including Fausto
and Karla Wollin Boyer. ________ VOICEBUILDERS
PRO JOINS STENOSCRIBE VoiceBuilders
Pro joins StenoScribe, becoming a new division dedicated to training user
speech files. For those who
haven't had time to train and build their Dragon NaturallySpeaking
dictionaries, VoiceBuilders Pro offers the solution.
VoiceBuilders Pro trains your speech files, adding commonly used
phrases, including phrases used in the reporter's personal dictation.
VoiceBuilders Pro adds the most commonly used phrases for the
reporter to train and will generate a printed analysis including
recommendations to improve your speech files.
VoiceBuilders Pro will add custom phrases from its library to your
vocabulary. Take advantage of
this new technological advancement from VoiceBuilders Pro, a division of
StenoScribe, Inc., and phone 915.893.3272.
________ REPORTER
FUNNIES BY CHUCKLES BOYER Chuck
Boyer's talent expands beyond court reporting.
Chuck and Karla Boyer would like to share some very funny original
cartoons drawn by Chuck over the years.
Have you ever wondered what you looked like after a speed test?
Ever get "writer's" block?
Do you get tired of reading back?
For the answer to these probing questions and much, much more
hilarious philosophy by Chuck Boyer, visit: www.oe-pages.com/SCIENCE/Computer/chucktoons1 ________ PENGAD
ONLINE For
all of your court reporting supply needs, check out Pengad's new Web site at
http://www.Pengad.com. Our
Web site features online ordering, monthly Internet specials, and our new
and most popular products! Tom
Pierson Pengad,
Inc. http://www.Pengad.com ________ DANACHIPKIN.COM "Successful
Freelance Court Reporting" by Dana Chipkin.
Finally a book dedicated to all freelancers. Invaluable insights/details from a veteran reporter/educator.
Purchase through West Legal Studies at http://www.westlegalstudies.com
(ISBN#0-7668-1746-6 or DanaChipkin.com. ________ VOICE
WRITERS NEEDED:
Research subject for an article on a manual court reporter who has
switched to voice writing for disability-related reasons.
Must currently be actively working as a voice writer. If interested, email kcdc62@earthlink.net. ________ YOUR
VOICE WEB SITES Visit
Atomica, formerly GuruNet, and download the online dictionary and
more:http://www.atomica.com LibrarySpot.com
features encyclopedias, maps, online libraries, and many other types of
resource materials. _______ THINGS
ONLY MARTHA STEWART WOULD KNOW: 1.
Stuff a miniature marshmallow in the bottom of a sugar cone to
prevent ice cream drips. 2.
Use a meat baster to "squeeze" your pancake batter onto
the hot griddle and you'll get perfectly shaped pancakes every time. 3.
Brush some beaten egg white over pie crust before baking to yield a
beautiful glossy finish. 4.
To prevent eggshells from cracking, add a pinch of salt to the water
before hard-boiling. 5.
To get the most juice out of fresh lemons, bring them to room temperature
and roll them under your palm against the kitchen counter before
squeezing. 6. If you accidentally over salt a dish while it is still
cooking, drop in a peeled potato and it will absorb the excess salt
for an instant "fix me up." Submitted
by Brenda Douglas, CVR (SC) ________ Thank
you for visiting Your Voice this week.
We acknowledge and appreciate the many wonderful comments on the
special Mother's Day issue of May 13th.
See
you next time. Your
Voice staff, Nancy
Cavender, CVR-CM Managing
editor Pat
Baeske, CVR-CM-HM Proofreading
editor Gayle
Featheringill, CVR-CM-PNSC Staff
member
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| WELCOME
TO YOUR VOICE FOR MAY 26, 2001, VOL. 1, ISSUE 20
Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events. And in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation. -- Robert F. Kennedy ________ JOIN US FOR A CUP OF COFFEE! The Florida Association of Verbatim Reporters welcomes you to today's edition of Your Voice. Pour yourself a cup of coffee, and join us for this week's current court reporting news. Today's issue includes articles on advances by one company to build a speech recognition dictionary of one million words, Hawaiian and Florida conventions, Italian and American language and how it applies to speech recognition, events affecting official court reporters in Florida's capitol, and more. Next week look for interesting articles including "The Natural Treatment of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome," from the EscentuallyYours.com newsletter, "The Healing Touch Wellness Center." Learn about symptoms and causes of carpal tunnel and two fragrant methods to soothe muscles, by Lillian Freiler. Enjoy a relaxing and safe Memorial Day holiday! ________ FLORIDA COURT REPORTERS ASSOCIATION 2001 MIDYEAR CONFERENCE Court reporters around the state will be gathering June 1-3, 2001, in St. Petersburg Beach, Florida, for the FCRA Midyear Conference. There is special interest being generated this year with the addition of speech recognition technology. Nancy Cavender, StenoScribe, Inc. communications director, will be introducing machine writers to voice writing and automated speech recognition (ASR) realtime. Many machine writers in Florida are not familiar with how the voice writer captures the record, particularly via ASR. Join FCRA for the informative and exciting seminar program, and join the vendors for an opportunity to see the latest court reporting technology and developments including the StenoScribe Techlennium realtime system for voice writing. For more conference information visit: www.FCRAonline.org ________ ALOHA Hawaii Court Reporters Association is holding a one-day technology seminar Saturday, June 23. Sessions include: New Technology and Its Effects on Court Reporting; Speech Recognition; CART Applications for Court Reporters; and Reporting the Greenville Inquiry (US Navy submarine collision with Japanese fishing boat, Panel of reporters). Carl Sauceda of NCRA will address the members and install the new board. .55 CEUs are pending. Go to www.hcra.net to download registration form and view seminar information. ________ "Speech is not just the future of Windows, but the future of computing itself." -- Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates in "Business Week," 2-23-98. ________ JUST A QUESTION OF LANGUAGE Dear Your Voice: I have an issue that I have discussed with my great friend, Karla Wollin Boyer. It seems to me that in the Italian language the performance of the speech recognition is quite better than in English. Karla and I have supposed that this could be due to the fact that Italian is a more analytic language and has less homophones. Do you have any feedback in this sense? Fausto Ramondelli (Italy) ________ Dear Fausto: You and Karla are right on! Below is a direct quote from Dan Newman, author of "Talk To Your Computer": "Today's speech recognition programs do in fact break down speech into frequencies. They employ many other techniques and information sources, as well. Speech recognition programs rely on knowledge of the language spoken. Japanese, for example, has about 120 possible syllables, while English has more than 10,000. Speech recognition also incorporates information on sentence structure to help distinguish between words like to, too, and two. Speech recognition programs are also programmed to learn as you use them. They adapt to the sound of your voice and learn what words and phrases you use most often." Dan Newman has authored "The Dragon NaturallySpeaking Guide," second edition, covering Version 5. His Guide is used by Dragon's own technical support department. To find more information about Dan Newman, his books, and other speech recognition products, visit SayiCan.com. ________ THE LATEST NEWS FROM THE SPEECH TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY eBlast 5-23-2001 Philips Extends Voice Recognition Vocabulary to More Than One Million Words AACHEN, Germany - Philips Speech Processing announced that its speech recognition technology is now able to push the limits of large vocabulary speech recognition beyond one million words in realtime without delay. Philips Speech Processing says the new expanded vocabulary enables the caller to speak to the system as he or she normally would do to a human operator, giving first name and last name together. Thus, the company says the search for the required telephone number is more natural, faster, and makes hold times for the caller shorter. "We thoroughly understand directory assistance applications and the recent demand for larger vocabularies. Reacting to this, we have extended our vocabulary size to above one million words in realtime, which makes it by far the largest in the industry," said Matthias Pankert, director of Product Strategy and Planning at Philips Speech Processing/Telephony Solutions. "This, therefore, puts us even further ahead in the technology of automatic speech recognition and demonstrates our aim of constantly satisfying our customers so that they, in turn, can provide superior directory assistance services to their callers." Philips Speech Processing says the market potential for automated directory assistance is immense as it includes the subcategories of white pages, yellow pages, auto attendants and call-completion services. Philips says its extended number of entries in one lexicon opens up new opportunities, especially for applications requiring extensive name lists such as stock quote information through voice portals. In addition, Philips Speech Processing says its technology can switch among languages and vocabularies during calls as required and supports more than 25 languages. Philips says the module SpeechFinderT, specifically created for the requirements of directory assistance applications, simplifies the one-to-one recognition of extensive name lists in databases and guarantees high recognition rates. Philips also provides technology for automation of business listings. Information for this story was gathered from Philips Speech Processing. Article brought to you by: 21st Century Eloquence, specialists in implementation of speech recognition, offers a complete array of desktop speech recognition products, including Dragon NaturallySpeaking Professional Solutions. We can provide you with the perfect desktop solutions that are designed to increase the productivity of your business. Our domain says it all: www.voicerecognition.com ________ AND BENEFITS TOO? Tired of devoting your life to judicial reporting only? No more nights and weekends in front of the computer! There are positions immediately available in Atlanta, Georgia, and Covington, Kentucky, for voice writers with good dictation skills and an interest in realtiming to the Internet through speech recognition. Become part of the Atlanta Center for StreamingText, Inc., or Capitol Realtime Services. We offer excellent salaries, health benefits, and FREEDOM from transcript preparation. Paid training and computers are provided. For interviews call Sandra L. Fein, the Atlanta Center for StreamingText., Inc., at 770.730.0041. To reach Capitol Realtime Services, phone Becky McClung at 859.578.8000. ________ FLORIDA COURT REPORTERS FACE HEAVY LOAD "South Florida Sun-Sentinel" May 21, 2001 By James I. Rosica, "The Associated Press" "According to a new study by Senior Deputy Court Administrator Susan Wilson, the assigned workload of the reporters for the 2nd Judicial Circuit, in northwest Florida's Big Bend, 'exceeds state average.' The state's Rules of Judicial Administration set the recommended maximum number of hours in court, per reporter, at 60 per month. The average in the 2nd Judicial Circuit was 80 hours." Comments made by two of these official reporters: "It's a real challenge to snatch words our of the air and put them down and get it right," by Steve Jacobsen, a court reporter for 25 years, including 10 in Tallahassee. Two-year Tallahassee official, Darla Winn says: "That's why you succeed in this job; you want to be perfect. You never know what kind of cases you'll be doing. It's exciting." Jacobsen added: "Sometimes juries don't get it right, and your transcript may be a defendant's best hope on appeal." Judy Hussey, chief official court reporter, has asked Leon County, Florida, "for one more official court reporter and an administrative assistant to help the other reporters. The exact numbers have yet to be worked out." ________ L&H DRAGON 5 PROFESSIONAL SPEECHCAT At the recent GCCRA convention in Lake Lanier, GA, Adria Theriot-Johnson (AudioScribe VP of Operations) and Norbel Marolla (AudioScribe trainer) received very positive response from their demonstration of the use of SpeechCAT with Dragon NaturallySpeaking (Version 5 - Professional). For those of you not familiar with the latest version of Dragon, L&H Dragon 5 Professional has been available to consumers since February. Working closely with the development division of L&H/Dragon, AudioScribe has had the opportunity to be beta testers for the product since last fall. L&H Dragon 5 Professional is a wonderful tool that greatly increases the accuracy of the reporter’s recognition. Additionally, DNSPS will open the door to many more features. ________ YOUR VOICE WEB SITES American Psychological Association: www.apa.org Remembering Pearl Harbor: http://libraryspot.com/exhibit/pearlharbor.htm?news View footage, interactive maps, and survivors' stories. ________ SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL VETERAN Become a charter member of the National World War II Memorial scheduled to be built on the National Mall in Washington, DC. This is a long overdue tribute to the men and women who helped win World War II. Contributions by family and friends in the name of military veterans can secure a place of honor in the Registry of Remembrances. Anyone who helped win the war, either a veteran or someone on the home front, is eligible. Phone Cindy Blank at 703.696.6323, or email Ms. Blank at satherc@wwimemorial.com. Visit www.wwimemorial.com for more information. ________ YOUR VOICE INSPIRATION ROOSEVELT'S WORDS It is not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred with sweat and dust and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause and who, if he fails, at least fails while bearing greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat. ________ Thank you for visiting Your Voice today. Have a relaxing and safe Memorial Day holiday! See you next time. Your Voice staff, Nancy Cavender, CVR-CM Managing editor VoiceWriter@aol.com Pat Baeske, CVR-CM-HM Proofing editor Gayle Featheringill, CVR-CM-PNSC Staff member
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| WELCOME
TO YOUR VOICE FOR JUNE 2, 2001, VOL. 1, ISSUE 21
Most people walk in and out of you life. Only friends leave footprints in your heart. Submitted by Pat Baeske, CVR-CM-HM (IL) ________ POUR A CUP OF COFFEE AND RELAX WITH US The Florida Association of Verbatim Reporters invites you to join us for a cup of coffee and the court reporter's newspaper, Your Voice. Today, Ray Heer, a federal official, shares one of his reporting experiences. Join SearchMaster's, Jim Barker, for a walk back through his colorful court reporting heritage. Could you use a massage? Are your wrists, arms, neck or back aching? Try two tips from Lillian Freiler on muscle relaxing techniques through aromatherapy. Ask yourself if you are experiencing some of the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome listed in our article on "Natural Treatment of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome." After you read the Your Voice Funnies, you may decide it's safer to try "alternative therapies." ________ FCRA MIDYEAR CONVENTION WEEKEND The Florida Court Reporters Association 2001 Midyear Convention began June 1st in St. Petersburg, Florida. Scheduled are exciting and informative seminars presented by, Tracy Konicki, reallegal.com; mock realtime certification exam conducted by Thomas Hughes and Rick Greenspan; and the most popular seminar, Ethics, with speakers, Judy Everman and FCRA president, Shirley King. Dr. Alan Routman, M.D., will discuss a variety of orthopedic-related disorders affecting the court reporter including carpal tunnel syndrome. Another interest generating event is the inclusion of voice writer, Nancy Cavender, CVR-CM, in the vendor area providing answers to the questions regarding the methodology of voice reporting. Nancy, president of the Florida Association of Verbatim Reporters, will explain the many similarities between machine and voice writing methods. Also on display will be the StenoScribe Techlennium realtime system. Realtime demonstrations will be provided. StenoScribe, Inc., is the sponsor of Your Voice. ________ Dear Your Voice: I had a very unusual and interesting work experience last week. I was at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for a confirmation hearing on the nomination of Howard Baker to be Ambassador to Japan. We were in the Committee's reception room in the Capitol - very ornate, huge chandelier, paintings, mirrors, etc. The hearing was late getting started and for about 30 minutes I was privileged to enjoy the reminiscences of Sen. Robert Byrd, Bob Dole and Howard Baker, there with his wife, former Sen. Nancy Landon Kassebaum Baker, an incredibly gracious lady. What was unusual is that all three are former Majority Leaders of the U.S. Senate. Ray Heer, CVR (MD) ________ A RICH HERITAGE The following contains a question posed by a reader and the answer posted at the VRForum regarding the NCRA amendment providing full member status to voice writers: "Are you a pen writer, machine writer?" Actually, I am neither. My family has been in court reporting since the early 1920s. My grandfat |