SUSAN REIDEL ASSOCIATES DEPOSITION REPORTERS

Thirty years ago, a court reporter's job was more tedious and labor intensive...

In 1978, when I began my career as a court reporter, I courageously entered the deposition suite with little more than a manual stenotype machine on a tripod, lots of machine shorthand paper, nimble fingers, and the determination to do the best job I could.

After each deposition, I pored over my steno notes, blotchy blue letter imprints on those miles-long accordion-folded ticker tape stacks of paper, tirelessly dictating every word of the proceedings into a reel-to-reel Stenorette voice recorder. As I dictated I researched the subject matter at hand as necessary from the odd and eclectic selection of reference books on my shelf or placed a strategic phone call.

Then it was off to the typist, who transcribed my dictation onto 28-line onionskin paper with carbons in between to make however many copies were needed. After it was returned to me, I proofread the transcript and corrected typographical errors by attempting to line up the original and copies on the typewriter. Corrections were frustrating and tedious to make. Many times it was just easier to retype the whole page.

Improved business machines reduce transcription time...

Soon the IBM Correcting Selectric typewriter and the photocopier replaced onionskin paper and carbons. Further improvement came with the advent of the word processor. Although word processing allowed for ease of appending and correction of the text, the transcription process was still laborious.

Computer transcription comes of age...

The mid to late 1980s brought the first generation of clumsy CAT (computer-aided transcription) systems. Today's highly specialized court reporting equipment is capable of translating our stenographic notes into a comprehensible rough copy on the screen of a laptop computer in the deposition room simultaneously, as we take down the proceedings. The Internet now provides us an infinitely wide reference bookshelf.

I learned early on in my career that turning stenographic notes into an accurate and useful product requires more than just speed and agility on the stenotype machine. As opposed to merely translating the stenographic notes from machine shorthand to English, a savvy reporter gains an understanding of the subject matter of the proceedings. The reporter catches and corrects errors and "mishears" which frequently occur in the data input process and applies punctuation and paragraphing to the text in appropriate and interpretative ways. This insures a transcript that both obviously and subtly reflects the statements of the speakers.

While the technological advances of the computer age have been of great assistance to the court reporter, the ability to translate the spoken word into a meaningful written transcript is still a uniquely human process. Speech recognition software is in its infancy in terms of its ability to differentiate between speakers, tease out words, and make contextual sense from jumbled colloquy.

For similar reasons, a transcript produced from an electronic recording (ER) is neither as efficient nor as cost effective as one produced through the trained ear of a court reporter. For more discussion about speech recognition, ER, and related subjects, please visit the websites listed on our Helpful Links page.

At Susan Reidel Associates, we balance the latest technology with the tried and true to produce highly accurate and professional transcripts, delivered to you in a timely manner.

We provide our clientele with exceptional and personalized deposition reporting services at affordable rates.

Please contact us if you have any questions. We look forward to assisting you with your reporting needs.