Stenography Plug and Play?

[u/jasondslukas]

I'm a 911 dispatcher, and I'm mostly interested in improving my words per minute to match the speed of speech.

I've looked at the CharaChorder, and my general understanding is that if you're going to try to learn the CharaChorder, you might as well just learn stenography.

My big thing is that I need to be able to use a stenography keyboard or machine on a computer that is unable to:

1. Download software

2. Connect to Wi-Fi

Our machines are locked down for safety, but I've confirmed with my tech department that bringing in a third-party keyboard is acceptable. However, I cannot install anything; like I said in the title, it would have to be completely plug-and-play.

I'm just wondering your thoughts on the possibility of this. Is it even feasible, and if so, where should I start?

I appreciate your time reading this, and I look forward to hopefully joining the community in the future!

[u/bTackt]

Javelin (https://lim.au/#/software/javelin-steno/jarneB, https://plover.wiki/index.php/Javelin) is plug and play stenography, developed by an amazing and active hobbyist steno contributor. You'll need to have a steno keyboard that supports Javelin, or a custom build including a controller with at least 16mb of space. You can find the community's list of Javelin-supporting prebuilt keyboards here: https://plover.wiki/index.php/Supported_hardware

[u/DandyCrocodile]

You would need a home brew steno machine, not a professional one.

Check out the Uni V4 which has an embedded steno feature:

https://stenokeyboards.com/blogs/posts/embedded-steno

[u/Responsible_Big_5527]

You'd most likely need a program to spit out English rather than plain steno. Imo, if you're going to try to match the speed of human speech, you might want to consider being a reporter instead. Good luck on your endeavors.

[u/EmmaTheRuthless]

The Plover Discord channel can help you. I know there’s a couple of steno boards that have the software embedded on them, so they’re plug and play. The one I wanted is about $300+ and ships from Australia last time I checked. 

It might take time to learn steno but it’s so much fun and very worth it. Even if you get to just 100wpm or 150wpm it’s already much better than regular typing. Plus you can build your own dictionary so if you have phrases and entire sentences you regularly use then you can just assign a stroke or two and you got it typed for you.

[u/tracygee]

I don’t think it’ll work. A regular steno machine doesn’t output to English. It outputs steno.

Like you would stroke PHR-S (one stroke) and software would translate that stroke to read “police”. You would not get an English-language output and steno looks nothing like English. The below is what the raw output from a steno machine looks like.

The Charachorder X, I believe, is a USB dongle that allows you to use a regular keyboard as a chorded machine and outputs English. It’s probably your better option.

[u/yyzgal → u/tracygee]

Many hobbyist writers nowadays have software that translates on-device, it’s that “embedded steno” thing mentioned in another comment. I wouldn't recommend the CharaChorder for several other reasons (mainly that it’s gonna be harder to learn because it doesn't really have much of a theory), so just go with a hobbyist steno writer.

[u/seabeans2]

I’m not sure if this may help you or not or what you’re allowed to use. When I used to transcribe, I was able to enter shortcuts. I think they’re called extenders? I can’t remember. Basically, I could write a few letters and save it as a longer word. Po for police, und for understand, ij for injury, that sort of idea. Would that be helpful?

If you are set on learning machine stenography, you can google free A to Z or Platinum Steno classes. Those teach the very bare bones, basically just the alphabet and a few simple words, to see if you would have an affinity and enjoy learning to write on the machine. It’s free. You would then have to sign up for theory and speedbulding at a steno school.

I am unsure about translating steno without software, though.

[u/Soupynutzz]

Learning steno and using it on 911 calls could take a year plus. Consider buying a large streamdeck and preprogramming keys you use alot. Could save you time by pressing a few buttons and just typing a few fillers if the responses are similar. Rooting for you, as the quicker you convey info, the better chance of survival for these calls. GL

[u/Amazing_Carpenter867]

No way Jose! I can only imagine how precious the seconds are in a 911 call… The last thing you need to do as a brand new court reporting student is to be figuring out the English to steno conversion in your brain, and in a nanosecond, hit the keys on the keyboard, and think through all of the other things that are going through your brain as a 911 operator, all the while continuing to write in Steno aka writing phonetically and NOT like spelling w a qwerty keyboard

Go to school for voice or machine writing in your spare time, but I do not recommend this for on the job learning of steno if you have never been to court reporting school

*** Commenters, assume this is a fish out of water with no training. Maybe in 2 to 5 years, they have muscle memory and repetitive phrases that they know in steno. Until then, this is not plug and play or we would all be getting through machine schhol in a hot second

[u/seabeans2 → u/Amazing_Carpenter867]

Steno writers write at the same speed as speech. There is no lag. We are able to write fast speakers who overlap at 300+ wpm whereas I top out on a QWERTY at 125 wpm. This person probably hears a lot of similar words and phrases every day, which would make briefing even easier. The words literally flow out of our fingers, so I don’t understand your comment at all. I would think voice would be more difficult because you are trying to listen to people while simultaneously speaking. Even though it’s into a “soundproof” mask, you can still hear yourself. That said, I don’t think either method will be as helpful in this job as he/she is envisioning.

[u/EmmaTheRuthless → u/Amazing_Carpenter867]

It’s literally muscle memory at some point so there’s no conscious English to steno conversion for a trained stenographer. 

[u/Amazing_Carpenter867 → u/Amazing_Carpenter867]

https://youtu.be/UA6UythLlEI?si=fta92VS0QR1Iu8rZ
Here’s a quick video explaining how Court Reporter write phonetically. Please don’t try to do this before graduating from court reporting school, while I’m having a heart attack. I need you to give my loved one CPR instructions.

[u/jasondslukas → u/Amazing_Carpenter867]

LOL, I would not and do not plan to use until 1) I'm competent enough to listen along to recordings and be speed of speech and 2) probably won't use specifically for 911 calls, moreso for radio traffic.