Regardless of the environment, CART offers some distinct benefits to those making use of this service:
- Equal access.
CART consumers receive the same information as anyone else and can interact fully in any setting.
- Complete communication access.
CART provides a verbatim record of the class, meeting, conference, etc., capturing every word spoken as well as environmental sounds.
- Flexibility.
CART can be used in a variety of settings, whether one-on-one with a single consumer reading off of the CART provider’s laptop computer screen, in a small group such as a business meeting with the text appearing on a television monitor, or even in a much larger setting like a convention with the CART provider’s realtime text projected to a large screen for everyone in the room to read.
- Independent learning/understanding.
With the provision of CART, the responsibility for the consumer’s learning or understanding lies with the consumer. For example, rather than relying on notes provided by others, the consumer will have a verbatim record of the event from which to determine what is or is not important, based upon the consumer’s understanding of the material presented.
- Increased learning potential.
In the classroom setting, studies have shown that CART enhances the deaf or hard-of-hearing person’s ability to comprehend the speaker. Moreover, CART improves a hearing person’s verbal comprehension.
- Full participation.
Because the CART provider combines a word-for-word translation with environmental sounds, such as laughing or a cell phone ringing, and descriptions of tone or inflection (excited, despairing, angry, etc.), the consumer has the opportunity to fully participate.
- Choice of notetaking options.
The consumer can have the text file fed through a version of litigation-support software as the CART provider realtimes the class, meeting or event. The consumer can then use the highlight or annotate features of the software to pick out what he or she wants to retain. Thus, the consumer has the choice of obtaining the verbatim record of the event and/or only those portions that he or she deems important.
© 2002 National Court Reporters Association, All Rights Reserved
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