When October was turning into November this year, I flipped the page on my kitchen wall calendar. One reason I had bought this calendar was because a helpful quote comes along with each new month. The November quote was really…
“How do you use that thing, anyway?” Most court reporters like myself have heard that question dozens if not hundreds of times over the years of our careers. Witnesses at depositions are the ones who usually ask this, with variations…
Working in a location-independent job can be an ideal way to live. Proofreader Erica Simonson takes it to the next level by working, traveling and living on a boat in Alaska. Here's a look into her unique lifestyle. Q. Tell…
Learning how to become a scopist can be easy. It also can be difficult. And it can be in between. How quickly you’ll be able to learn depends on your innate abilities, the effort you put into learning, and the…
A lot of court reporters turn over a lot of transcripts to scopists. This is a good thing. It gives the court reporters more time to earn more money making more transcripts of testimony at legal proceedings which they can…
Life as a freelancer is a bit of a mystery to most people who are not freelancers. Delving into the unexpected can be scary, and that fear can really put people off of thinking seriously about moving from traditional employment…
Sometimes things that are very important can also be very difficult. Getting up when your alarm sounds is difficult. Organic chemistry formulas - AgOCN(aq) + NH4Cl(aq) ---->AgCl(s) + NH4OCN(aq) - are very difficult. Communication skills can be not only difficult but…
When you work for yourself, anything can happen. If your clients like your work, they’ll frequently let you know by coming back for more. They might even give you a compliment. If they don’t like your work, you’re probably not…
The court reporting profession came into being shortly after the invention of Gregg shorthand in 1888. The scoping profession did not come into being until long after the invention of the computer, about 100 years later. So the history of…
A long, long time ago, before steno machines and computers were invented, court reporters wrote down testimony in legal proceedings with a method called Gregg shorthand, using pen and paper. This method of writing in abbreviated form was invented by…