Fabrizio Gaetano Verruso - Sicilian Parliament - I

Development of the reporting profession in Sicily, financed by contributions of the European Social Fund, directed to training the unemployed.

Intersteno Congress - Prague July 2007


Mr Chairman, Authorities, distinguished Members of the Central Committee, Ladies and Gentlemen,

first of all allow me to thank the Organization for kindly giving me the opportunity to deliver a speech in such a qualified Conference, in the presence of authoritative professors, professionals and entrepreneurs in the field of reporting.

I wish to convey the greetings of Sicily�s Regional Assembly, i.e. the Sicilian Parliament I�ve been working with since 2003, as a shorthand writer in charge of reporting on the meetings. Sicily�s Regional Assembly has been participating in Intersteno conferences and competitions for decades, because of the high esteem it holds towards its representatives, and towards  the serious work by all those involved, at different levels who, for their worthy commitment, contribute in improving our international Association more and more.

I also want to apologize for my English: I�m aware my pronunciation is not exactly British, but I hope you will understand me. For the discussion, anyway, I shall probably listen to the translation from English.

Well, my speech intends to describe our experience with two vocational training courses for �multimedia reporter�, financed by the European Social Fund, and implemented in Sicily in between 2006 and the current year. Those initiatives have already come to an end, but those who have worked for them - including myself, both as a teacher and as a designer � intend to replicate the experience for the successful results obtained.

         The two training projects, whose not too imaginative titles are  �Scripta Manent� and �Verba Volant� (held in two different provinces of Sicily), originate from the awareness by the experts in the field of the need of appropriate training in the field of reporting.

Our professional sector, indeed, feels the need to become qualified with appropriate skills, without neglecting the knowledge of the different techniques for recording speeches. These requirements today do fulfil the needs of the users of our work: the parliament�s press, first of all, then, the public opinion, interested in capturing the contents of a political debate held at the Parliament or at other elective assemblies; those who want to be informed about the speeches delivered at conferences; and, also, those with hearing problems, who need real-time subtitling during verbal communication.

Thence, there are different needs that professional shorthand writers have to meet, with their sensitivity and competence, and by using the technological instruments and techniques available, and being aware of the potentials they offer.

Talking of which, I�m thinking first and foremost of voice-recognition software, still � surprisingly � ignored by the usual IT consumers, maybe not so much in their marketing, but rather as to their performances. Their usefulness is undisputable, and it becomes apparent after a relatively short training period, especially considering that, typically, the average PC keyboard user�s speed is hardly meaningful.

At the same time, traditional reporting - that I�m still practising in my profession, especially with law-making commissions� meetings - is characterized by its modernity, both as to its final goal � indeed, the possibility of transcribing speeches in real time � and as to its fascination, recognized by all those who practise it properly, i.e., being able � still today, and that�s important � to rise interest and curiosity, always being an extremely precious instrument for an effective transcription of the oral speech, be it an integral account of an event or the summary (minutes) of a conference or parliament session.

         All that needs to be approached by following educational pathways that train future professionals who, as in all professions, cannot just improvise! Competent training designers are necessary who, in turn, need to be professionals in the sector: artisans are good when their workshops succeed, always being aware that everything is perfectible and that experience improves your outcomes.

         A few years ago, together with Mr Di Piazza, former Italian delegate for Intersteno (who�s asked me to convey his regards to you all, with his apologies for not being able to attend this conference), the belief emerged that there was a need to design an educational initiative aimed at training multimedia reporters, without neglecting the promotion � with public and private institutions � of such professionals, and also encouraging them either to start an entrepreneurial pathway, or to work as free-lancers.

         The two training projects are the result, within the philosophy of EU funds, of a partnership of public and private entities, between EURO � the Leader association, an EU research and initiative center based in Palermo � and the Provincial Administrations of Palermo and Catania (where the training courses have been held) and the Regional School Bureau for Sicily, the Unitary Entity of the Italian Secretariat, the Giuseppe Aliprandi Italian  Academy, and the �Tirone� reporting society.

The financial measures of reference covering the projects, both belonging to axis III of �Human resources� Sicily�s Regional Operational Plan, i.e. the planning document for the use of European Structural Funds in our region, were the following:

      "Women�s training " (measure 3.12);

      "Orientation, information, access and re-integration to the labour world for the reduction of long-term unemployment " (measure 3.03);

This reference to the financial aspects is not at all superfluous: this is, indeed, the first issue: i.e. being granted funds in order to implement high-quality training. It is a crucial aspect, whose outcome depends on the success of a bureaucratic pathway of which the two main steps are:

  analytical planning of the initiative, after the partners have agreed on the actions to be designed and implemented in case the training activity is implemented;

     signing up of the agreements previously made, by means of the setting up, with a public notary�s deed, of a Temporary Association of Purpose among the project partners, and an expression of will that is a follow-up to the previous declaration of intents already produced when submitting the initiative.

The initiative is then assessed by an expert technical committee, and in case of approval, once the funds have been granted (they are, nevertheless, to be co-funded by the promoters) the executive phase of the training initiatives begins, with: 

        issuing of the call for admission to the training courses, according to the selection modes already identified in the training pathway planned, together with the specification of requirements required of applicants; 

        selection of applications;

        start up of training activities, subdivided into classes and internships.

Now I would like to shortly describe the educational project we have designed and implemented. Classes were held for a total of 495 hours, subdivided into 13 modules, among which the one of Fundamentals of shorthand writing (a literacy course on shorthand technique, amounting to 40 hours), of verbal speech recognition, of speed and introduction to the profession. The latter module, in both techniques of speech reporting, i.e. shorthand and voice recognition, was aimed at gaining an ever-increasing speed, up to 70/80 words for shorthand, and over 100 words per minute for speech recognition.

Other modules taught were parliamentary  and regional law, parliament reporting, IT, English as a foreign language. A remote training module was also held, effectively managed by the Giuseppe Aliprandi Academy, where trainees were given the possibility of studying certain aspects useful to the profession  by means of an internet connection. Among the important issues worth mentioning here, the quality of accounting, the techniques for shifting from spoken to written speech, IT and reporting ,and financial aspects for a successful management of reporting as a profession.

Another crucial module was the one on Professional Orientation, aimed at acquiring the necessary theoretical and practical knowledge for starting up an entrepreneurial activity in the sector of reporting and shorthand services.

I like to stress that we have enhanced the possibility of working as free-lancers, being aware that it can represent � if properly carried out � an interesting labour and income opportunity. Voice recognition by means of the common software on the market is, for instance, an excellent chance to take part in competitive examinations and become contractors, for instance, of the real-time shorthand reporting of university classes in support of deaf students. An officer from Palermo University has told me that speech recognition � as in stenotypy � is typically preferred by the latter to sign language interpreting, because the users of the service remain anonymous, since the transcription is projected on a maxi-screen visible to the whole class, and not to any student in particular.

Let me now give you a few statistical data on the courses.

We have received 68 applications in total, 45 for Palermo and 23 for Catania, respectively. There were 40 posts in total to assign, although in one of the two courses only 11 of the attendants finalized the course.

The selection of applications took place as follows:

        formal scrutiny of the applications, aimed at examining the CVs in order to verify the fulfilment of requirements for admission (residence in Sicily, High school diploma and status of unemployed; being female in case of measure 3.12);

        assessment of titles, aimed at identifying any preferential elements, such as a University degree, knowledge of the PC and of Microsoft Office package, knowledge of English;

        practical test and individual interview aimed at verifying language skills and motivations, also meant to assess the applicants� basic skills and expectations.

The mean age of the selected candidates was 25; most of them were females since, as said before, one of the two courses was reserved to women, as provided for by the measure of reference.

Of the candidates admitted, 18% had a University Degree, and 37% were students at University Faculties (such as Arts, Economics, Political Sciences, and Law). 

85% of them had never studied reporting.

At the end of the hours in class, covering shorthand writing and speech recognition, i.e. after about 150 hours in total, the trainees reached a speed which, despite being non-professionals, is however to be considered very promising as to the possibility of improving their shorthand skills further.

There is one module, in particular, that I would like to discuss. It is the one aimed at training for achieving the EUSI certificate, i.e. the Unitary Entity for Italian Secretariat. This certification has given an added value to the training activity, being a further title obtained by the trainees, preliminary to the final one. The practical  tests consisted in one shorthand reporting and one reporting by means of voice recognition of two excerpts, dictated at an increasing speed.

The shorthand excerpt, total duration 5 minutes, provided for a 65-word speed (135 syllables in the competition text) in the last minute. The speech to be reported with voice recognition, lasting over 3 minutes, provided for a shorthand speed of 100 words (245 syllables) at the last minute. The candidates who classified were 26. These are the results:

21 trainees shorthanded at the highest speed, the remaining candidates classified at lower speeds. In the voice recognition test, 23 competitors scored the highest speed, all the others had a lower speed (80 words per minute on average). Transcription times: 1 hour for shorthand writing, and half an hour for voice recognition, respectively.

Penalties, according to the Interesteno Competition regulations for those same typologies of competitions,  could not exceed the 3% threshold, and the average of all the penalties at maximum velocities is 1.65% for voice recognition, and 1% for shorthand writing. These results are interesting, in my opinion.

All lessons were delivered by professionals in the sector and by qualified teachers, among which officers of Sicily�s Regional Assembly.

Teachers have appropriately scheduled classes, guaranteeing interdisciplinary modules, also by means of �combined exercises�, i.e. dictating excerpts at progressively increasing speeds, with the immediate transcription of shorthand signs by means of speech recognition, and concomitant transcription of a �spoken-spoken� into a �spoken-written� text. 

Furthermore, in case of parliamentary speeches, also some contents emerging from the debate reported were analyzed: for instance, the notion of inspection action,  the concept of Parliamentary group, of  amendment, or bill. 

The internship experience designed � that I�m shortly going to refer to � took place at the relevant Provincial Administrations of the two cities in the region where the courses were held, i.e. Palermo and Catania. The internships lasted 125 hours; consequently each project consisted in 620 hours of training.

Trainees were subdivided into working groups and each of them was given the necessary educational material, among which a laptop equipped with the IBM Via Voice  speech recognition software, to be used for reporting the sessions of the provincial Council and of the Council commissions. 

The teaching organization has also made sure that in all internship experience a tutor would shadow trainees and, the Provinces have also entrusted an officer to attend the various working groups, also for some seminars carried out with the trainees and considered useful for a better understanding of the competences and of the procedures of the council�s sessions.  

At the end of the educational pathway, even though relatively short, we can certainly state that results were more than satisfactory. Of course we could not expect the perfect result from all the trainees, also considering the learning differences of each and everyone, because of the different impact upon each single individual, and of the different capacities in understanding and assimilating the different modules. 

All in all, therefore, results can definitely be considered good, as certified by numerous and flattering comments about the quality of the job done, by officers of the provincial Administrations and by the provincial councillors, including the president of the Council.  At least half of the trainees has very good occupational perspectives.  

We hope we can proceed with a second initiative in Sicily and give a follow-up to the first experience: it is indeed our intention not to neglect what has been achieved this far, with the goal of improving its quality and perspectives.  

Mention should be made also of the important result achieved this far also as to the long-awaited self-entrepreneurship: after receiving the final certificate at the end of their training, 3 young ladies have set up a service cooperative: �Verba manent sine die�. They have demonstrated they wanted to �face the challenge� immediately after the training experience: the newborn cooperative has had several contracts, that I�m going to shortly describe, in order to show the quality of the entrepreneurial pathway they have started. 

Their reports have covered some conferences, many of which organized by the University of Catania, with the attendance of distinguished personalities, such as the President of the Constitutional Court. They even reported an electoral meeting! Besides the reporting activity they were praised for, the young ladies also were given a contract by the Management of a University Department of Catania�s Law faculty. All in all � in between the 31st of January and the 13th of April 2007, i.e. in 2 and a half years of activity  - 13 hours of sessions were reported. This result, despite being modest in absolute terms, becomes much more meaningful if we consider that it refers to the start-up period of the undertaking.  

I would like to end my speech with an invitation to us all, from Intersteno, to become promoters of likely and more ambitious training projects willing to reproduce these experiences, and resorting to a partnership with IPRS, through protocols shared by the various countries represented.  

It is certainly a complex planning activity, yet feasible, for which we should auspicate that, on the occasion of the next �Eastern- scented� conference, Intersteno  might draw the results achieved with the future expectations.  

All that requires us all to start working from this very moment in order to give Intersteno the role of world  leader in the training of professional reporting.

Thank you for your attention.