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CART & Captioning
 What
is Captioning?
Broadcast captioners, also called stenocaptioners, use
court reporter skills on the stenotype machine to provide captions of
live television programs for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers, through
realtime technology that instantly produces readable English text. Stenocaptioners
work for local stations and for national channels and networks captioning
news, emergency broadcasts, sports events and other programming.
The federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 has
some very specific mandates for closed captioning of local programs around
the country with phase-in dates in 2002, 2004 and 2006. What this means
for the reporting community is an enormous increase in the demand for
realtime captioners to cover local news broadcasts all around the country,
mornings, afternoons and evenings.
What is CART?
Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART)
is the instant translation of the spoken word into English text using
a stenotype machine, notebook computer and realtime software. The text
appears on a computer monitor or other display. This technology is primarily
used by people who are hearing-impaired or who are learning English as
a second language.
A CART provider is sensitive to the varying needs
of consumers and has had training in conveying a speaker’s message,
complete with environmental cues. Increasingly, CART is being provided
remotely via the Internet or a telephone connection. CART is also referred
to as realtime captioning.
What is the Future of CART/ Captioning?
No one can predict the future with certainty, but one
thing is certain: The future will arrive tomorrow, on schedule.
Some have predicted that computer and voice recognition
(VR) technology will replace the stenocaptioners. It hasn't happened for
a very good reason: VR must be "trained" to its user and will
not "understand" unfamiliar speakers. Eventually reporters may
use VR to edit transcripts, just as they now incorporate computer technology:
Computer-aided transcription (CAT) makes real-time transcripts and captioning
possible.
Our CART/ Captioning Program
Our captioning students learn state-of-the-art machine
shorthand theory and then embark on a program of speedbuilding to 180
words per minute, compatible with the standards of the National Court
Reporters Association (NCRA) for their Certified Broadcast Captioner (CBC)
certification or Certified Cart Provider (CCP) certification.
But the profession of CART or captioning requires
much more than just speed. During the speedbuilding process, students
receive training in English grammar, spelling, and punctuation; medical,
legal, and technical terminology and concepts; real-time and captioning
computer technology; keyboarding; deaf awareness and culture; CBC and
CCP preparation; and, just prior to graduation, CART and captioning internships.
Our top-notch faculty includes graduates of such prestigious schools as
Yale and Dartmouth.
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