CART &
ASL - Promoting Understanding and Team Work
by Shelley
Arthur
Editor: Many of you are familiar with CART; you may think that
there's not much more you need to know about it. If so you would be
wrong (in my humble opinion ;~) Here's a very interesting article that
provides a Canadian perspective on CART, discusses some of the
professional organizations involved, and explores similarities and
collaboration possibilities between interpreters and CART providers. We
think you'll learn a lot!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What is CART and Realtime Captioning?
CART, Communication Access Realtime Translation, is an evolving and
growing profession in B.C. [Ed: British Columbia, Canada] and North
America. CART and Realtime Captioning is a branched off profession of
traditional court reporting where official verbatim records are made in
shorthand for legal proceedings. The college education for court
reporting consists of classes in English, medical terminology, legal
proceedings and transcription. As well, students must achieve a minimum
of 225 words per minute with high degrees of accuracy. CART training
also includes Deaf culture, the role of the CART Provider, introduction
to sign language as well as technical skills and equipment in various
settings.
Realtime is spoken words translated instantaneously from shorthand
into English. This is done with the help of specialized computer
software and skills. CART & Realtime Captioning includes
environmental sound descriptions for the hearing impaired. This
communication access is used primarily by people who are hard of hearing
and/or late-deafened. There are certain applications in which people who
are culturally Deaf find it beneficial as well, such as TV captioning.
It is beneficial to use realtime captioning in business and
educational settings because the information, (text files) are
transferred to clients for further reference. The text file of the
realtime captioning can be saved on a disk or the CART Provider can
email it as an attachment. The viewer can also load software on to their
personal computer/laptop to receive a live realtime feed from the CART
Provider's laptop and make their own annotations and notes.
CART is commonly referred to as Realtime Captioning. Technically,
CART is when text alone appears on a computer, laptop, TV or projection
screen. Realtime Captioning is a process whereby text is encoded with
video images, such as in closed caption TV or at large venues where
video conferencing showing images of presenters and/or ASL interpreters
with the captioning. Advances in technology mean that CART Providers and
Captioners can be physically located in one location listening over the
phone and transmitting the Realtime text by internet or modem to other
locations.
Professional Organizations Involved
The British Columbia Shorthand Reporters' Association (BCSRA) is the
provincial association. The majority of provinces in Canada each have
their own association; however efforts are currently ongoing for a
Canadian Association. The National Court Reporters Association (NCRA) is
primarily a U.S. association, but has countless reporters from other
countries as members. The NCRA mid-year, annual conventions and online
seminars offer courses in realtime, broadcast captioning and CART.
CARTWheel is an independent network of CART providers who saw the
need to establish a training manual as well as standards for CART
providers early on. This was later adopted by the NCRA. CARTWheel
members served as volunteers on the NCRA CART Task Force and helped
bring about the creation of the CART Providers' Manual. This year the
NCRA will be implementing certification exams for CART & Broadcast
Captioning professions. CARTWheel's Advisory Council will also be
bringing one of its initial training and endorsement workshops to
Vancouver and other locations to help bring educational
courses/endorsement levels closer to home. With the recent closure of
the court reporting program at Langara, there remains only one full-time
program at NAIT in Edmonton and a remote part-time program at George
Brown College in Toronto in Canada. To date, colleges in Canada have not
had adequate funding to implement CART or Captioning criteria/courses
into their programs. The NCRA has been successful in obtaining millions
of dollars from Congress to implement these new fields into court
reporting programs in the States while we struggle to replace Langara's
program and add CART & Captioning education and training.
Information on CART can be found at www.CARTWheel.cc and
www.CARTinfo.org . The British Columbia Shorthand Reporters Association
(BCSRA) has formed a CART committee and will be establishing criteria
for CART Providers while acknowledging certifications/endorsements from
the NCRA & CARTWheel.
CART and Interpreters Working Together
Through information sharing, it is hoped that interpreters and CART
Providers will have a greater understanding of each other's profession.
This understanding will help avoid misconceptions about each other's
work and at the same time help foster opportunities to work and learn
together.
The settings in which CART providers and interpreters find themselves
together are growing. Historically, it has been used at functions where
there are both Deaf and hearing impaired participants. For example CART
providers and interpreters have worked together at the Western Institute
for Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Island Deaf & Hard of Hearing Centre,
annual general meetings, fund raisers, workshops, etc.
Recently, there have been post-secondary courses in B.C. where both
CART & ASL are providing communication access to students. Another
example is at Deafway II last summer, where Realtime Captioning and
three forms of sign language were used to communicate to 10,000
participants. With video conferencing both sign language & realtime
captioning can be shown on the screen at the same time. This means that
people living in isolated rural areas can connect with people in the
larger cities. Two California educational institutes recently settled
lawsuits commenced by students and conceded to provide both CART &
ASL instead of making them choose one over the other. This decision
recognized that the student's first official language is ASL, as well as
the need for text files of classes for studying purposes.
CART Providers and Interpreters share some common frustrations, such
as getting our hands on preparation material in advance and receiving
compensation for services rendered versus volunteer requests! CART
providers and Captioners must contend with the perpetual expense of
state-of-the-art software and equipment as well as ongoing education.
CART providers generally work alone, but do team up in some settings.
Interpreters commonly work in teams. I have been part of venues where
one of the ASL interpreters assisted the CARTer by quietly repeating the
Deaf person's speech to ensure the CART Provider understood correctly.
ASL interpreters and foreign language translators make use of realtime
text on the screen to get information they may have missed or not
understood because of the presenter's accent.
The more prepared CART Providers are the better the translation from
shorthand into English. Sharing preparation material, names/words,
before or during assignments is beneficial to both professions, as well
as those participants relying on the text or interpretation for
communication.
With the difference in backgrounds, CART Providers and Interpreters
have an opportunity to exchange experiences, ideas and expertise so we
may all continue to improve and evolve. We have two very distinct roles
but share a common goal; fluid and cohesive communication access.
I would like to give a note of thanks to Deloris Piper for assistance
with this article, the opportunity to share with WAVLI's (Western
Association of Visual Language Interpreters) members and for her pending
reciprocating article for the BCSRA newsletter.
Please feel free to contact Shelley Arthur at Visual Voice Captions,
info@VisualVoiceCaptions.com or Phone: (250) 337-8071 / Fax: 337-8081.
She is part of CARTWheel's Advisory Council and the BCSRA CART
Committee.
