KCRA Channel 3 reported on Dec. 11 that dozens of criminal, civil, and juvenile court cases were postponed in Sacramento County, Calif., after court clerks and court reporters walked off the job protesting they are overworked and underpaid.
Court reporter lands role as a court reporter
December 13, 2018 by
On Dec. 13, The Mercury posted an article about Emilie Posan, an official court reporter from Exton, Pa., who landed a role in a television series that highlights her profession.
Court rules that court reporting services subject to state regulations of California
December 13, 2018 by
The Metropolitan News-Enterprise reported on Dec. 11 about a case in the Sixth District Court of Appeal that relates to court reporters. The court has rejected the contention of an out-of-state company that in arranging for services in California of certified shorthand reporters, it does not subject itself to state regulation because it merely connects customers with independent contractors.
Former NCRA member James Edward Wolfington passes
December 12, 2018 by
The Seguin Gazette reported on Dec. 7 that former NCRA member James (Jim) Edward Wolfington passed away on Dec. 5., in New Braunfels, Texas.
Mike Mobley Reporting merges with Summit City Reporting
December 12, 2018 by
In a press release issued Dec. 10, Mike Mobley Reporting, a firm based in Southwest Ohio, announced that the firm has partnered with Summit City Reporting, based in Fort Wayne, Ind.
Henderson Legal Services expands national sales team
December 12, 2018 by
In a press release issued Dec. 11, Henderson Legal Services announced that it has expanded its national sales team to increase growth.
Grow your career by presenting at the NCRA Convention & Expo
December 11, 2018 by
“What better place to learn from your peers than the 2019 NCRA Convention & Expo,” says Lisa Knight, FAPR, RDR, CRR, who co-chairs the NCRA Education Content Committee. “And if you have something to share that touches on topics related to the court reporting, captioning, or legal video professions, now is the time to let us know your ideas. Whether you are relating something from your experience in the field or have a deep understanding of a topic such as realtime, speedbuilding, ethics, language, technology, or test-taking skills, this is an opportunity to share that you won’t want to miss.”
“Presenting is a great opportunity and platform to share your experiences and knowledge with other working court reporters, captioners, and legal videographers. Our peers make a wonderful, welcoming audience,” says Merilee Johnson, RDR, CRR, CRC, a freelance reporter and CART captioner based in Eden Prairie, Minn., who also co-chairs the NCRA Education Content Committee. “There’s no better resource than learning from our fellow working reporters and firm owners.”
Knight, who has presented sessions on technology, gadgets, and realtime in the past for national events, says that becoming a presenter changed how she thought about her role in the profession. “I’m a self-proclaimed introvert, and I always thought that the people who were presenting at the events I went to were just naturally confident and just loved being in front of the crowd,” Knight says. “But I had learned so much in the field – about realtime, about marketing myself, and about embracing technology – and my friends were so supportive in pointing this out when I first volunteered to speak. I knew I had to share my knowledge and help everyone in the profession. Presenting at a convention is a wonderful way to share what you know and give back to the profession as a whole.
“What was amazing to me, though, was how much opened up to me after becoming a speaker,” Knight continued. “Speaking in front of such a warm audience, one made of your peers, that is, people who are excited to hear about the nitty-gritty of the jobs and ask questions that really get to the heart of the practice, is such a great affirmation of how important our role is, no matter if you are an official or a freelancer, a captioner or a videographer. It made me want to continue to learn more and be the best I could be.”
Johnson, who has presented sessions on realtime, technology, and captioning in the past for national events, says that becoming a presenter helped her meet new people and make connections that aided her career. Stepping up to be a speaker also boosted her confidence and helped shift her perspective. “It was a wonderful experience for me personally,” Johnson adds. “It helped me grow in ways I did not expect.”
Past presentations have ranged from a review of state and federal regulations, ethics, speedbuilding, marketing, health and wellness, trends in technology, and software training. Even if your idea is not on the list, if it’s for court reporters, captioners, or legal videographers – or students of those professions – we’d love to hear more. The 2019 Convention & Expo will be held Aug. 15-18 in Denver, Colo.
Visit NCRA.org/presentations for more information or to submit a presentation for consideration. Submissions are due by Jan. 9.
It’s a giving time of the year! Make a difference!
December 11, 2018 by
By Sandy Bunch VanderPol
Sandy Bunch VanderPol
When you love something, you want to support it all the time, even if it takes a lot of effort and time. This is how I feel about our profession and the National Court Reporters Foundation, the philanthropic arm of NCRA. As a Trustee on the NCRF, I have the privilege to serve all of you, as members of NCRA. It is indeed a privilege.
As a freelance reporter and an independent contractor, it has always been in my heart to support the profession I so love. I do this by volunteering my time and by supporting the profession with my financial contributions, and I have benefited greatly from doing this. Financial generosity is an important element in the success of any organization that supports the philanthropic efforts of that organization, and your financial support is necessary to the success of the charitable work of the NCRF.
I would ask all of you to please take a moment to consider making a charitable contribution to NCRF. There is no amount too small or too large. Your contribution will be spent wisely in supporting the many programs of NCRF. Make a difference! The feeling of giving – what a feeling it is!
Thank you in advance for your support. I appreciate it. Oh, and I forgot to mention, your contribution is tax deductible. And if you contribute $1,000, you will be an “NCRF Angel,” which can benefit you through networking and a number of public relations and marketing opportunities.
Sandy Bunch VanderPol, FAPR, RMR, CRR, of Lotus, Calif., is an NCRF Trustee and longtime NCRF Angel. Visit www.bit.ly/NCRFYEA to donate to NCRF to support your profession.
Become an expert advocate and leader for your profession
December 10, 2018 by
The 2019 NCRA Leadership & Legislative Boot Camp promises to provide attendees with an experience like no other when it comes to learning firsthand the power of advocacy and the influence good leadership can achieve.
The 2019 event is May 5-7. It will include two full days of training, exploration, and hands-on activities designed to give everyone who attends the takeaways necessary to become successful advocates and leaders in the profession at the local, state, and national level. Training will end with role-playing and mock interviews to help prepare attendees for the final day of the event that culminates on the third day with visits with Washington, D.C., lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
The site of the 2019 event is the Embassy Suites by Hilton in historic Old Town Alexandria, Va., just outside of Washington, D.C. Anyone in the court reporting, captioning, or legal videography professions wanting to grow and hone their advocacy and leadership skills should make plans to attend the 2019 NCRA Leadership & Legislative Boot Camp.
Watch the JCR Weekly and JCR magazine for more details and information about registration for this one-of-a-kind event.
Actor Tom Hanks ‘hearts’ captioning
December 10, 2018 by
Photo by David Kindler
NCRA member Jo Gayle, RPR, CRR, CRC, a freelance captioner from Chicago, Ill., recently earned a shout-out from actor Tom Hanks for her captioning skills during an event held by the Chicago Humanities Festival. The JCR Weekly reached out to Gayle to find out more about being recognized by an international celebrity for her skills. The JCR Weekly also reached out to Brittany Pyle, director of production and audience experience for the Chicago Humanities Festival, to learn more about the benefits captioning brings to audiences.
NCRA member Jo Gayle, RPR, CRR, CRC
JCR | How did you connect with the Chicago Humanities organization?
JG | I was asked by a captioning company to caption some of their events.
JCR | How long have you been captioning for them?
JG | Three years, since fall of 2015.
JCR | What types of events do you caption for them and how often?
JG | I started out just captioning a few events, but this fall I did 15 events as well as a day-long marathon of interviews that I split with a remote captioner. The events are either interviews or lectures, and the Humanities Festival chooses which ones will be captioned based on audience interest and accessibility requests.
JCR | What do you enjoy most about working with this organization?
JG | They are extremely accommodating when it comes to making sure I have a comfortable and accessible work space. Also I’ve enjoyed the diversity of events and the famous people I’ve been able to caption: Alan Alda, Gloria Steinem, Al Gore, and James Comey, just to name a few.
JCR | What were you captioning when Tom Hanks gave you a shout-out?
JG | He was doing an interview with Peter Sagal of NPR to discuss his love of writing and his collection of short stories, Uncommon Type.
JCR | Did you know he was going to do that?
JG | What happened was they did not know the event was being captioned and only discovered it when they looked at the screen behind them that was going to display audience questions.
Here’s the back and forth from the transcript:
PETER SAGAL: We have a couple of questions from members of the audience who submitted them earlier. We selected a few. We’ll put them up on the screen.
TOM HANKS: Oh, really?
PETER SAGAL: Yes.
TOM HANKS: I thought this was a temporary graphic.
I just realized that. Has that gone on? So you get to say I read the best interview with Tom Hanks. Anybody deaf that is actually doing it? Anybody hearing-impaired?
PETER SAGAL: Hello, I am the person typing the captions.
THE CAPTIONER: That’s me.
(Laughter and applause.)
TOM HANKS: Let’s hear it — are they up here or back there?
THE CAPTIONER: I’m up here.
(Laughter and applause.)
PETER SAGAL: That’s great.
We actually do have some questions for you so we can put them up.
TOM HANKS: That is hilarious. I’m sorry. That is just fantastic. I’m sorry, that is truly fantastic.
“Which character in your book do you love the most and why,” says Jill. There you go. We want Jill’s name up there twice. I think that’s fabulous.
(Applause.)
JG | I felt I had to insert myself in there so they would know it was an actual person doing the captioning and not voice recognition or artificial intelligence.
JCR | What was your reaction?
JG | I got a big kick out of it, but I was overwhelmed when I received this email from him through the Humanities Festival:
You tell Jo Gayle that she made our night! A personality to go with those magic words! It was an honor to share the stage with her! Tell her that, or better yet, send her a text one word at a time … It was a grand night,
Tom Hanks
JCR | Did you get to meet him?
JG | No, unfortunately.
JCR | Have you met any other celebrities through this work?
JG | Alan Alda is the only celebrity I’ve met.
JCR | How long have you been a captioner?
JG | I’ve been a court reporter since 1980, and I transitioned into CART in 2004. I don’t do broadcast captioning, only CART captioning. Transitioning into CART was the best career move I ever made!
JCR | How did you learn about the court reporting/captioning profession?
JG | After four years of college and two years of grad school, I couldn’t find a job in what I majored in (mass communications), so my father, who was an attorney, told me about the court reporters he worked with and actually found a reporting school for me. I looked into it and found my niche.
This whole experience has been unreal. From getting the shout-out from Tom Hanks to having the event posted on both the NCRA and Illinois Court Reporters Association Facebook pages and in an email from the Chicago Humanities Festival to their subscribers has been beyond my wildest dreams! And the recognition from my colleagues is the topping on the cake!
Captioning provides accessibility
Here is what Brittany Pyle, director of production and audience experience for the Chicago Humanities Festival, said about the benefits that captioning brings to audiences.
JCR | How long have you offered captioning services to your audiences?
BP | We implemented open captions at our events in fall 2015.
JCR | What prompted your organization to begin providing captioning of your events?
BP | The Chicago Humanities Festival is committed to accessibility for all audience members. Back in 2015, I was learning a lot from my involvement with the Chicago Cultural Accessibility Consortium (CCAC). Based on audience feedback, I sensed that many people in our audience identified as being hard of hearing, and some audience members were deaf but ASL interpretation was not their preference. Being able to understand what a person is saying on stage is the primary value of our events. It became clear to me that making realtime captions available and visible to everyone in the room was going to be a clear benefit to our audience’s experience.
JCR | How long have you used the services of Jo Gayle?
BP | We’ve worked with Jo Gayle since the beginning of utilizing live event captions in 2015. We also work with a few other talented captioners in Chicago. We have so many events running at one time that we often need more than one captioner on a given day!
JCR | You mentioned that she is your go-to person for captioning services. Why is that?
BP | Jo has amazing accuracy. I’m very impressed by how she can listen to a fast talker rattle off complicated terminology and get it perfectly right on the screen. She works very hard to prepare for our events. She and I work together in advance to make sure she has everything we know about a particular speaker, words they might use, the correct spelling of names. Jo does a lot of prep work on her own, looking up videos of that person, learning their speech cadence, things they often talk about when they’re giving a presentation. If our audience members can spot her in a theater, they will flock to her after an event to thank her for how much her captioning helped them get more out of the event.
JCR | What would you say to other organizations considering offering captioning services to their audiences?
BP | It is so worth budgeting for this accessible service. I find captions to be beneficial to a wide audience. It makes our events inclusive of people who are deaf or hard of hearing but also elevates an experience that could be less than ideal, say, in an acoustically challenging church or helps aid understanding if a speaker has a heavy accent. I would also urge other organizations to aim for open captions (as opposed to closed captions on a device) so that they are integrated into the entire experience, and someone can see them from any seat in the house without having to self-identify. I would also urge organizations to make it easy and transparent for a person to request the service of open captions from your organization.
JCR | Please feel free to add any additional information you think would be helpful for the article.
BP | The Chicago Humanities Festival is a guest in over 40 venues per year, producing roughly 130 events per year. We try to make our events as accessible as possible by showcasing how to request accessible accommodations on our website when buying tickets, and our audience services representatives are trained to ask each ticket buyer if they require accessible accommodations as part of their order when speaking to people on the phone. While we haven’t been able to afford to caption all 130 events just yet, we do budget for requests, pre-schedule captioning in venues that would benefit from them, and we are always fundraising and applying for grants hoping to increase the number of events with open captions. I also think it would be a logistical challenge to get realtime captioners at 130 events, since a demand at that volume would certainly exceed the number of qualified captioners in Chicago! I would love it if more colleges and trade schools provided a pipeline into this growing field of realtime captioning for accessibility.
