With organizations moving to online conferences (to save on travel, housing, and per diem costs), many are using the services of captioning and reporting services that provide communication access real-time translation (CART).
CART refers to real-time transcription of spoken contents and sound effects-to-text translations. (Closed captioning refers to the provision of a textual equivalent of sound information — whether or not the event is live.) This translation service ensures accessibility of the real-time events for a range of web-conference participants.
Jeanette Christian of 20/20 Captioning & Reporting (based out of Topeka, Kan.) provided the following responses in a Q&A about CART recently. This company was contacted after they provided CART services for an international academic conference. This company has provided real-time reporting for more than 23 years and has been providing remote CART services for close to 11 years. Its real-time writers are located across the U.S. and can provide 24-hour services seven days a week to locations in the U.S. as well as international.
www.2020captioning.com/index.php
Q&A with Jeanette Christian of 20/20 Captioning and Reporting
Are there organizations that certify the quality of captioning for live online conferences?
Many organizations have created their own standards. Our writers follow the standards given by our organization, NCRA (National Court Reporters Association, www.ncraonline.org). Writers with 20/20 are board tested and certified by NCRA and are required to participate in continuing education to maintain our certifications.
Registered Professional Reporter (RPR) certification is considered the “minimum” skill level for providing CART. The Certified Real-time Reporter (CRR), Registered Merit Reporter (RMR), or CART certification is preferred by 20/20.
What national standards exist for the quality of live web-conferencing transcription? Are there any international standards? If so, what are they? (Are there principles for the standards?)
Same answer as above. (See the new CART style and format guidelines (PDF).)
How accurate are the transcripts created in the CART transcription of an online conference?
First, I would like to state that remote real-time CART begins with the CART provider, but he/she is not solely responsible for the quality of the translation. The conduct of the participants in the room can greatly affect real-time translation. If you look at your CART provider’s screen and you see a mistranslate or untranslate or the CART provider is paraphrasing, several things could be happening — people are cross-talking; the speaker is talking too fast; the speaker is not talking clearly; someone in the room has sneezed/coughed, making it difficult to hear; a shuffling of papers in the room; or the CART provider has been writing for hours without a break and is getting tired.
A mistranslate is a word or series of words that appear in English but are the wrong words. An example would be the phrase “to be content” mistranslating to “to beacon tent”, or the word “mathematic” mistranslating as “math/ma/particular”. An untranslate is a word that isn’t in the CART provider’s dictionary and appears either phonetically or in the stenographic stroking. This is particularly true of names, technical terms, or geographical locations. An example would be the name “Weist” appearing as either “weest” or “WAO*ES”.
CART providers strive for 98 percent accuracy or better. Accuracy is improved when we are given materials to prep from (PowerPoints that will be discussed, names and spellings of individuals speaking). Many times we are not given any materials ahead of time; then we must depend on our experience and skills used daily.
Does your company, 20/20 Captioning & Reporting, ever go back and revise the transcripts? Or is an event just archived as-is?
Our writers are very skilled, talented, and hold many certifications from NCRA, so very little editing is needed. Our writers are required to do a rough edit (scan for “untrans” or untranslated words only). We will only do a word-for-word proofread when asked. Our office has created an online library connected to our website for our writers, where they can easily access word banks (spelling and pronunciation) of most vocabulary at any time.
What are the main challenges with CART transcription of a live online event?
The main challenge is not receiving any prep material for the event or names and spellings of speakers. Another challenge is a speaker with an accent.
How do students with hearing acuity issues participate?
The student types a question to the captioner via chat. The student then raises his/her hand. The speaker calls on the student while at the same time moving closer to the student’s computer. Once the captioner “hears” the speaker call on the student, that is the captioner’s cue to voice the question. The speaker will “hear” the question through the student’s computer speakers.
What other sorts of events do you do closed captioning for?
- Graduations
- Television shows
- Funeral service
- Church service
- Stadium captioning (all sports)
The list is unlimited. You ask, and we can provide. If a program is conducted in Spanish, a CART provider who speaks Spanish will provide the script.
What sorts of speakers are the easiest to caption for, and why? How may speakers help the transcriptionist during a live event?
All speakers can be a challenge. For example, if the speaker does not have a microphone or if an audience member stands up in the room and does not have a microphone, it is possible the writer may not hear them. Another challenge is international speakers with an accent or English as their second language.
As a steno writer, we are capable of writing on our steno machine for hours at a time. The only assistance of another writer is when we “time share” an event and would need to switch out writers. We can do this easily without disruption of the event.
How many organizations are there like yours that do such transcription work?
I cannot accurately quote a number to you. You could type “captioning” into Google, and the list is unlimited.
What are typical costs for this type of transcription work? Do you have special rates for educational institutions?
Providers offer different pricing plans to fit within your budget. Pricing plans can vary from $75 an hour up to $150 an hour, sometimes higher. There are many factors that must be taken into consideration when reaching an agreement with a CART provider; for instance, the technicality of the event, whether the student would provide their own equipment, travel, plus the number of hours you would be committing to the CART provider for that time period. Providers are happy to work with you to try and configure something that fits within your budget.
Do you train the professor and students, so they can benefit from this service?
Four weeks before service is to begin, 20/20 will send an implementation plan to the first-in-line contact for the student. Two weeks before service is to begin, we offer a demo to students and professors to educate them on Remote CART. After the demo, we send out “The Golden Rules of Remote CART” for their use.
