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4.2. Dissemination of computerised transcript


Provision of transcript on disk


In Western Australia transcript has been available daily on disk from the
transcript contractors since 1991 (Seaman (1992)). Transcript is available on
disk from Auscript, and on a daily basis in South Australia. In one State it
is not possible to obtain transcript on disk at all. While transcript does
seem to be available generally in computer-readable form, we have been
informed by a number of agencies that it is not always uniformly available in
a timely and reliable way in all States and Territories.

   Court reporting services should be encouraged to regard the timely and
   reliable provision of transcript in computer-readable form as a high
   priority wherever such facilities are not available, or are not
   available at a reasonable cost. As a minimum standard, computer-
   readable transcript should be available on request in at least
   standard (ASCII) computerised form, on standard computer media ( at
   present 3.5" or 5.25" high density DOS disks), and available on the
   same day .
   

Provision of transcript on-line


It is possible for transcript to be delivered to the parties 'on-line' (ie
over dial-up telecommunications facilities). Even with present modem speeds, a
whole day's transcript could be transferred in a few minutes. This is a
different question from the delivery of transcript in 'real time', discussed
above, as it is more concerned with access to transcript from a distance.
Auscript has used the Victorian Law Society's LINK network to deliver
transcript on-line to clients, and intends to develop further on-line
delivery. The South Australian JURIS system is intended to be accessible to
the profession for a variety of purposes such as access to case and statute
law, so it is possible that JURIS could be used for on-line delivery of
transcript via modem. Other States are also investigating providing transcript
in this way.

If transcript was loaded onto a system such as JURIS throughout the day, as is
proposed, it could also be downloaded into the litigation support systems of the
parties as soon as the edited transcript became available. This falls short of
'real-time CAT', but it may be valuable to have transcript available more
frequently than on a daily basis.

   On-line provision of transcript by court reporting services or
   government agencies should be encouraged , but is not a high priority.
   

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