ECLIPSE TIPS 8

By Paul Zuckerman

What if there were a way to increase your writing accuracy, dramatically reduce the number of strokes your write, and have correct punctuation appear in your transcript without writing it? Eclipse can do this for you with the addition dictionary entries which take advantage of two aspects of its artificial intelligence: conditional punctuation and conflict resolution. Consider the following example:

The word “yes” commonly appears in transcripts in association with commas, semi colons, or periods. The following examples illustrate the point:

Yes, I do.

I do, yes.

I do, yes, when I have to.

Yes.

Yes. I agree.

I agree. Yes.

Similarly, a semicolon (or for some writers a comma) precedes the phrase “is that correct”

You were there; is that correct?

There are dozens of common words and phrases that typically associated with punctuation marks and appear over and over again in our transcripts. Here are more examples:

for example

for instance

sir

ma’am

yes, sir

no, sir

yes, ma’am

no, ma’am

then

however

your Honor

yes, your Honor

no, your Honor

thank you, your Honor

I guess

well

is that correct

isn’t that correct

is that right

isn’t that right

correct

right

please

also

I believe

I think

too

yeah

you know

either

The commas, semicolons, and periods we write in conjunction with these words (or attempt to write or ignore altogether when people speak rapidly) account for a hefty percentage of the strokes we write. What’s more, these punctuation marks, because they are not spoken and thus represent strokes we try to insert in addition to those we hear, cause us to misstroke adjacent strokes and inevitably tire us more quickly than if we didn’t have to write them. Thanks to Eclipse, we don’t have to write them.

Here’s the solution: Make up a steno stroke to use whenever you hear one of these words or phrases used in conjunction with a punctuation mark. The definition of the steno stroke will be defined as a conflict and incorporate the needed punctuation marks so that you don’t have to write them. Consider the phrase “is that correct.” In my transcripts, a semicolon always precedes “is that correct” unless it forms a question by itself. My steno brief for this phrase is STHARBG and in my main dictionary is defined as follows:

\{;?}is that correct\is that correct

This definition is a conflict with two choices:

{;?}is that correct

is that correct

The {;?} is a conditional semicolon. Eclipse will insert a semicolon before the words “is that correct” if, and only if, I do not write a punctuation mark (including a semicolon). As with any other conflict, when you first create it, you will have to select the correct definition. After several selections, the rules for determining which of the translations should be chosen will be applied automatically by Eclipse. You will never have to write a semicolon before the words “is that correct” again. Furthermore, when standing alone, or when you do write a punctuation mark, Eclipse will pick the second definition without the conditional semicolon.

Let’s look at a more advanced example which does even more work. Before utilizing this feature, I would normally have written “yes” followed by a comma as two strokes: KWRE/RBGS; “yes” preceded by a commas as RBGS/KWRE, and “yes” surround by commas as three strokes, RBGS/KWRE/RBGS. Now, however, whenever I hear the word “yes” and I would write a comma before, after, or on both sides of the word, I write one stroke, KWERBGS, as if I had stacked two strokes together. The definition of this stroke in my main dictionary is:

\yes\{,?}yes\yes{,?}\{,?}yes{,?}

Lets break down this definition to see what it does. Each \ (backslash) is a conflict separator. (Note that all conflicts begin with a backslash but do not end with one.) In this example, there are therefore four possible choices to translate:

yes

{,?}yes

yes{,?}

{,?}yes{,?}

{,?} is the conditional comma. It tells Eclipse to insert a comma if, and only if, I do not write a punctuation mark. By using this stroke, I never have to write commas on either side of the word “yes.” Eclipse translates perfectly each of the following types of construction:

Yes, I came.

I came, yes.

I came, yes, and saw John.

If I should write a punctuation mark (including a comma; old habits die hard!) on either side of “yes” Eclipse leaves my mark alone.

I have a similar definition for the word yes when associated with a period. My steno is KWREFPLT and its definition is:

\yes\yes{.}\{.}yes\{.}yes{.}

Note that no conditional punctuation is involved here. This four-way conflict accurately translates all of the following:

Yes.

Yes. He was there.

He was there. Yes.

He was there. Yes. John was, too.

If I should write a punctuation mark (including a period) on either side of this stroke, Eclipse, once it’s learned the “rules” as the result of my selecting the correct conflict, leaves my mark alone.

I have created one-stroke briefs each of the entries listed earlier. You no doubt encounter other words and phrases in your writing which require punctuation marks on one or both sides of them. I estimate that the 30 or so entries described above reduce the number of strokes I write on any given day by 15 to 20 percent. Because I do not struggle to insert unspoken strokes, my accuracy has improved dramatically, as has my speed and ease of keeping up. All this means I’m far less tired at the end of a full day of writing, my realtime transcript is more accurate and more readable, and I have far less editing to accomplish when it comes time to produce a certified transcript.

I am in the process of compiling a kit with instructions and an Eclipse dictionary of these entries which have already learned the “rules” and can be merged into your personal dictionary without your having to create them and which I anticipate will appear on the Eclipse Updates web page. I urge those of you who are so inclined to forge ahead and create your own entries.

Paul Zuckerman

Thank you and, again, welcome to CourtReps.

"It’s not how much ya got to do with, it’s how much ya do with what ya got."
-Howee Wright™-