A Hundred Perspectives on Reporting and Transcription

Five years ago, we started a new journal. Our aim was to build a simple, low-threshold forum for speech-to-text professionals around the world to exchange new ideas and share best practices in their field with short, practical articles. This is the tenth issue of that journal. This also marks the milestone of the first hundred articles that we have published in Tiro – The Journal of Professional Reporting and Transcription.

Five years is a short time for a journal, especially on a discipline whose history reaches far back to ancient times. Simultaneously, it feels that a lot has happened during that time. Tiro’s first issue appeared before the break of the coronavirus pandemic. It was before the avalanche of webinars and video meetings with a need for accessible reporting. It was before the current AI revolution, even though the signs were already there.

These turbulent times have had a profound impact on our lives, both personally and professionally. They have also reflected strongly on this journal. You, as our readers and contributors, have authored numerous articles about, for example, reporting remotely with renewed work processes, and taking up new, AI-driven technologies such as automatic speech recognition to develop your professions.

Despite all the changes in our field, there has also been a need to exchange information on more traditional topics. These have included, for example, introductions to various reporting and transcription methods for different needs, the use of traditional shorthand techniques and stenography machines, producing real-time subtitles for videos, and the editorial principles and practices for making an official report for institutions such as courts and parliaments. You have also shared your experiences on topical seminars and books.

Every one of these hundred articles has had its own, unique perspective on reporting and transcription. Most importantly, you as authors have taken the time and made the effort to share your perspectives with others, building on past experiences and reaching for something new.

This issue sheds new light on many important topics in reporting and transcription. Andrew Hill begins by examining the current state of shorthand in journalism. He also lists the many benefits of using shorthand as a journalist, despite all the current technologies available. Zhao Weike describes the stenography education of judicial assistants in the Jiangxi Justice Police Vocational College in China. He Danqing, in turn, introduces us to a coaching-based training method in Chinese stenography education.

Celebrating tradition does not prevent us from appreciating new approaches. Nicolas Marino writes about the possibilities that AI holds for speech-to-text professionals. He emphasizes that, in his opinion, the best way to react to new technologies is to be an early adopter, making the most out their possibilities. Deru Schelhaas takes a detailed look at the application of AI in parliamentary context and considers both its various challenges and how to use it responsibly. Kadriye Aktay gives us a practical introduction to the new Minutes Information System in the Turkish Grand National Assembly, based on state-of-the-art AI solutions. She also gives us new interesting information about the structure and activities of their minutes services.

This issue also sheds light on exciting new academic contributions in our field. Julia Matzenberger gives a report about her eye-tracking study on speech-to-text interpreting, demonstrating how the interpreter has to constantly shift their attention between, for example, the speaker, the presentation materials and the text under construction. Alice Pagano, on the other hand, compares subtitles produced by using respeaking and a speaker-independent automatic speech recognition system. She shows that, although the choice between these two might seem mainly technical, they also have practical effects on how the text is edited in the subtitling process.

These kind of editorial principles are further examined by our scientific adviser Carlo Eugeni from two different perspectives. First, he presents the new iDEM project that is developing a mobile application to report text and talk in accessible easy-to-read language. In his article, he takes an in-depth look at the practices that the software uses to simplify the language of the report. Next, in his regular column, he turns to examine the power of dialects and discusses the different ways in which this linguistic variation is treated in professional reporting.

All in all, this tenth issue is a great demonstration of the rich tradition, continuous innovation and endless variety of viewpoints in professional reporting and transcription. We, as Tiro’s editors, want to thank you warmly for these first five years. We are also happy and excited to welcome you to submit to us your next hundred manuscripts.

Eero Voutilainen is Tiro’s Editor-in-Chief.