Constructing "Computer-Compatible" Stenographers: The Transition to Real-time Transcription in Courtroom Reporting

Over the last half-century, the techniques and technologies used by courtroom stenographers have been transformed from mechanical tools to digital computers, from just-in-time print to real-time display, and from information commodity to information service. And as with the labor pools of other services related to information, both the sexual demographics and cultural gendering of courtroom stenography have changed, being now a specialized field dominated by females. None of these changes was obvious, deterministic, or uncontested. This article draws upon the published primary and secondary writings of courtroom-technology innovators, courtroom personnel managers, and professional court reporters to relate the story of the computerization of courtroom stenography.