New technologies are an everyday challenge for court reporters
Even in recent years, technological developments have led to sweeping changes in the way we look at realtime court reporting and how stenographers are expected to operate during a trial or deposition. Instead of using some standard gear that focuses on getting the words directly onto hard copy, today's certified court reporters are deploying services such as wireless streaming, videography and audio recording in their work. However, according to a recent article, not only are such services becoming more available, they're becoming standard procedure.
In an article for her website, Neeson & Associates, Canadian court reporter Kim Neeson looked at the emerging trends in the industry and how legal professionals have been forced to adapt.
"Shorthand reporting has led the way in integrating technology and the creation of the record," she writes. "From the days of paper notes, today's agenda is replete with the latest advancements."
The technologies she mentions in the article include: streaming to mobile devices, wireless networking and videography production, including transcript integration. She also discusses the challenges of dealing with multiple computer operating systems, such as iOS and Windows and video formats, especially MPEG 4.
According to Neeson, with new technologies come new services that require coordination between the court reporter and technology. If there is video streaming of a deposition or hearing, it is important that the stenographer and the captioning are in-step with what's showing up on the screen. In order for realtime court reporting to be feasible, the reporter and the technology must be in place which requires training for the individual, funding for the equipment and commitment from all parties to keep each aspect in line.
Local legal professionals know to only trust such challenges to a certified Milwaukee court reporter who has been trained to efficiently transcribe legal proceedings while also coordinating with the latest technologies.
