More dictionary building

Found on the left-hand side of the page is a list of Fortune 500 companies for inputting into the captioner's dictionary -  http://fortune.com/fortune500/#

How about weather terms?  Check out this site:  http://w1.weather.gov/glossary/ and other page on the site too:  http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutgloss.shtml

The Steno Wizard Captioning Studio

Here's a pic of the captioning studio in my home.  The office is as clean as it's ever been.  I was just getting started.  :-)

The desk has been more centrally located by the maps.   At the time I was waiting for the third phone line to be installed.

The maps were purchased at a local education store in the area. The purpose of the maps are for me to write location specific briefs directly on the maps with a black Sharpie pen.  I find it easier to locate a city, state, or country in this manner than a word list. 

The smaller U.S. map has each state's governor and two senators written inside the boundaries (if possible).  Governors are highlighted in yellow.  Senators are orange.  No significance as to the colors other than those were the two highlighters that were on hand.  Go to nationalatlas.gov to find yours.  You can pick your preferred format, i.e., with state names or not, colors, etc.  You will have to adjust the size it prints --  for ease of use.  I've found that getting it on an 11X17 paper works well.  I've not figured out how to attach the file itself.  

The atomic clock is really fantastic for making sure you know precisely what time it is.  It is down to the second.  Handy for when you know you're switching off to another captioner and you want to count the seconds -- not confessing anything about that!  You can buy an atomic clock at any local store pretty much.  I bought mine at Sam's Club.  It is supposed to face a certain direction so that it can reset itself with Denver.  It's always worked and takes batteries.  I realize computers have fairly accurate times on them, but it's nice to walk to the entrance of the office and know how many more minutes before you go on air without actually walking over to the computer screen.

The huge paperclip-looking things were purchased on clearance from Office Max.  Probably less than $2 each.

Maybe you have some inspiration (SPOEURGS) to go shopping!

Captioning office before 3rd phone line installation

An atomic clock that always knows the correct time!

Up close of World Map with Brief Forms

My method to keep rosters in line of sight while captioning

Up close U.S. Map with Brief Forms

Yesterday's News

While captioning yesterday's news, both on the East Coast and the West, many stories were similar in nature and shared with the viewers.  Here's some briefs that were used with success!

debate TK-BT
constitutional STAOURBL
marriage PHAEURPBLG
same-sex marriage SPHAEURPBLG
gay rights TKPWRAOEUGTS
Supreme Court SPROURT
justice JUFS
justices JUFSZ
Roberts ROBTS
Baltimore PWHROR
Annapolis AEPS
Maryland PHAEURLD
violence SROEULS
violent SROEUPBT
violate SROEULT
violation SROEULGS
incident STPHEPBT
media PHAED
magnitude PHAGTD
ABC A*BZ
NBC TPH*BS

Oh, those politicians!

Here's some great sites to help build a dictionary that's ready for American politics.

This is the link for the president's cabinet:  http://www.politics1.com/cabinet.htm, and one can explore for other info there.

Another fantastic site for past presidents and their first ladies is found at this link:  https://www.whitehouse.gov/1600/Presidents.  Think of how many school buildings are named after presidents and first ladies.

Next, you may need to have the U.S. Supreme Court Justices.  http://www.supremecourt.gov/about/biographies.aspx, and if you hunt around the site, you can find past justices to input into your dictionary.  The Supreme Court is sometimes referred to as SCOTUS (SKOE-TUS).

Need U.S. governors?  Try this site:  http://www.netstate.com/states/tables/st_governors.htm.

Don't forget those senators!  http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Some briefs:

lawmaker LAURK
lawmakers LAURKZ
governor GOFR
government GOFT
governance GOFRNS
constituent KWAENT
incumbent BAENT
Washington, D.C. WA*UGDZ
Pentagon P*G
White House WHOUS
congressional GRERBL
President of the United States PO*ETS - Think POTUS (poe-tus) -- common nickname for the president.   ** I've taken to writing it PRO*ETS lately, and so I have both entries in the dix.
First Lady of the United States FLO*ETS - you guessed it!  FLOTUS  (Floe-tus)!
politics PHREUBGZ
political PHREUL
politically PHR*EUL
politician PHREUGS
Republican R*P
Democrat TK*M
Democratic TK*MT
candidate K*D - I think of a candidate wearing a bow tie.  It works for me!

Proper names

Steno Wizard has been trying to add to the SW personal dictionary loads of Hispanic (HEUPS) surnames and first names.   That was one thing that has been lacking for realtime captioning perfection. Yeah, there's no such thing, but I'm a work in progress and am continually striving!

Here's a site that SW used for common U.S. names and interestingly enough it has lists of Hispanic names.

http://names.mongabay.com/data/hispanic.html

It's fairly easy to navigate to the other lists.

SW is going to investigate the Asian names particularly since NHK is a common work assignment.

Here's the link for most common female first names.  SW input these into the dictionary years ago, and the site is still active!

http://names.mongabay.com/female_names.htm

Most common male first names can be found at this link.

http://names.mongabay.com/male_names_alpha.htm

Onward and upward!

Recent additions to the repertoire!

Steno Wizard has been a little remiss (well...maybe more than a little) in blog entries since making the leap into captioning, so this early morning before going on the air, Steno Wizard decided to look into that always growing personal dictionary to share recent additions.  Perhaps you have them, perhaps not. 

Some weather additions include some regions of the country that were unbeknownst to this Midwesterner.   No briefs for the following at this point in time.  Perhaps if the term were being brought up on the air more than occasionally...

Delmarva -- comprised of the general area of Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia.  There's even a Delmarva electric company.  This captioner has seen it also written as Del-Mar-Va and is currently trying to determine if it's with or without or if it's merely up to whimsy (another word for the dictionary).

Texlahoma - Texas and Oklahoma.  Supposedly at one point in time there was a proposal to create a 49th state comprised of some of the counties in Texas and Oklahoma.

Arklatex - Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas.

Arklatexhoma - Arkansas, Lousiana, Texas, and Oklahoma.

Shenandoah, Steno Wizard struggled with this word for a good solid day before a fellow coworker shared her brief from.  SH-D   -- of course, after getting the brief, the weather person didn't say it the next week on that station's broadcast.  Grrr!

Firenado!   Pretty interesting phenomenon (TPAOPB).  This was a term SW learned last year, and it is still in usage this year.  Maybe it's always been there?  No brief!   SW is thinking of maybe having a "nado" suffix.  Sometimes "sharknado" is popping up too.  Still pondering that...

Till next time!