Links
Before using any of these links, please read this note about using the internet for research.
Reference:
RxList - a fantastic searchable drug index, which allows "wild card" searches.
On-Line Dictionary - Type in the word, get the definition. If your word is spelled incorrectly, it offers alternatives.
OneLook Dictionaries - Search multiple dictionaries on the internet -- including technical and specialized dictionaries - with one search.
The WorldWideWeb Acronym and Abbreviation Server - Searchable by acronym or by keyword.
Research-It! - Links to dictionaries, maps, biographical info, and more.
American Law Sources On-Line (ALSO) - A terrific collection of legal references for the United States, Canada and Mexico. It has, in my opinion, a nicer interface than the below Farislaw web site, but both seem to be excellent sources of information.
Farislaw U.S. Law Search - An amazing compendium of web pages with U.S. Law resources (case law, codes, etc.).
Jenny's Cybrary to the Stars - A librarian's daily presentation of informative reference sites, often providing valuable insight into obscure sources of knowledge. There's also a search engine for checking out her archives (also available for browsing).
Meeting Other Reporters
There are a number of ways to meet other reporters. One of the best is to join your local court reporters association (see "Associations" further down the page). But there are also some online resources for interacting with court reporters.
NCRA VR Forum - If you're a member of NCRA, you can join the NCRA VR Forum. There's a charge -- $4.95 a month and $4.95 for signup -- but it's a very popular way to meet other court reporters, and has the resources of NCRA working behind it.
Court Reporter Net - Listing of court reporters, message boards and helpful links.
Yahoo Clubs: Courtreporters - Many services on the internet are tending towards greater interactivity. Yahoo offers a "clubs" service, where individuals can create a club that allows for messages, chats, etc. This one is for court reporters!
Machine Shorthand Information Site Chat - Mondays at 10:00 p.m., EST, Machine Shorthand Information Site hosts a chat. You'll need a java-enabled browser to participate.
Court Reporting in General:
Verbatim Reporters - National Court Reporters' Association site. The most recent design is a big improvement over the old one, in my opinion, although there are parts of the old one that I still miss. They do have a student section, and NCRA is making a lot of noise about increasing student enrollment, so let them know what's on your mind!
Steno Solutions - I had to debate where to put this site. It's a resource for products related to stenography -- including little tchotchkes that just aren't available in your local drugstore! -- but it's also a resources for information and inspiration to students. It's run by Kathy Dittmeier, one of our mentors and a message-board-participant extraordinaire!
Machine Shorthand Info Site - Many, many links related to machine shorthand, court reporting, captioning, etc. Truly becoming the premiere link source, and another great Dittmeier project.
Atkinson-Baker Court Reporters - Includes a lot of informative blurbs about court reporting, in addition to the vendor information.
Corryn Thorgersen's Court Reporting Homepage - A straight-from-the-hip, layman's term introduction to court reporting.
Court Reporting Equipment and Software:
Advantage Software - Advantage Software puts out the Eclipse CAT system.
Aristocat - Aristocat produces a line of CAT software.
Cheetah Systems - Cheetah Systems puts out software (TurboCAT, et al.) and the Gemini ergonomic writer. It has gone through much corporate changes, and I'm not sure where their web site is these days. I believe that they are no longer part of ErgoBilt, which produces the Fon'iksWriter.
Depobook - Depobooks are notebooks specifically designed to keep track of job information for court reporters. The company also produces keypads in a variety of materials.
GlobalCAT - GlobalCAT produces CAT software, including a very reasonably priced ($25 to get the disk, or a free download from their site!) student version of their Win95 software. Not fully featured, of course, but a great way to help your practicing!
ProCAT - ProCAT put out CAT software and the Flash writer.
RPM Supplies - RPM distributes paper supplies, etc.
StenoCAT -StenoCAT is the CAT software produced by Gigatron Software, which also puts out a general steno-to-screen software (OpenWrite).
Stenograph - Stenograph sells writers, software and accessories.
Student Aids
Wordwize - Wordwize is a computer word-drill program. Contact Alan for more information.
Briefs in a Flash - This is a set of flash cards of briefs for medical terminology, jury phrases, etc. Contact Gail for more information.
Court Reporting Theories:
StenEd Theory - This is the theory that I use, and a lot of us use, I think (judging by the guestbook). It's designed for realtime translation.
StarTran Theory - StarTran is another realtime theory.
Phoenix Theory - This is another theory. As far as I can tell from the website, it's based more on phonetics than StenEd,which resolves a lot of its conflicts via spelling.
Schools:
Please see the Machine Shorthand Info Site. (Why reduplicate the wheel?)
NCRA List of Approved Schools - While NCRA approval is certainly not the be-all and end-all of a good school, this list can give you a starting place if you're looking for a school. (Don't forget the obvious, too -- the phone book!)
Associations:
Once again, the Machine Shorthand Info Site has a great list of associations.
Captioning:
Captioning is an up-and-coming source of employment for court reporters. While many (most?) of pre-recorded programs are captioned via off-line captioning, using standard keyboard entry systems, live events are transcribed by people at steno machines. Our class took a trip to the National Captioning Institute in Virginia, and we were told there that demands for realtime captioners would be exploding!
That's the good news. The bad news is that, as you can imagine, you have to be not just fast, but a very accurate writer to do captioning work. Which doesn't mean it's impossible, by any means, but just something to think about. Some people prefer to work as a court reporter before trying to do captioning; others go for broke. Either way, it's good to consider the essential skills that you will need for captioning: Accurate writing; conflict-free theory (even if you have to change your theory when you start captioning, if you've been thinking realtime, that will be an advantage); broad overall knowledge of the outside world (so that you can recognize and react appropriately to references).
Since I don't feel the need to reinvent the wheel, I'm going to provide just a couple of links that should help you get a lot more information about captioning:
Closed Caption FAQ - This site is operated by Gary Robson, creator of the Cheetah software system and author of Inside Captioning. It's far from an advertising shill though -- it's an excellent source of information about closed captioning. I recently read his book Inside Captioning, which was excellent. At times a bit more technical than I was ready for, but I'd highly recommend it as an introduction to the field.
Closed Captioning Web - This site provides a lot of technical information, particularly about various companies and resources relating to the captioning field.
In addition to the National Captioning Institute, one of the largest captioning companies is Vitac, based out of Pittsburgh!
Another area for captioners is educational captioning, working directly with students. Cathryn Bauer, an educational realtime stenographer in California, has prepared a page with excellent resources, including her own Frequently Asked Questions about her experience.
Scoping:
Scopist.com - A wonderful site for information on scoping! It includes advice, resources, and a message board. It has a library of articles, many of which are of pertain to court reporters as much or more than scopists.
Medical Transcription:
One of the best of these medical transcriptionist sites is MT Desk. In addition to its many links, it contains a list of new medical terminology on a weekly basis.
Audio Resources:
When I went to my big computer, I discovered the wonders of Real Audio. I've listened to several concerts and music programs on the internet -- some great, some not-so-hot, but always a kick (so far!). Now, as I write this, I'm listening to Supreme Court arguments. Possibly good practice material, and definitely interesting to hear how that Court operates.
Oyez Oyez Oyez -- A multimedia database regarding the Supreme Court. You can actually listen to Supreme Court arguments from over 200 cases.
Search Engines:
Choice of search engine is an individual decision; here are some suggestions, but really it's a matter of finding what's comfortable for you.
Yahoo - One of the oldest search engines, it's useful for the way that sites are characterized by topic.
Hotbot - Hotbot is a basic search engine for finding web pages with key words.
Excite - Excite has the nice benefit of being able to hit a button to find more "sites like this", once you have a site that seems to be on the trail of what you want.
Dogpile - Dogpile is for when you just can't take the idea of multiple searches. One search entry is run through multiple search engines.
Dejanews - Dejanews is simultaneously one of the most powerful and most dangerous search engines around. It searches the Usenet newsgroups. This means that the information you get will be incredibly unreliable, since any idjit can post there with a minimum of effort. However, I've found it to be one of the best places to get information about how things work for real people. Because postings happen so quickly, without the time lag involved in putting up a web site, the postings are often phrased as questions and requests for information, and the postings are indexed instantaneously, it's great if you want to find out "how to" information.
Online Services:
I primarily use a standard ISP (internet service provider) to connect to the internet, and I think that that's plenty and that you don't need to belong to one of the big Online Services. However, if you already happen to be using an Online Service, then you might as well take advantage of the additional services they provide with their internal forums.
Compuserve has a very active Court Reporters' Forum (apparently -- judging from the Journal of Court Reporting). Participation in the forum is limited to Compuserve members of one type or another; however, there's a web page where you can read postings, even without belonging to Compuserve.
AOL also has a board devoted to court reporters (I've even dragged my metered membership to AOL out of retirement). If you're accessing this site through AOL, then you can use this link to go to their court reporters' bulletin board. (Folks, if you're not accessing through AOL, don't click that link, okay? <G>.) My AOL program has been giving me trouble accessing the web, so if you're accessing the site through AOL and this doesn't work for you, let me know.
E-mail me at
allegria@his.com
