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Date Posted: 12:33:15 06/05/02 Wed
Author: Shirleym
Subject: A Little BAHWC Connection



Others may have known what that guy was doing in BAHWC, but although I knew he was making some kind of record of what was being said and done, I wasn't sure exactly what it was all about. I think maybe this explains it, except I think he was just talking into a tape recorder?

This article is longer, but I've only copied and pasted the first part of it.

June 3, 2002

Why Stenotypists Are Trying To Keep Voice Writers Quiet

By WILLIAM M. BULKELEY
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

CONCORD, N.H. -- Paula O'Regan is fast and accurate at
transcribing proceedings of the New Hampshire legislature. Recently, she posted the text of evening impeachment hearings against the state's chief justice on a state Web site the next morning.

But she isn't allowed to take down testimony in any state-court case. That's because state-court regulations recognize only old-fashioned stenotypists as court reporters -- stenographers using stenotype machines. Stenotypists are well organized to monopolize the lucrative jobs and keep out
people such as Ms. O'Regan.

Ms. O'Regan is a "voice writer" who creates transcripts by repeating everything that is said in a hearing -- up to 225 words per minute -- into a hard plastic cup connected to a voice-recognition computer. She doesn't need fast fingers to record a legislative debate -- just a quick tongue.

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[> Gee... maybe I should just read the whole article before I post a piece of it. (sigh) Here's another excerpt that answers my question. (r) -- Shirleym, 12:56:41 06/05/02 Wed

One spring morning, Ms. O'Regan sat in a New Hampshire legislative hearing room, listening intently as state senators quizzed a highway department chief. Holding the plastic cup over her mouth, Ms. O'Regan quietly repeated every word said by the senators and the witness.

Her words were picked up by a microphone inside the cup and carried to her Toshiba laptop, which instantly converted them to written text. At the end of the session she went back to her office, proofread the text, corrected inaccuracies by listening to a recording on the same computer disk and printed out a transcript.

In the past, voice writers spoke into tape recorders. That technique assures that everything said in court is picked up, but it still takes hours or days to make a transcript. Taped voice writing grew popular in World War II when the military couldn't train or draft stenotypists fast enough to handle courts-martial.


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[> [> One of life's mysteries solved! Thanks SM. I noted the same instrument while watching The Sweet Hereafter (featuring Alberta) the other day. Looks like the idea caught on in Canada, but nowhere else! -- viv, 21:41:16 06/05/02 Wed


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