Tag: sten

Practice, Finger Drill, WKT, Dictation Marker Update

I don’t have a lot of volunteers helping me test the things I put out, and I had inadvertently put out the wrong link to my three programs. I have updated the links at the top of all of these pages to go to a .zip download. You unzip the folder, double click the .exe inside, and it will run the program without installation. Note that most computers will pop up with something saying this program may harm your computer. The code to these programs is public, you can read it for yourself and ask your computer people, it will not harm your computer.

Transcript Marker  – This will take a .txt transcript and mark it for speed. Note that it has been updated so that it will not count Q., A., COURT:, or WITNESS: as a word.

Finger Drill Generator – This program can create finger drills for you. You can also save and load custom lists of words. Note that if you share your saved lists with me, I can include them with future versions. Also note that you should not ask the generator to make files larger than 500 WPM for 300 minutes. That’s 150,000 words. It’s more than enough. I am cautioning you because if you tell it to do 1 million words for 1 million minutes, it’ll happily sit there and generate a text file that large, take a long time to do that, and possibly eat all the space on your computer.

WKT Randomizer – Creates a random written knowledge test. Note that there are small errors in this program and additions that will be made when I finish the Stenonymous Suite.

Also know that I am continuing to try to provide quality dictation on my Youtube. The QA Mario dictation is a little slower than the marked speed because of a previous error where the program counted the Q and A as a word. All future dictations should not have this problem. If you’d like to contribute dictation, I am budgeting about $5 to $10 a month to pay for guest dictators right now, and we should talk. Think along the lines of $5 for a five-minute take.

NCRA Bylaw Amendment Proposals 2019

Like many of you, I got the email proposing bylaw changes. You’re free to read them for yourself if you are a member of NCRA. I wanted to give a brief summary of each and my general thoughts. Voting will take place August 15, 2019, so set that in your calendars and make sure you make your voice heard in the next election. Remember, they send out the emails to electronically vote, and they hold that vote open the whole day, meaning you do not have to be present.

  1. Amendment 1 is going to make it so members may submit written or verbal requests to be reinstated. This is a great choice for all those members who have left who want to join back up because they’ll have more options. I’ll vote yes.
    Amendment 2 would make it clear that registered members can be reinstated as registered members as long as they fulfill educational requirements. This is also a great move. It shows that the NCRA is not money grabbing for the exam dollars. In my view, if it was a money grab amendment, they’d demand returning members retest and re-qualify for certs. This is pretty much the opposite, pro-stenographer, and I’ll vote yes.
    Amendment 3 seems to be about moving the proration of dues from the bylaws to the policies and procedures. Without an argument as to how this might hurt us as members, I’ll vote yes.
    Amendment 4 deals with how leadership seats will be assigned in the event of a vacancy. It seems to streamline the process and simplify it. The only thing I will caution here is that the language might be challengeable or confusing in that the previous language was that in the event of a vacancy, the president-elect would take the president’s office, and if that term was six months or less, have the opportunity to serve a full term. This new proposed language just says “half a term” when it should probably say “half a term or less.” This new language could probably be argued to allow someone who serves more or less than half a term to still go on to serve another full term. I would urge us to revisit this language next year. That said, I’ll be voting yes.
    Amendment 5 just changed the language to make more sense, saying the nominating committee will meet before the election instead of before the next election. This is an easy yes.
    Amendment 6 changes the National Committee of State Associations to the National Congress of State Associations. Oddly enough, I had written about this in the recent NCRA survey, saying we need more emphasis on state action. This is definitely more emphasis on state action, and I’ll be voting yes.
    Amendment 7 would change the requirements to be a state association affiliated with the NCRA. Currently you must show your organization is in line with NCRA’s bylaws and constitution and that most of your members are stenographic reporters. This would remove that majority stenographic members requirement. Now, some people will likely urge a no vote on this one because it can come off as anti-stenographer, but there is a clever catch. NCRA’s bylaws and constitution are all about promulgating stenographic reporters. So basically it would allow hybrid state associations to affiliate with NCRA if they were in line with promoting stenography. This is a creative way to be inclusionary, and I’m voting yes, but I also have to urge us to make sure we have a process for taking away affiliation if an association shifts from our team to against us.

Be Smart With Social Media

Social media is a powerful tool. Like any tool, it needs to be handled properly. We have had unions, associations, and individual reporters growing their online presence and using it to get details and ideas out to fellow stenographers. All that said, whether you’re posting a joke or creating a professional networking masterpiece, it’s time for some advice on social media.

First, realize that people will see what you post. You’ve got to be pretty comfortable with anyone and everyone seeing it, from your best friend to your worst enemy. What you do on social media is largely not private, no matter the group, setting, or structure. As a new person, this can be intimidating and dissuade you from participating in discussions. We’ll get into why that’s a bad idea, but first let’s run over some quick tips to make your use of social media enjoyable.

    If you are freelancing, posting directly about your agency can bite. In every group, there is a person, persons, or Parsons that will leak your post to your agency to curry favor or because your post offends their sensibilities. If you have a delicate piece of information that you want published, seek out a confidant or method to anonymously publish the information. If it’s newsworthy or going to help stenographers, then it’s worth protecting yourself first.
    If you are freelancing, posting about setting rates or conspiring to fix rates can get you in legal trouble. It’s called price fixing, and it’s a concern because we are not considered workers or employees, but independent contractors on the same level of business as agencies. We all know that the power and reach we have as individuals is different. That doesn’t change antitrust law.
    If you’re working as an employee or even freelancing, posting about a job can hurt you badly. We are supposed to be neutral, and in some states there are ethical rules we can break if we are not careful. There is a line between talking about a political idea or law and talking about an actual case that you reported on. My advice? Don’t cross the line. Imagine screen shots of what you say being printed in news.
    Be kind. The family members or friends of whoever you talk about may be watching. Easy example, I once posted about a stenographer losing their job. Someone who was close to that person reminded us then and there, we all struggle in life, don’t rush to judgment.
    Test your own beliefs. You will see crazy claims out there on the Internet. Rarely should you dismiss what people say out of hand or make final conclusions. Perfect example, I saw a transcript I thought was page padding. I came to learn that that was that state’s mandated page layout. What you think is not always what is true.
    Controls can help. Social media is a tool. Privacy settings can screen out some people from seeing stuff. You can choose who to follow, who to block, and all sorts of other content preferences. Spend just one afternoon reviewing your settings and make sure you’re getting the most relevant info in your feed.

So now we get to the logical end: This stuff is stressful. Why don’t I just delete my social media? You can. There is no law against that. But social media is this amazing tool for staying current and tuned into what the field is doing. We get the great marketplace of ideas, dispatches from agencies, and food for our own thoughts. Life is stressful, but very few of us run off into the wild to live off the grid. Why? Because the benefits of society are greater than the simplicity we’d otherwise have. Similarly, the benefits of social media are greater than the peace gained by never engaging. That said, engage smartly so that your tool never gets used as a weapon against you.

Of Strategy and Commitment

Before you read another word, if you want to cut to the chase and help: Go to the nearest public forum where court reporting or stenography is a topic and write something positive about steno. The rest of the post is a broader look at one thing I’m working on right now.Some will inevitably see my message to e court reporters and transcribers. As a matter of fact some have seen it, and I have responded. To be honest, it all goes back to a post I wrote about the limits of institution. To really sum it up, I wrote a friendly post to e court reporters and transcribers. It says, more or less:

  1. Try steno.
  2. If you won’t do that, ask for more money. The work you’re doing is valuable.
  3. Unionize.

The natural reaction to this by the typical stenographer is: But Chris, are you not outraged? Shouldn’t you be telling everyone that the main CR companies are pushing ECRs? And of course, the truth is, I am. I am outraged. You could fill a thousand stars with my outrage. But it isn’t outrage that will save us. I had the good fortune to read about the Pygmalion Effect recently and the power of words in print. The general idea is that expectations can actually affect reality, and that when people read words they are more likely to believe them and follow them.

So the strategy is simple. Take everything that makes digital reporting profitable and absolutely destroy it. Tell these people that they’re being used, tell them that they are being given less, tell them they can make more and be more productive as stenographers. It’s true! It’s the truth! It sets an expectation higher for them so that they aim for the stars and not the ground. Put steno in the best possible light with the best public face.

The next part of the strategy: Compete with these agencies. They might seem individually bigger and tougher than us because they have investors who have put down a lot of money, but if there’s one thing history tells us it’s that big companies with national presence can go broke the same as anyone else. If stenographers compete with them, we will beat them. In about a week there’ll be a post about one company that is doing its part to push us out. If you’re not in a position to start grabbing clients, that’s okay, but contribute to the environment that freelancers can do this. Write an article about how you’d do it. Platform yourself and spread a message of how people can be successful. Maybe write stenonymously.

I will do my part to bring articles and ideas relevant to business and building business. I need to rely on my court reporting friends to spread the message, and I need to rely on freelancers to take the message to heart and execute it better than I ever could, but in the end, we as a group will come out on top, and that’s what matters to me.

One thing is clear though: Relying on someone else to fix all our problems is not safe. Everyone has their own interest, and so it is imperative to fight for our own interest. NCRA and state associations will catch on and follow our lead as we develop strategies and resources for taking back our market share. Consider it this way: There are at least 15,000 stenos across the country. If each of us contributed five seconds to something for the field, that’s a day’s worth of work done.

Live Steno 4U Review by Joshua Edwards

Below is a mostly unedited review of Live Steno 4 U by Joshua Edwards. I will say that I’m glad to have this firsthand review on Stenonymous and would love to see more people write in about things they use or experience.

Joshua has posting privileges here at Stenonymous and we welcome people to engage, but for now, I’m simply posting it on his behalf:

“Hello fellow reporters, I am pleased to recommend this live steno dictation website:  livesteno4u.com.  The owners host a three-hour session live every Tuesday evening.  (They’re in California and it starts at 6pm their time/9pm ET, so I stayed on for the first two hours.)  I figured let me sign up and give it a try.  I was impressed with the whole experience, beginning with the message on their website which says, “Two ingredients are vital to success:  long hours of consistent, quality practice, and the guidance and support to keep you moving toward the finish line.”  That is so simple and cannot be overstated.

The session takes place on Zoom which is easy to use.  The material was well-prepared, structured, and sounded just like something you might hear in a deposition.  They started with lower-speed 2-voice dictation (170s), then pushed the speed up (200s), then brought it back down again.  The second hour, they read 4-voice courtroom dictation, going up to 225.  Even though I’m certified at 260, taking down a 225 still isn’t easy.  That reminded me that I have to focus intently and listen to each and every word and be able to write them automatically.

They had four live people on video playing the usual roles.  Everyone was easy to hear and understand.  I am impressed that they manage to bring four people together for three hours on a weekly basis, and also have fresh material timed and distributed.  And yes, they do readbacks, simulating the real world where you could be asked at any moment to repeat what was just said.  There are other features to the service, but these are just some highlights.

The pricing is extremely reasonable, but the value is tremendous.  I would recommend this for high-speed (at least 180-200) students who want extra practice, and also working reporters who want to brush up on their skills.   You can buy a single session or a package.  If it has been a long time since you’ve done an old-school dictation, you will be surprised how good it feels to put yourself back in that mindset.

Again, here is the website:  livesteno4u.com.

Warm regards,

— Joshua B. Edwards, RDR, CRR

Court Reporting Instructor/CART Provider

NYSCRA President-elect

NCRA mentor

USCRA associate member

“Committed to providing excellent realtime translation of the spoken word””

The Positive Reporting Challenge

Have you been on the stenography or court reporting subreddits? You may be surprised to see that those communities are not heavily populated by stenographers, but awash with electronic recording heralds.

It’s no secret what they’re doing. They’re poaching people who have an interest in stenography or court reporting and siphoning them to recording. It’s out there in the open, it’s legal and allowed. Transcribers can be taken from a pool of people that know nothing about what we do or how much we make, and then put to work for far less than what they deserve for the job — our job.

They rely on us being complacent and putting on a vitriolic, belligerent public face. They rely on us not taking notice or doing nothing about it. They rely on us not stepping in and saying: Yeah, you can go record, but you can also do what I do, and wow, what I do has given me a lot of success. They need people to become transcribers. The companies that want transcribers are on a recruitment drive, and they go directly to the root to get recruits, us.

I say we take it back. One person described how their girlfriend just got a job recording for US Legal. You know what I did? I said wow, congratulations. But if she likes it, why doesn’t she try steno? She can get paid more for the same job! Encourage people. Empower people to step up the game and join the stenographic legion. And boy, did it enflame another user. He was all LOL tape recorders are taking your job.

And now I realize — this strikes a nerve. It absolutely breaks their game when we come in and say: Hey, this is a great career, and you make more. I mean just by politely suggesting steno, I made someone explode.

So what do I propose? I propose anyone who has five minutes this month sit down, make a Reddit account, head over there to the stenography or court reporting subreddit, and post something positive about steno, or post a resource for steno. Whether you had a great run for 30 years, or you mentored a student, or you have a wonderful resource for sten learners, or you have a great career right now, just go write about it. Let’s be honest, there are thousands of us. If just ten say something nice about steno, it drowns out the ads for ER and puts us in the best possible light.

What’s business about? Presence. Location, location, location. And right now you’ve got ER sitting right under a sign labeled court reporting. Set up shop and put it out there for the public: This field’s here to stay.