A steno machine, stenotype machine, shorthand machine, stenograph or steno writer is a specialized
chorded keyboard
A keyset or chorded keyboard (also called a chorded keyset, ''chord keyboard'' or ''chording keyboard'') is a computer input device that allows the user to enter characters or commands formed by pressing several keys together, like playing a " c ...
or
typewriter
A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical machine for typing characters. Typically, a typewriter has an array of keys, and each one causes a different single character to be produced on paper by striking an inked ribbon selectivel ...
used by
stenographers
Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek ''ste ...
for
shorthand
Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek ''ste ...
use. In order to pass the United States
Registered Professional Reporter
The National Court Reporters Association, or NCRA, is a US organization for the advancement of the profession of the court reporter, closed captioner, and realtime writer. The association holds annual conventions, seminars and forums, speed a ...
test, a trained
court reporter
A court reporter, court stenographer, or shorthand reporter is a person whose occupation is to capture the live testimony in proceedings using a stenographic machine, thereby transforming the proceedings into an official certified transcript b ...
or
closed captioner
Closed captioning (CC) and subtitling are both processes of displaying text on a television, video screen, or other visual display to provide additional or interpretive information. Both are typically used as a transcription of the audio po ...
must write speeds of approximately 180, 200, and 225
words per minute
Words per minute, commonly abbreviated wpm (sometimes uppercased WPM), is a measure of words processed in a minute, often used as a measurement of the speed of typing, reading or Morse code sending and receiving.
Alphanumeric entry
Since words ...
(wpm) at very high accuracy in the categories of literary, jury charge, and testimony, respectively. Some stenographers can reach 300 words per minute. The website of the California Official Court Reporters Association (COCRA) gives the official record for American English as 375 wpm.
The stenotype keyboard has far fewer keys than a conventional
alphanumeric keyboard
The technology of computer keyboards includes many elements. Among the more important of these is the switch technology that they use. Computer alphanumeric keyboards typically have 80 to 110 durable switches, generally one for each key. The ch ...
. Multiple keys are pressed simultaneously (known as "
chording Chording means pushing several keys or buttons simultaneously to achieve a result.
Musical keyboards
In music, more than one key are pressed at a time to achieve more complex sounds, or chords.
Computer keyboards
Chording, with a chorded ke ...
" or "stroking") to spell out whole
syllable
A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds typically made up of a syllable nucleus (most often a vowel) with optional initial and final margins (typically, consonants). Syllables are often considered the phonological "bu ...
s, words, and phrases with a single hand motion. This system makes
realtime transcription practical for
court reporting
A court reporter, court stenographer, or shorthand reporter is a person whose occupation is to capture the live testimony in proceedings using a stenographic machine, thereby transforming the proceedings into an official certified transcript b ...
and live
closed captioning
Closed captioning (CC) and subtitling are both processes of displaying text on a television, video screen, or other visual display to provide additional or interpretive information. Both are typically used as a transcription of the audio por ...
. Because the keyboard does not contain all the letters of the English alphabet, letter combinations are substituted for the missing letters. There are several schools of thought on how to record various sounds, such as the StenEd, Phoenix, and Magnum Steno theories.
History
The first shorthand machine (the word "stenotype" was not used for another 80 years or more) punched a paper strip and was built in 1830 by
Karl Drais
Karl Freiherr von Drais (full name: Karl Friedrich Christian Ludwig Freiherr Drais von Sauerbronn) (29 April 1785 – 10 December 1851) was a noble German forest official and significant inventor in the Biedermeier period. He was born and died ...
, a German inventor. The first machine was made in 1863 by the Italian
Antonio Michela Zucco and was in actual use from 1880 in the Italian Senate. In New York City on December 24th, 1875,
John Celivergos Zachos
John Celivergos Zachos ( el, Ιωάννης Καλίβεργος Ζάχος; December 20, 1820 – March 20, 1898) was a Greek-American physician, literary scholar, elocutionist, author, lecturer, inventor, and educational pioneer. He was an ea ...
invented a stenotype and filed patent number 175892 for type writers and phenotypic notation application. In 1879,
Miles M. Bartholomew invented the shorthand machine. A French version was created by
Marc Grandjean in 1909. The direct ancestor of today's stenotype was created by
Ward Stone Ireland in about 1913, and the word "stenotype" was applied to his machine and its descendants sometime thereafter.
Modern hardware
![SOFT-HRUF](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/SOFT-HRUF.jpg)
Most modern stenotype keyboards have more in common with computers than they do with typewriters or
QWERTY
QWERTY () is a keyboard layout for Latin-script alphabets. The name comes from the order of the first six Computer keyboard keys#Types, keys on the top left letter row of the keyboard ( ). The QWERTY design is based on a layout created f ...
computer keyboards. Most contain microprocessors, and many allow sensitivity adjustments for each individual key. They translate stenotype to the target language internally using user-specific dictionaries, and most have small display screens. They typically store a full day's work in non-volatile memory of some type, such as an
SD card
Secure Digital, officially abbreviated as SD, is a proprietary non-volatile flash memory card format developed by the SD Association (SDA) for use in portable devices.
The standard was introduced in August 1999 by joint efforts between SanDis ...
. These factors influence the price, along with
economies of scale
In microeconomics, economies of scale are the cost advantages that enterprises obtain due to their scale of operation, and are typically measured by the amount of output produced per unit of time. A decrease in cost per unit of output enables ...
, as only a few thousand stenotype keyboards are sold each year. , student models, such as a Wave writer, sell for about US$1,500 and top-end models sell for approximately US$5,000. Machines that are 10 to 15 years old still resell for upward of $350.
The Open Steno Project
has written free open-source software, including
Plover
Plovers ( , ) are a widely distributed group of wading birds belonging to the subfamily Charadriinae.
Description
There are about 66 species in the subfamily, most of them called "plover" or "dotterel". The closely related lapwing subfa ...
, and has developed cheap
open-source hardware
Open-source hardware (OSH) consists of physical artifacts of technology designed and offered by the open-design movement. Both free and open-source software (FOSS) and open-source hardware are created by this open-source culture movement and a ...
for stenography. Plover software translates keypresses to Stenotype on any modern keyboard, with a preference given to
ortholinear keyboards that have
NKRO
Key rollover is the ability of a computer keyboard to correctly handle several simultaneous keystrokes. A keyboard with ''n''-key rollover (NKRO) can correctly detect input from each key on the keyboard at the same time, regardless of how many oth ...
functionality.
Manufacturers
Stenograph is by far the largest manufacturer of American stenotype keyboards with an estimated marketshare in excess of 90%. Their top models are the Luminex professional writer and the Wave student writer. The Stentura paper-based writers and the paperless élan writers preceded the current models. There were two other large manufacturers in the 1980s (Xscribe, with the StenoRAM line and BaronData with the Transcriptor line). Stenograph purchased both companies and discontinued their products. The current manufacturers in the U.S. include:
* Advantage Software (Passport and Passport Touch)
* Neutrino Group (Gemini, Revolution, & Infinity writers)
* ProCAT (Stenopaq, Flash, Stylus, Impression, and Xpression)
* Stenograph (Stentura, élan Mira, Fusion, élan Cybra, Wave, Diamante and Luminex)
* Stenovations (LightSpeed)
* Word Technologies (Tréal)
Hobbyist keyboards
Many steno enthusiasts are making and selling keyboards designed for use with Plover,
the open source steno software. Most of these keyboards range from about $100 to $200 and allow the user to use stenography on their computer through Plover. Vendors include:
* g Heavy Industries (Georgi)
* Nolltronics (EcoSteno)
* SOFT/HRUF (Splitography)
* StenoKeyboards (The Uni)
* Stenomod (TinyMod)
Keyboard layout
![Stenotype en layout](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Stenotype_en_layout.svg)
Stenotype keys normally are made of a hard, high-luster acrylic material with no markings. The
keyboard
Keyboard may refer to:
Text input
* Keyboard, part of a typewriter
* Computer keyboard
** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping
** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware
Music
* Musi ...
layout of the American stenotype machine is shown at the top / right.
In "home position", the fingers of the left hand rest along the gap between the two main rows of keys to the left of the asterisk (little finger on the "
S" to forefinger on the "
H" and "
R"). These fingers are used to generate initial consonants. The fingers of the right hand lie in the corresponding position to the right of the asterisk (forefinger on "
FR" to little finger on "
TS"), and are used for final consonants. The thumbs produce the vowels.
The system is roughly phonetic; for example the word ''cat'' would be written by a single stroke expressing the initial
K, the vowel
A, and the final
T.
To enter a number, a user presses the number bar at the top of the keyboard at the same time as the other keys, much like the Shift key on a QWERTY-based keyboard. The illustration shows which lettered keys correspond to which digits. Numbers can be chorded, just as letters can. They read from left to right across the keyboard. It is possible to write 137 in one stroke by pressing the number bar along with
SP P, but it takes three separate strokes to write 731. Many court reporters and stenocaptioners write out numbers phonetically instead of using the number bar.
There are various rule sets, known as ''theories'', to combine letters to make different sounds; different court reporters use different theories in their work. Historically, reporters often created "briefs" (abbreviations) on-the-fly, and sometimes mixed theories, which could make it difficult for one reporter to read another reporter's notes, but current versions of theories are primarily designed for computerized translation using a standardized dictionary provided by the company that promulgates the theory, which forces reporters to stick with one theory and use only the specific combinations in that company's dictionary. However, it is not uncommon for students and reporters to add a significant number of entries to a stock dictionary, usually when creating briefs of their own.
Some court reporters use ''
scopist
A scopist edits the transcript (law), transcripts of official proceedings, created by court reporters. Court reporters attend official proceedings such as court hearings and transcribe the spoken word to written text, mostly using stenotype machin ...
s'' to translate and edit their work. A scopist is a person who is trained in the phonetic writing system, English punctuation, and usually in legal formatting. They are especially helpful when court reporters are working so much that they do not have time to edit their own work. Both scopists and proofreaders work closely with court reporters to ensure an accurate transcript. The widespread use of realtime translation of the strokes has increased the demand for scopists to work simultaneously with the court reporter. With transcripts produced on computer-aided transcription (CAT) software, a scopist no longer needs to have any knowledge of shorthand theories, because the software converts shorthand to text in real time via a dictionary. However, it may still be helpful in some situations while scoping, as misstroked words may not translate and would appear in steno. Depending on availability of scopists and proofreaders, court reporters may use a scopist only to clean up a rough draft of their transcript, then proofread and certify the transcript themselves, or they may use neither and produce a final transcript by themselves, though this is a very time-consuming practice.
Steno paper
Steno paper has become almost obsolete with the advancement in paperless stenotype machines. When it is used, steno paper comes out of a stenotype machine at the rate of one row per chord, with the pressed letters printed out in 22 columns corresponding to the 22 keys, in the following order:
:
STKPWHRAO*EUFRPBLGTSDZ
Chords
This is a basic chart of the letters of this machine. There are, however, different writing theories that represent some letters or sounds differently (e.g., the
*F for final ''v'' in the chart below), and each court reporter develops personalized "briefs" and alternate ways of writing things.
Example
The following example shows how steno paper coming out of the machine represents an English sentence. Notice that key combinations can have different meanings depending on context. In the first stroke of the word ''example'', the
PL combination refers to ''m''. In the second stroke of the word, that same key combination refers to the two letters ''pl''.
![PrimerStenoMashinki](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/PrimerStenoMashinki.svg)
Many words have been abbreviated: ''this'', ''of'' and ''from'' are chorded as ''th'', ''f'' and ''fr'', and ''machine'' and ''shorthand'' become ''mn'' and ''shand'' respectively.
Canada
There is one NCRA-approved school in all of Canada that teaches stenotype: the captioning and court reporting program at NAIT (Northern Alberta Institute of Technology). This program uses the
STKPWHRAO*EUFRPBLGTSDZ keyboard layout. Graduates are trained to be
court reporters
A court reporter, court stenographer, or shorthand reporter is a person whose occupation is to capture the live testimony in proceedings using a stenographic machine, thereby transforming the proceedings into an official certified transcript b ...
,
broadcast captioners, or
CART
A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals. A handcart is pulled or pushed by one or more people.
It is different from the flatbed tr ...
providers and report a median income of $70,000 CAD between 2017 and 2020.
Other systems
English
In addition to the above American Stenotype layout of
STKPWHRAO*EUFRPBLGTSDZ used internationally (Ward Stone Ireland 1913), there is also a Possum Palantype system still being used in the UK.
Italian
Two Stenotype layouts are in use for the
Italian language
Italian (''italiano'' or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. Together with Sardinian, Italian is the least divergent language from Latin. Spoken by about 85 m ...
: Michela and Melani. The former is in use by the Italian senate.
Korean
![속기 스마트카스](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/%EC%86%8D%EA%B8%B0_%EC%8A%A4%EB%A7%88%ED%8A%B8%EC%B9%B4%EC%8A%A4.png)
The main stenotype systems in Korea are CAS and Sorizava.
Other languages
* The Portuguese language has two stenotype systems. The Brazilian system uses the same layout as the American English one.
* The Japanese language uses a StenoWord system with ten remapped keys or a more conventional Sokutaipu system.
* As with the Korean language, Chinese stenotype layouts depend on the manufacturer, four of which are most commonly encountered in the market. A combination of chording and abbreviation is used.
See also
*
Chorded keyboard
A keyset or chorded keyboard (also called a chorded keyset, ''chord keyboard'' or ''chording keyboard'') is a computer input device that allows the user to enter characters or commands formed by pressing several keys together, like playing a " c ...
*
Captioned telephone
A telecommunications relay service, also known as TRS, relay service, or IP-relay, or Web-based relay service, is an operator service that allows people who are deaf, hard of hearing, deafblind, or have a speech disorder to place calls to stan ...
*
Closed captioning
Closed captioning (CC) and subtitling are both processes of displaying text on a television, video screen, or other visual display to provide additional or interpretive information. Both are typically used as a transcription of the audio por ...
*
Court reporting
A court reporter, court stenographer, or shorthand reporter is a person whose occupation is to capture the live testimony in proceedings using a stenographic machine, thereby transforming the proceedings into an official certified transcript b ...
*
Remote CART
Communication access realtime translation (CART), also called open captioning or realtime stenography or simply realtime captioning, is the general name of the system that stenographers and others use to convert speech to text. A trained operator ...
*
Shorthand
Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek ''ste ...
*
Velotype
Velotype is the trademark for a type of keyboard for typing text known as a syllabic chord keyboard, an invention of the Dutchmen Nico Berkelmans and Marius den Outer.
History
Marius den Outer invented the Tachotype in 1933. Herman Schweigma ...
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
The Open Steno ProjectOpen source hardware, software, and guides.
{{Keyboard layouts
Computer keyboard types
Typewriters
Court reporting
Transcription (linguistics)
Articles containing video clips