ABOUT COURT REPORTING AND RECORDING
The Court
Reporting Industry is dedicated to providing a true record of court
proceedings for use by legal personnel.
The court reporting industry has two main functions:
1. To record court
proceedings
2. To transcribe recorded proceedings
COURT RECORDING
The production of court
proceedings takes place over several stages depending on the technology
applied in the court. While some courts do their own in-house recording,
others outsource this function to ACRIA members in the private sector.
The quality of recordings
often depends on the location/types of microphones used and the quality
of the recording/mixing equipment applied to the task.
There are several different
recording technologies operating in the industry:
Audio Analogue
Recording: Court proceedings are recorded on sophisticated
tape recorders which use different speeds, playback functions and
numbers of tracks (discrete sound channels).
Digital
Recording: Court proceedings are recorded using digital
technology and the audio is converted to data which can be stored
on a wide range of mediums such as Servers, CDs, DVDs, MP3s, Memory
sticks.
Video Recording:
Both the audio and the vision of the court proceedings are recorded
digitally and the data stored on similar mediums to the digital audio
data.
Monitoring
of recordings
To retrieve specific
parts of court recordings for courtroom playbacks or transcription,
ACRIA members provide a monitoring process when recording proceedings.
The processes undertaken are:
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In
court monitoring - the operator takes manual log notes of major
events within a proceeding (start & finish of hearing, testimony,
cross examinations, judgments etc). In court monitoring where
log notes/ captions are embedded into digital recordings and
specific parts of recordings, these can be immediately retrieved
by searching embedded log entries.
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Real Time Reporting:
(Stenographic also known as short hand reporter) - In situations
where courts require immediate access to transcription, stenographic
transcription staff with Real Time capabilities and who work
in teams are provided. They transcribe proceedings as they occur
and shortly after court has adjourned. Real Time allows for
the written word to be viewed by the judge and/or parties in
court almost instantaneously after the word has been spoken.
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Audio Transcription:
- As noted above, court recordings can be stored on a variety
of mediums and to efficiently retrieve specific sections of recordings,
ACRIA members have acquired a wide range of devices and industry
specific software which enable them to not only retrieve the recordings
(analogue or digital) but assist transcription staff by varying
the playback speed to suit their keyboard input operation. |
Technology
The Court Recording
industry in Australia pioneered digital recording technology and has
continued to adopt relevant technologies to store, retrieve, transfer
and manage data. Utilising both wide and local area networks (LAN/WAN),
the remote recording of court proceedings and the production of multiple
copies of recordings for storage, the electronic generation of transcript
has become normal practice with member organisations.
TRANSCRIPTION
TYPING
Once recorded the Court
Reporting Industry engages fast typists who transcribe recorded proceedings.
Transcript typist type at least 80 words per minute at 98% accuracy.
They are mostly engaged as in-office typists or as home based contractors.
Specified parts of
recordings are transcribed to clients’ individual formats and
work is checked to ensure compliance (i.e. format, accuracy and quality
etc) prior to delivery to clients. Within the Australasian context,
whilst some clients specify hardcopy of transcript, the bulk of transcript
is now delivered in electronic form (CDs, or email attachments).
Given that digital
recordings comprise discrete data files (approximately 1 file per
5 minutes of sound), it is possible to allocate data files from a
large recording to numerous transcription staff for a quick turnaround.
When the segments have been transcribed they are easily merged using
software applications developed by various companies which ensure
firstly, that the complete grouping of segments are merged in the
correct sequence, and secondly, that there is no duplication of any
of the transcript.
Information
Management
Owing to the leading
capabilities offered by ACRIA members, the in-house systems used to
manage recording, storage, transcription and billing processes enable
companies to provide their clients with efficient and cost effective
resource usage ( i.e. court sitting times, pages delivered to court
and clients).
They are also able to provide accurate performance data which courts
can use for their management decision-making.
ACRIA members are always
keen to recruit keyboard operators who are both computer literate
and keen to embrace emerging technology. For more information about
employment in the court recording industry see CAREERS on this website.
Stenograph and Realtime Reporting
As well as the above audio recording methods,
courts and tribunals are sometimes recorded by a court reporter who
attends the hearing and uses a stenograph machine which makes an electronic
shorthand note of the proceedings. This shorthand note is later converted
into English by a computer using translation software written specifically
for court reporters.
The computerized transcripts created by the
court reporting software are then converted into electronic formats
which are compatible with the various word processing and transcript
analysis programs used by counsel and judiciary.
Transcript may also be produced by the court
reporter in real time, using the same court reporting software but,
instead of transcription later, the stenograph note produced by the
court reporter is transcribed in real time on laptop computers in
the court, enabling counsel and the judiciary to access the transcript
in draft as it is being said, allowing immediate reference during
questioning and making for more efficient research later.
