“The art of life is a constant readjustment to our surroundings.” – Okakura Kakuzo

It seems that for many of us lately, the “art of life” has taken on a more surrealist style – unpredictable and irrational, with a touch of abstract expressionism – chaotic and messy. This is a result of our need to adapt more quickly and frequently than ever before to a reality that is evolving by the minute. Constant readjustment in today’s environment is not slow and methodical, it is fast, and it is messy.

This is true not only for us as individuals, but also for us as an organization. At Stenograph we are readjusting and adapting how we work, where we work and why we work. Every day, we are implementing continuous improvement initiatives, adopting new technologies, and expanding our strategic initiatives to meet the needs of an evolving marketplace.

Each of these efforts, while fast and sometimes messy, are structured around a common goal. That goal is to continue to support stenography as the gold standard in verbatim record capture. To that end, we are investing in developing new technologies to make stenographers more profitable and productive. We are constantly looking for ways to do this through improvement of our writers, software, training, support, and service efforts. We are also continuing to invest in and promote stenography through partnerships with schools, development of scholarships, and investment in NCRA’s A to Z and Project Steno.

So how is it that we reconcile this common goal with the fact that we as an organization are exploring new technologies, learning more about other segments of the marketplace, and serving within organizations like the Speech To Text Institute (STTI)?

It is only through careful understanding and foresight that we will be able to continue to innovate and remain viable so that we may achieve our goal of supporting stenography long into the future.  Because things are changing so rapidly it is essential for us to understand the marketplace, current trends, existing and future players, as well as technologies utilized in the field.

STTI is an organization that will provide us with the opportunity to increase our level of understanding. In assembling access to diverse voices and perspectives in the court reporting industry, STTI provides a holistic view of a changing marketplace. It is only through engagement and having a seat at the table that we will have the opportunity to learn from and contribute to these diverse voices.

It is our hope that this context provides a bit of clarity to the discussion and a bit of structure to our currently messy “art of life.” It is not Stenograph’s intention to shift from one side to another, but rather, to learn and to grow as a business and to continue to support and invest in stenography.