IPRS meetings during the Intersteno Congress in Paris 2011 and Council meeting Budapest in 2010

Participants : Mr Thierry MARCHAND, Directeur du Service du compte rendu et son équipe (et avec nos remerciements à Mr Claude AZEMA, précédent Directeur du SCR parti en retraite)

1. Opening/words of welcome
2. Report IPRS Meeting Budapest (02-10-2010)
3. The profession of parliamentary reporter for disabled persons (mrs Jenny Laval, mr Gert Sandig)
4. Technological developments in the Dutch Parliamentary Reporting Office (mr Matthijs Bakker/ mr Herbert Houdijk)
5. Logging the Future: tablet-generated e-log in the House of Commons (mr Owain Wilkens)

1. Opening
2. Automatic reporting in the Japanese Parliament mr Tutsuya Kawahara: Deployment and initial evaluation of New Transcription System using Automatic Speech Recognition in the Japanese Parliament (Diet) Official reports and their value in the legislative process
3. Summary and minute reports in the Italian experience; a pronunciation of the Italian Constitutional Court (mr. Fabrizio Verruso)
4. Presentation by the Polish Parliamentary Reporting Office (mrs Anna Namys)
5. Present situation and future of IPRS (mrs Lida Horlings

3. The profession of parliamentary reporter for disabled persons (Mrs Jenny Laval, Mr Gert Sandig)

(Ms Laval was unable to attend due to illness. Ms Schwarz read aloud the presentation of Ms Laval on working with the Dutch Parliamentary Reporting Office as a visually impaired reporter.)

Ms Laval explained her method of working. She finds her way in the working spaces and meeting halls of the Dutch Parliament and Senate with the use of her guide dog. She cannot read any printed texts but is perfectly able to work as a reporter with the help of a computer fitted with both a Braille reading line and a screen reader. She also uses the function of the computer voice.

In the Dutch parliament, reporters work in teams of 13 with 5-minute shifts each hour. Ms Laval writes down the speeches in Braille with the help of a stenography machine, that produces strips of paper. This, and a digital sound recording, is the basis for her 5-minute section of the report.

She uses a regular keyboard for text production. The Braille reading line enables her to scroll through texts and make corrections. Ms Laval stated: with a few adjustments and a little help from my colleagues I can do my job like any other!

Mr Sandig, himself visually impaired, on the work of blind stenographers in Germany.

Mr Sandig, a graduated economist, has been working as a free-lance stenographer since 1965. After extensive training he reaches a maximum performance of 410 syllables per minute. Being a blind person, he uses specially devised stenotype machines producing punched paper strips. These machines are gradually replaced by electronic registration equipment for blind people.

Mr Sandig observed that a blind stenographer on the job needs to pay attention to a few special circumstances. When working in teams or taking turns, a problem is relieving the stenographer preceding the blind stenographer as he or she cannot keep track of time on his own. The preceding stenographer must give him a starting signal.

Reaching the meeting halls and working places is a problem best solved by an accompanying person.

Mr Sandig explained the various appliances to assist the blind, speech recognition software, Braille-displays and screen readers. Software systems also assist the blind in using the internet, but pictures and most illustrations cannot be displayed. In his opinion electronic voice recording systems, as used in most parliaments, can be fully used by blind stenographers.

Mr Sandig stated: it is possible for blind stenographers to build up a professional career.

4. Technological developments in the Dutch Parliamentary Reporting Office (Mr Matthijs Bakker)

(Mr Houdijk, one the initiators of the addressed developments, was unable to attend due to health reasons.) Mr Bakker, a reporter with the Dutch Parliamentary Reporting Office, held a presentation on recent technological developments in his office. Reporters in the plenary hall of the Dutch House of Representatives use laptops and computer mouses instead of pen and steno pad.

A whole new method of the reporting routine has emerged, in which the reporters enter their digital notes with a mouse click and thus create a framework for their 5-minute section of the report. In effect they take on the role of a marker or logger. They mark new speakers, interruptions, other floor actions and procedural events by choosing items in a list. Each entry has a timestamp attached to it. Also an item list for every specific meeting is available, prepared in advance by a senior editor, with the actual agenda of a sitting. All of this is enabled by a comprehensive new xml-based software system, named VLOS (Digital Reporting Support System) especially developed for the Dutch Parliamentary Reporting Office.

This workflow program deals with the whole reporting process, including metadata and publication on the internet. The program links audio fragments to work documents and assigns ready-made frameworks to the reporters. The reporters in turn can electronically submit their finished reports to a senior editor for review. When a substantial stretch of text has been checked, it is published on the intranet and the public website of the Dutch House of Representatives. These publications are updated every hour until the report of the proceedings of one meeting is completed. VLOS fits in the broader strategy for information management of the Dutch House of Representatives.

VLOS will eventually provide tags that enable the public to search through video records.

In answering a question by Ms Calabro of the American delegation, Mr Bakker stated that VLOS is based on Windows-software and will not work on the OS Macintosh-platform. A member of the Finlandic delegation wondered how much time and money was spent on developing VLOS. Their system, combining reports from committees and plenary sessions, took five years to develop and cost some €5 mln. Mr Bakker indicated that developing VLOS took about eight years and a large amount of money. However, VLOS is still not a finished product. Ms Loreley of the Argentinean delegation, eager to introduce new technologies, asked if VLOS can be used by other parliaments. Mr Bakker responded that VLOS is especially developed by private contracters for and owned by the Dutch House of Representatives.

A member of the Austrian delegation asked if the tagging of video files is functioning. Mr Bakker responded that aligning of the published text report and video files will be a reality in the near feature. Mr. Minichiello of the UK-delegation argued that a lot can be learned from the experiences in developing VLOS. To continue discussions on this theme is very useful. Mr Bakker proposed that all interested delegations create something like a working group.

Mr Ramondelli of the Italian delegation pressed the need for parliaments that no longer use stenographers or steno typists to develop VLOS-like systems on an international, interlingual platform. When asked, five other delegations stated that their parliaments are working on similar programs: Finland, Iceland, UK, Canada and France. A member of the Icelandic delegation explained that they also work with an xml-based system, be it that the functions are not combined like in the VLOS-system.

Mr McPherson of the Canadian delegation informed the meeting that the Lower House works with a robust but very expensive metadata system called PRISM since 2000. The Upper House is developing a piecemeal system on its own. To his knowledge, the parliaments of Brazil and Portugal are developing their own reporting systems as well. Mr Bakker in return underlined the importance of collaboration and exchanging views between reporting offices. In his view the new handbook by the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament of the United Nations offers good ideas on these developments.

Ms Schwarz concluded that IPRS has already made contact with Mr Casini, head of the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament. Working on this theme is a task ahead for IPRS.

5. Logging the Future: tablet-generated e-log in the House of Commons (Mr Owain Wilkins and Mr Tony Minichiello)

Mr Wilkins, reporter for Hansard, explained that one of the central ideas of working with a tablet is to make the reporting process more efficient. The current practice in committee reporting involves a sub-editor logging the proceedings on paper. Every 15 minutes a member of staff collects these sections to be scanned. Between 8 to 16 editors then access these logs in pdf-form to report the committee's proceedings, using streaming audio as well. Problematic in this process is that on busy days reporters must wait up to half an hour before receiving their log. With this in mind, the development of the tablet started in July 2010, a process of trial and error, involving management, sub-editors, reporters and tablet developers.

Mr Minichiello, sub-editor for Hansard, elaborated on his experiences with the tablet in Select Committees and Delegated Legislation Committees. The sub-editor writes on the tablet in a normal way with a special pen. Members can be logged by tapping on their name, useful in instances of quick exchanges. Also every two minutes the time is inserted in the log. The sub-editor can make corrections in his log going back 20 minutes in time. The log is sent, every minute or so, via a Wi-fi link that is accessible for all reporters. This is very useful in closed meetings.

Working with the tablets has not been imposed on sub-editors overnight. They manage to use it successfully and see the reason for using it. In committees, one colleague does a paper log as a back-up. The system is still being developed and is not 100% successful. Battery life, lack of Wi-fi in some committee rooms and the tablet's tendency to freeze continue to be ongoing issues.

Mr Wilkins concluded with the advances made over the past year. Time tags make it easier for reporters to find their section of the report. Individual boxes for each member. Improved navigation which enables "jumping" instead of just "scrolling".

Something for the near future is that sub-editors are able to draw in procedural fragments from a menu in the same way they are currently able to draw in names of members.

Mr Golden, member of the American delegation, asked if is it possible to transfer the digital ink of the tablets to character text. Mr Wilkins affirms the feasibility.

Mr Zwijnenburg, member of the Dutch delegation, thinks that using a keyboard together with the tablet would be useful. Mr Wilkins knows that the tablet can be used as a keyboard. The idea behind the tablet was that making it similar to the paper log system will increase the possibility that all 16 or 17 sub-editors make use of it.

Mr Ramondelli was curious to know the difference between sub-editors and reporters. Mr Wilkins explained that the sub-editors log events in the committee rooms and the reporters check and revise reports with the help of the e-log and a digital audio recording.

6. A short presentation on the verbatim report at the National Assembly: overview, role and evolution (Mr Thierry Marchand)

Mr Marchand reported on a structural reform of the verbatim report department. In 2004 a specific computer pogram, Nickelchrome, was designed to accelerate the output of this department.

This new working method proved very efficient in the following years and saved public funds by reorganizing staff structure. Recent constitutional revisions have led to the creation of a committee report department and a plenary sitting report department. In these circumstances it has been decided to launch SYCERON (Système de Compte Rendu Optimisé Numérique - Optimized System of Digital Report). It aims at offering a unique and permanent solution to the needs of the two departments, moving towards a more structured format on the model of .xml. In the future, as in yesteryear, article 33 of the Constitution, about the public nature of debates, remains essential.

1. Opening

Chairwoman Rian Schwarz-van Poppel opened the second session of the IPRS Meeting and welcomed all delegates.

2. New transcription system using Automatic Speech Recognition in the Japanese parliament (Diet) - Mr Tatsuya Kawahara and Ms Junko Masuda Mr Kawahara is a professor at the Academic Center for Computing and Media Studies of Kyoto University.

He presented a new transcription system, based on the use of Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), which has replaced manual shorthand writing in the Japanese Diet. The system became fully operational in 2010.

The ASR-system is speaker independent. In order to customize it for parliamentary speech, it was trained by filling it with data, both audio records and texts. A first evaluation, carried out in 2011, showed that in plenary meetings the accuracy is over 95% as compared to the official record. Still, the draft that is produced by means of ASR, needs editing by reporters. The reporters not only have to correct recognition errors, but also have to deal with the differences between spoken language and written language, changing colloquialisms and removing redundancies, fillers, repairs etc.

Although some types of revisions can be automated, and the underlying linguistic models are likely to improve in the future, Mr Kawahara emphasized that reporters will continue to play a central role in producing the verbatim report of the proceedings.

Ms Masuda, a supervisor at the Records Department, explained how the new system changed the work of the reporters in the Diet. In general, reporters no longer attend the debates in person, but receive the automatically generated draft record of a 5-minute take of the procedures on their pc's for further processing.

During the discussion with the audience, Ms Masuda added that the total time needed to produce the report hasn't decreased with the new system. Further training of reporters may result in quickening the process.

3. Summary and minute reports in the Italian experience - Mr Fabrizio Verruso

Mr Verruso is a parliamentary reporter at the Sicilian Regional Assembly.

He examined the legal status of the reports of parliamentary proceedings in Italy and the role of the Italian Constitutional Court in the legislative process. The Italian Chamber of Deputies and Senate have three different types of reports made of their proceedings: a verbatim report, a summary, and minutes. The minutes are the record of the decisions taken in parliament, together with a list of the subjects discussed and the names of speakers. They are read in public and signed by the President of the Chamber and the Secretary. However, this doesn't give the minutes a privileged legal status in comparison with the verbatim report.

The summaries are the more widely used reports, yet their legal value tends to be considered lower. As regards the probative value of the parliamentary reports as a category, it cannot be absolute, since that would conflict with the power of the Constitutional Court.

Nevertheless, in Mr Verruso's view the reports do have a privileged value among other types of parliamentary documents.

4. The stenographic reports division of the Polish Sejm and Senate - Ms Anna Namysl and Ms Monika Rydel

Ms Namysl, editor, described the working method of the parliamentary reporters in the Sejm. Both chambers of the Polish parliament, the Sejm and the Senate, have their own administrative body, called the chancellery.

Reports are being made by the stenographic reports division, a name that might be misleading, since in general shorthand is no longer used. Digital audio and video records of the proceedings are broken up into 10-minute segments, which are then transcribed by typists. Reporters edit these draft versions. Moreover, they are present at the plenary debates of the Sejm in 15-minute shifts, which enables them to include interruptions by MPs as well as non-verbal signs in the report.

Ms Rydel, editor at the Polish Senate, addressed the advantages and challenges of remote working. The Senate employs editors who work at home. A coordinator assigns drafts to them that correspond to 10-minute segments of the audio record. The editors can download these texts from the server.

Remote working makes it easier to recruit staff, because the working hours are more flexible.

A drawback are the communication issues that may arise when it comes to controlling the consistency of solutions chosen by different editors.

5. The Korean National Assembly and its Stenographic Department - Ms Mi Kyung Cho

Ms Cho, reporter, gave an overview of the current situation at the Korean National Assembly and explained the working method of its Stenographic Department. Reports of the proceedings of the Assembly are verbatim. The Stenographic Department has a total staff of 125. 82 of them are stenographers, who take care of not only the reports of the plenary sittings, but also the reports of sixteen standing committees with subcommittees as well as a large number of special committees. It often occurs that several committees sit at the same time, which causes a heavy workload for reporters.

Ms Cho is a shorthand writer herself, but the majority of reporters use computer-assisted stenotype machines.

6. Present situation and future of IPRS - Ms Lida Horlings

Ms Schwarz-van Poppel prefaced the final agenda item by saying that it is the ambition of IPRS to become a more professional and active organization. In her opinion, there is a need for more active steering of the activities of IPRS. At the meeting of the Intersteno Board, last Saturday, she submitted a proposal that includes the creation of an IPRS steering committee, chaired by Lida Horlings. Ms Horlings owns an agency for conference reporting. She introduced the other members of the steering committee to the audience: Ms Patti Calabro, Ms Marlene Rijkse, Mr D'Arcy McPherson, and Mr Fabrizio Verruso.

The steering committee welcomes ideas about the future of IPRS from all delegates.

In Ms Horlings' view, priorities for the steering committee are the following.

First, it is important to better know who the IPRS members are. Therefore, a database with member data will be built in the short-term.

Second, IPRS needs a separate, up-to-date website in English with information about activities as well as follow-up information.

Third, IPRS has to look into ways of stimulating the interchange of knowledge and information between members.

Fourth, IPRS must get a clearer idea of the kinds of activities on which to focus. Should IPRS concentrate on technological options, or are there other topics as well that deserve attention, like the recruitment of reporters and the requirements for the reporting trade?

Fifth, IPRS needs more hands of volunteers to effectively administer the organization and get things done. Finally, it is necessary to define the membership and the financial structure of IPRS in relationship to the membership and membership fee of Intersteno. If IPRS is to expand its activities, it will need the financial means to do so. For the time being, the Board of Intersteno has granted IPRS an annual budget of €1000.

Ms. Horlings enquired if a fee of for instance €30 per year for the IPRS membership would be acceptable to people in the audience.

Mr Fausto Ramondelli, the newly elected president of the board of Intersteno, opposed the proposal to turn IPRS into a traditional association with members. In his opinion, IPRS should stay a forum on no other basis than the shared interest of those participating. Apart from that, Mr Ramondelli agreed with many of Ms Horlings' observations. He made a few additional suggestions. First, he stressed the importance of an exchange program that would allow colleagues from parliaments in developing countries to become acquainted with best practices in established parliamentary reporting offices. Second, he suggested that IPRS should organize another half day conference in addition to the two sessions of the Paris IPRS conference, entirely devoted to parliamentary themes.

Third, IPRS should conduct a survey by questionnaire about the way in which parliamentary reporting offices organize their services, as a follow-up to the 1993 enquiry. The information that becomes available in this way, may result in defining a few best practices. Finally, Mr Ramondelli proposed to organize workshops on specific topics. This idea was first suggested at the 2010 IPRS Meeting in Budapest.

Ms Schwarz-van Poppel announced that the following IPRS Meeting will be held on the occasion of the Intersteno Council Meeting. This will be in October or November 2012. She expressed the wish to see many of the delegates there again.

CONTRIBUTIONS DURING THE MEETINGS IN 2010

Teaching real‐time reporting through respeaking

Slides