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about CART

What is CART captioning?

Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is a word-for-word speech-to-text translation of all spoken words and environmental sounds facilitated through a CART Captioner trained in writing steno shorthand and conveying a speaker’s message complete with environmental cues. Unlike computerized notetaking, speed typing, abbreviation systems, voice writing or other interpretation services, CART captioning empowers consumers to decide for themselves what information is important to them.

In what settings is CART used?

Realtime captioning is viewed at conventions, church services, corporate meetings, educational classes, television broadcasts, opening/closing ceremonies, sporting events, workshops/seminars, legal proceedings, webcasts, YouTube, teleconference calls. Typically if there is someone speaking at your event, CART services can be used. It is also used by persons with cognitive or motor challenges, as a teaching aid for learning English as a second language, as a complement to interpreters and transliterators, field trips and museum tours, and communication access to remote locations.

Who benefits from this service?

Individuals who are hard-of-hearing; have learning disabilities; have language barriers; and those with limited mobility which restricts note-taking are among the populations who benefit from realtime captioning. Text files can be provided upon request after the completion of the event and used for internal purposes. If you have found yourself in a noisy room or environment, you’re aware of the importance of captions and accessibility in these instances.

Why use remote captioning vs onsite captioning?

1. Distance is too great for providing onsite CART – eg. isolated location 2. Time does not permit travel to be on site – last minute requests 3. No added travel costs for consumer – eg. No mileage or per diems 4. Consumer preference – consumer may not want the CART Captioner on location with them 5. The ability to provide services to several meetings consecutively requiring captioning.

How can participants view the captions?

1. Streamtext URL Captions can be viewed directly through a streaming URL and streaming program called StreamText. A StreamText link is sent out to organizers before each event. The link will only become active once the captioner is logged in. This is a demo link of pre-scripted text: Dual language demo https://www.streamtext.net/player?event=abcaptioningdemo The streaming text can be viewed on any device with an internet connection, including a Smartphone. Viewers can change the colour, background, font, etc., to their own preferences. To view French, click on the Languages tab and choose French from the drop-down list. There is no limit to the number of people that can view this URL. We will provide the URL to the client, and they can distribute the link to their event participants. There is no program to download. Participants will just click on the URL.

2. Embedded Captions Platforms such as Zoom, YouTube, and Webex allow for manual third-party captioning to be embedded into their interface. Zoom does have a built-in delay before the captions will display, whereas with StreamText only, there is no delay in caption output. Please note that Zoom, YouTube, Webex, etc., only allow one language to be embedded into their platform at one time. There are several workarounds to this restriction, and depending on your event, we can discuss those options if you have professional AV technicians involved in your event. The StreamText URL can be embedded into websites. Please contact us for instructions on how to embed into websites.

StreamText : View General Dual Language Demo

Besides the words spoken, what else is contained in the realtime captioned text being viewed?

Further to only the words being captioned, our live captioners write speaker identifications, environmental sounds such as fire alarms, microphone feedback, outside noises, phones ringing, public address system announcements, music playing, with lyrics when possible, laughter/cheering/applause, speaking in languages other than English.

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