If the required output is equal, should the choice of method of input matter? This paper will examine why voicewriters should be considered equal to stenographers, the conflicts involved hindering that equality, and steps to overcome this prejudice for the betterment of the profession.
In 2009 I embarked on a career change that was halted, so I thought, due to a previous medical condition, carpal tunnel syndrome. This is a common medical condition among workers in repetitive motion industries. Unknown to me was despite the fact I had surgery to “fix” this condition, it can be reaggravated. This is exactly what happened to me 6-8 weeks into my first stenography class. I withdrew from the program and thought my dreams of becoming a court reporter (stenographer) were shattered. I had a serious self conflict in not wanting to quit the program but knowing there was no way I would be able to continue and be successful. I began analyzing and researching other career choices and one day stumbled on information about voicewriting. Alas! There was hope for my future; but it will not be without conflict.
Voicewriters translate instantaneously the spoken word into text using speech/voice technology. The conflict I will encounter in my future career will be real conflict; acceptance into an industry that needs education and awareness. There is a prejudice on the part of many stenographers against voicewriters. This prejudice stems from uncertainty due to lack of accurate information. I belong to several online discussion boards and the sentiment is that we need to keep educating those against us. Voicewriters must have the same motive, goals, and behaviors as stenographers to be successful in the industry.
The attribution theory states that “people act as they do in conflict situations because of the conclusions they draw about each other” (Cahn & Abigail, 2007.p. 138). There are many lawyers and owners of captioning and CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) companies that will not employ voicewriters. Once again, education and awareness of the ability and accuracy of voicewriters is the best way to combat this conflict. As with any industry, you will have that percent of employees who do not do a good job. This may be a real conflict that some lawyers have encountered in the past; a poor representative of the voicewriting profession. In any industry, poor representation makes it harder for those coming in the next time; you really have something to prove because of the incompetence of your predecessor. Or, they may have had an experience with voicewriting just a few years ago when the technology was not near the accuracy level today. Professional pride, promoting excellence, education, and awareness will be the best communication strategies to overcome this type of obstacle.
Also, the big buzz in the industry is realtime reporting. Realtime allows spoken words to be simultaneously translated into English and viewed on a computer screen as a stenographer types or a voicewriter speaks. Honing my skills to attain certification at this next level would be an instrumental goal in removing an obstacle that may put me in a higher ranking than a stenographer. My aspiration point would be to educate by offering my services for free at a function in which I knew lawyers, stenographers, or others in the industry will be in attendance. This way they can see for themselves that they have been experiencing an unreal conflict. It would be a great opportunity to change the perception of the industry to show that we are on equal ground.
Currently, only about half of the states in the United States allow voice writers to practice in their judicial systems. There are many barriers to break to gain acceptance in all states. Working together, voicewriters need to come up with a conflict strategy which could include partnering with national and state leaders, lobbying government officials, education, awareness, media coverage, mentoring, recruiting, working with the Bureau of Labor Statistics to ensure that the description in the Occupational Outlook Handbook gives voicewriters equal coverage, along with all other available means to get the word out that we are qualified and should be considered equal to a stenographers. Promoting of excellence and expertise goes a long way towards engaging others in a mission.
There are differences and similarities between voicewriters and stenographers. There needs to be a mutual understanding between the professions. In order for either a voicewriter or stenographer to be successful in this field there are common traits one must possess: active listening skills, high accuracy, awareness of current events, ability to listen and speak or type simultaneously, excellent spelling, vocabulary, punctuation, and computer skills.
There is a difference in the amount of training required. In a recent conversation I had with Ardith Spies, owner of Verbatim Career Institute, she indicted that she could have me ready to test for certification in about six months. This statement seems to be indicative of the industry standard that it takes less than a year to become a novice voicewriter (http://www.bls.gov/oco/
ocos152.htm. 2010-2011). When I entered the court reporting program at St. Louis Community College it was scheduled as a two year program. Within the first few weeks of class, about half of the students had dropped. “Nationwide statistics have shown that in the neighborhood of 90% do not complete the training” of becoming a stenographer (Spies, 2009, p. 54). According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics it takes at least 2 years to become proficient at realtime voicewriting and 33 months as a realtime stenographer (http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos152.htm, 2010-2011).
ocos152.htm. 2010-2011). When I entered the court reporting program at St. Louis Community College it was scheduled as a two year program. Within the first few weeks of class, about half of the students had dropped. “Nationwide statistics have shown that in the neighborhood of 90% do not complete the training” of becoming a stenographer (Spies, 2009, p. 54). According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics it takes at least 2 years to become proficient at realtime voicewriting and 33 months as a realtime stenographer (http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos152.htm, 2010-2011).
From what I have read over the past year, the major point of contention is that stenographers do not feel that voicewriters are as educated. There seems to be a conflict that voicewriters could not possibly be as qualified as stenographers with such less education. With stenography you are essentially learning a “foreign” language. The keys on the steno machine are stoked in a phonetic spelling fashion. With voicewriting, I already know how to speak; it is a matter of training my software to accurately translate my voice. I have no doubt that if I had to learn to speak a foreign language, the training time for voicewriting would be much longer. It is not that we are less educated. A major element in the length of training with the steno machine is learning to spell phonetically using chorded keystrokes which takes time.
Testing for certification for the two careers is, for the most part, equal. The certification for voicewriters and stenographers has a written portion, they each have a skills test which must be dictated and transcribed with a 95% accuracy to pass, and there are different comparable levels to attain with additional testing and certification once you have experience. The written portion has a minimum 75% passing score for voicewriters and 70% passing score for stenographers In the beginning, to earn you Certified Verbatim Reporter (CVR) you must pass the following testing: 200 word-per-minute (wpm) literary, a 225 wpm jury charge and a 250 wpm, two-voice question and answer (nvraonline.org. n.d.). To earn your stenography certification as a Registered Professional Reporter (RPR), which is the equivalent of the CVR, the stenography speed is actually less than the criteria for voicewriters. Stenographers test at 180 wpm for literary, 200 wpm for jury charge, and 225 wpm for question and answer testimony (http://ncraonline.org/certification/Certification/rpr/default.htm). I feel that these are good facts to share with any stenographer who feels our qualifications are not up to par; the written portion of our certification is more stringent and we have to be able to dictate faster while attaining the same accuracy. These facts would help bring a mutual understanding in fostering collaboration between the professions. This is a mixed motive situation for voicewriters. We have incentive to cooperate for acceptance as it will increase our ability to compete for jobs.
The conflict between voicewriters and stenographers is an interpersonal conflict which needs to be resolved as this is a growing industry. One reason for the growth is the increased need for trained, qualified professionals because of mandates set forth by the Americans with Disabilities Act in providing access to the deaf and hard of hearing for television captioning and realtime translation in the classroom at colleges and universities. Since we are a litigious society there has also been an increase in the number of civil and criminal cases. Although the services for captioning and CART differ from traditional court reporting, they require the same skills attained as a court reporters. Employment in this profession is expected to grow 18 percent between 2008 and 2018 which is faster than average compared to all other occupations (http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos152.htm, 2010-2011).
One area that both stenographers and voicewriters are in consensus is advocating for live, human reporters in the courtroom. Due to the difficulty in attracting qualified court reporters and budget constraints, some courts have begun using electronic recording systems (ERS) which are maintained during the court proceeding and transcribed outside the court proceedings. Critics of ERS, which include both voicewriters and stenographers, proclaim the courts have gone too far because ERS is too unreliable and leaves no one accountable for the results. This can lead to many issues such as difficulty in transcribing, speaker identification, consistent audible quality, trials that are inaudible and legislative session without a record if the ERS fails (Springer, 2006). Inaudible is not acceptable in a transcript.
Collaboration amongst voicewriters and stenographers in advocating for live, human reporters could be an area of high personal relationship growth and satisfaction in resolving some conflicts between the two professions. In working together there would be greater relationship satisfaction by listening to each other and looking for ways to work together to ensure the needs of the industry are met creating greater job security. No matter how sophisticated voice recognition technology becomes, there will always be subtle variations of the human voice that will require a person working in tandem with a machine whether it be a stenographer or voicewriter.
Stenographers have been very quick to embrace new technology that makes their life easier such as computer software that translates the stenographic type to written words via computer aided transcription. As realtime becomes the norm, technology advancements for working smarter, not harder, with less fatigue will be embraced by stenographers. For those who may have been exposed to the earlier versions of voice recognition technology, now is the time to reevaluate because of technological advances. The accuracy is at a very high level and performance in the industry substantiates this claim. There is room for both professions in the industry and there needs to be a collaboration to achieve the highest level of satisfaction for those we serve.
Acceptance by the National Court Reporters Association (NCRA) would be a huge conflict to overcome. They seem very set in their ways with a narrow scope on innovative technology and rely on history of the profession to carry them forward. In 2001 and 2004 they voted to turn down membership to those in alternative technology (e.g. voicewriters) (http://ncraonline.org/
Vote/Candidates/chat_vp.htm. n.d.).
In a 2009 online chat with two perspective vice-presidential candidates for the NCRA board of directors, the question of “How do you differentiate the inclusion of other methods of speech-to-text modes of the verbatim record into our profession today as compared to that which happened when Gregg and Pitman writers experienced the threat of Stenograph writers entering their profession?” Candidate Melanie responded “I see the situations as similar, in that various methods were and are used to accomplish state-of-the-art record making. Realtime is now the standard in our profession. If you do realtime with a stone tablet, with a pen, with your fingers, or with your voice, I’m glad you’re doing realtime.” In her statement she continued on with she does not feel that dues and staff time should not be utilized “convincing or persuading members to embrace those using alternate technology.” Her opinion is that the money should be spent on “marketing our certification programs and encouraging our members to write realtime and perfect our skills through CE opportunities” (http://ncraonline.org/Vote/Candidates/chat_vp.htm. n.d.).
Candidate Jason has a stronger viewpoint right in line with the prejudicial conflict I will be facing. His statement “The big arguments today are that voice reporting does not take the same level of talent, cheapens the profession, is a competitor system, and is not true shorthand” (http://ncraonline.org/Vote/Candidates/chat_vp.htm, n.d.). This would be an unreal conflict that would need to be resolved as I can back up each of his misconceptions with fact. I think that he would have a high resistance point and a low bargaining range. He seems to have a trained incapacity diminishing his ability to think outside his personal viewpoints and address the needs of the industry.
I think that Candidate Melanie, on the other hand, despite her resistance to open the gates of the NCRA to alternative technologies could be reasoned with through collaborating conflict strategies in working together in to address the shortage of realtime reporters. Her attitude seems more accepting of those in alternative technologies.
In entering this field I will need to communicate in networking with referrals, professional organization, and continuing education, conventions, and conferences events. This is where the potential to encounter the most conflicts will begin. Fortunately, I live in a state that recognizes voicewriters for legal proceedings. Unfortunately, four of the nine bordering states to Missouri do not allow voicewriters for legal proceedings. The Missouri Court Reporters Associate also accepts both voice and steno writers as members. I will still encounter those in this organization who do not feel that we are on equal ground. This is where the stop, think, listen, and communicate resolution conflict method will really benefit me. I will need to stop, think and listen to determine whether their feelings are a real or unreal conflict. Have they had a bad experience in the past? What do they know? What do they think they know? Are their feelings based on firsthand experience or hearsay? Showing empathy and understanding using a nurturing conflict climate will began to bridge that gap in understanding.
I think court reporter, Kelly Stephans, had the right approach when having trouble finding work in her area as a voicewriter. She networked with a few other steno court reporters, met them for lunch, and brought her computer for a demonstration. "I wanted them to see for themselves how it works," Stephens said. "I assured them it was the same results, just a little different way of going about it. I said I could sit side by side with them and perform the same job. I just asked them to give me a chance. They did, and I have never, ever had a problem" (Gillette, 2004). Sometimes people are just resistant to change and overcoming that conflict much in the way Kelly Stephens did will gain me the results I desire.
As a voicewriter, I will be there to achieve the same common goal as a stenographer, just in a different format. Stenographers will need to make some concessions mentally to see that all things considered, voicewriters are equal and should be treated with the same respect and equality that they have reaped for many years. Unfortunately, finding that common ground between voicewriters and stenographers will not happen overnight. It will take a resolution phase of education, awareness, and challenging the mindset before acceptance and equality is the norm.
References
Cahn, D., & Abigail, R. (2007). Managing Conflict through Communication (3rd ed.). Boston: Pearson Custom Publishing.
Gillette, B., (2004, June). Technology integration boosting courtroom efficiency. The Mississippi Business Journal, 26(24), 24. Retrieved March 21, 2010, from ProQuest Newsstand. (Document ID: 655068451).
Spies, A. (2009). All about voicewriting. Dallas, TX: Verbatim Careers Institute
Springer, R., (2006, November). To Dictate or To Record? Speech Technology, 11(6), 19. Retrieved March 21, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 1162412911).
NVRA Certifications. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nvra.org/displaycommon. Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11 Edition. Court Reporters. Retrieved March 21, 2010, from http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos152.htm.
Registered Professional Reporter (RPR). (n.d.). Retrieved March 21, 2010, from http://ncraonline.org/certification/Certification/rpr/default.htm.
Vice Presidential Candidate Chat Questions. (n.d.). Retrieved March 21, 2010, from http://ncraonline.org/Vote/Candidates/chat_vp.htm.
