CART Reporters, Realtime Captioning
and Steno-Interpreting, in the Classroom
or Other Settings

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CART Reporters, Realtime Captioning and Steno-Interpreting

CART is not a mispronounciation of Court Reporter!  It is a new term in this new world of technology and communication.         

CART stands for Communication Access Realtime Translation using a stenotype machine, a notebook computer, and realtime software to instantaneously translate the spoken word into English text which is then displayed on a computer monitor or other display, (a projector, a television, a radio sign, or a Jumbotron.  
CART service provider members belong to the CARTwheel Association and have established standards for providing CART services.  

Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing people who are not fluent in sign language need the spoken language put into text to be able to participate and communicate in public settings.

Steno-Interpreting, Educational Captioning and Realtime Captioning are basically different terms describing the same situation where you you have a realtime captioner (a court reporter with a special software and computer display) to take down lectures or meetings or any other spoken situations.  The oral language is then translated to text and displayed to the student instantaneously.  An ASCII disk of a class may be provided to the student as class notes.  In this way, deaf, hard-of-hearing, or other students who need this kind of assistance are guaranteed access to instruction.

There are two methods of steno-interpreting.  
One way is for the realtime captioner to accompany the student to class with a laptop computer and display the text for the student in the classroom.  

The second method is called remote captioning where the instructor and classroom have microphones that have previously been set up.  The student attends class with a laptop, which is connected to the Internet, and the realtime captioner works from an offsite location receiving the audio, writing the text and transmitting it back to the student in realtime.  

There are many other situations in which steno-interpreting or realtime captioning may be useful.  Realtime captioners may accompany a deaf or hard-of-hearing person to a doctor’s appointment, a legal proceeding, or any other situation in which immediate text of written language is necessary to aid in the communication process.  

Some of the larger captioning companies only do broadcast captioning.  Some companies do broadcast captioning and CART.  Check out the links below!

Captioning vs. CART                           Educational Uses for Captioning

Captioning for ESL                              CART Manual at NCRA

Non-Broadcast Captioning                    Education and Captioning by NCI

CartWHEEL Organization for Captioners