Scopists: Are most reporters requesting full-audio scoping these days?

[Cindy Clark]

I've had one or two reporters that only needed spot checking with audio, but all the rest of them have wanted full-audio scoping.  I haven't had any reporters who wanted scoping with no audio.  I learned steno, thinking I'd be using it a lot more than I do!

What's your experience on this?  Is the trend toward full audio?

Inquiring minds want to know!  :)

[Catherine Landry]

In my experience, I've done full-audio scoping for all but one reporter.  I scope many videotaped depos, and the reporters and attorneys want every word in the transcript.

[D Sanders, RDR, CRR]

Mary, like your attitude.  things have changed in the world of reporting and reporters have had to change too and pull out our bucket of skills and software.  My issue right now is that scopists are not willing to learn new things via software.  I was trying to find an overflow scopist on CC13 and all was good until I asked her if she knew how to do certain things and she didn't.  When I told her she would need to learn these things, she told me she didn't think it would "work out."  too bad.  But at least she was honest.

[Cindy Clark]

D Sanders, you've got me curious!  I want to always be on the "cutting edge" of things.  Can you share what it is that you wanted this overflow scopist to be able to do for you?  I'm not necessarily going after the job here, I just would really like to know what I can add to my repertoire that will help my reporters.

[Cindy Clark]

I hear you!  I know one person who has a couple of reporters that don't use audio at all - in fact she will only scope nonaudio - but I hadn't heard of any others.  That's why I'm so curious.  I think the trend is going toward full audio, especially in video recordings.

I like that I learned to read steno because, like you, it helps when the audio is unclear.  I went to ISS to learn scoping, and I feel it was a really thorough course, so I don't regret it at all.  I learned a lot about transcripts, what reporters need from a scopist, etc. - things that could take a really long time with the hit-and-miss method!  Plus the medical terminology was a big help.

I like using the audio.  Sometimes I'll copy it so I can play it in Expess Scribe with my foot pedal, then use the Audiosync for specific areas that I need to back up and listen to.  It keeps my fingers on the home keys!  Plus I sometimes get a totally different tone that way, which sometimes helps.

[Cindy Clark]

Where did you go to school, Sonia?  When I started looking, I only found four -- and one of those had recently gone out of business.  Now I'm seeing that there might be several more out there.

[Devon Roberts]

Just a quick response before I return to an evaluation.

What we're seeing of late is that the court reporters are understanding that in order to secure their future, they need to have their stenographic skills at expert level in order to do the realtime work. 

This is part of why Scoping Made Affordable (SMA) insists that its students master the contextual reading because it can be a make or break for your future.  It is challenging work, but SMA has created several exercises that are like "Where's Waldo" that our students have found very challenging and enlightening. 

As I've stated before, we will be training realtime scopists in the near future.  But the prospective realtime scoping student will have to take our preliminary test to be assured they have their foundational skills developed first.  It typically takes scopists around six months to develop their skills in a proficient manner and to train the eyes and brain to set those new paths.  And it takes about two years to be exposed to the many different formatting situations that we are exposed to in our work.

Ms. Devon Roberts
www.joyfulscoping.com
[e-mail]