Practical ASCII

Author's note: This article was also printed in Short Strokes, the magazine of the Georgia Shorthand Reporters Association, and CaliGrams, the magazine of the California Court Reporters Association, and probably others that I don't know about as well. Obviously, things have changed since 1992 (we don't use 5-1/4" diskettes any longer, for example), but the core principles of the article haven't changed.

The term "ASCII diskette" has been both used and misused extensively in the legal and reporting fields, but the concept is really a simple one. While all files on the computer that are intended for humans use the same basic language (the letters and symbols you are reading right now), there are many ways to store them. A transcript created by one program can almost certainly not be read by another.

This problem has existed since the early days of computers, and a standards committee came up with "ASCII" as a way to solve it. ASCII stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange, and was intended to be the common format for all computer files. This only partially solved the problem, though. Just because you write a Japanese word with English letters instead of Kanji doesn't mean that someone else will know what it means!

ASCII, in fact, only defines half of the characters on the computer, and doesn't define any special codes, like underlining or boldface. To be able to make a document truly readable by another program requires not only using the ASCII code, but putting it in a format that the other program can understand as well.

To make a diskette that will be usable for your client, you need to know what they want. I suggest using a checklist like the one shown below. This way, when you sit down to make the diskette, all of the pertinent information will be in front of you.

ASCII Diskette Checklist/Order Form

• DISKETTE TYPE:
  • 5-1/4" Low density DOS (360K)
  • 5-1/4" High density DOS (1.2MB)
  • 3-1/2" Low density DOS (720K)
  • 3-1/2" High density DOS (1.44MB)
  • 3-1/2" Macintosh (800K)
• LINE SPACING:
  • Double spaced (page image)
  • Compressed
• LINE NUMBERS:
  • Normal position (page image)
  • Flush left
  • No line numbers
• PAGE NUMBERS:
  • Normal position (page image)
  • Special positioning (fill in below)
  • No page numbers
• SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS:
  
  

Formatting the Document

The first step is to put the document in the required format. How this is done varies greatly from CAT system to CAT system. Some use style sheets, others have checklist-style menus, and others ask questions during the printing or disk making process. You need to get instructions from your CAT vendor on how to change formats.

Often, special litigation support programs have "filters" that can reformat a transcript for you. If it is difficult to change your format, this can be a great time-saver. As an example, CAT-Links has filters for most common CAT formats. Running the filter, of course, takes time. If you can set up your CAT system to produce a file in their exact format (or if you have a sufficiently sophisticated CAT system and it's on the menu), then you won't have to run a filter.

Once the format is defined, the ASCII file needs to be created on your IBM-compatible computer. On the newer generation of CAT systems, this is just a selection off of a menu. On the systems using proprietary hardware, it will probably require a link to another computer, and you will "trick" your CAT system into thinking that it is printing the job, while anothe r computer is actually intercepting the data. Some PC-based CAT systems, in fact, have the ability to make ASCIIs from other vendors' equipment. If you work in one of the many offices that are now mixing systems from different CAT companies, this can be extremely helpful.

Choosing the Right Diskette

As technology marches forward, life becomes more complex. Rather than the one type of diskette that the IBM PC used to use, DOS users nowadays are confronted with four different types of diskette in two different sizes. These are referred to either by the type of diskette or the capacity. You, of course, must be able to provide the same kind of diskette that the attorney's computer uses.

The 5-1/4" diskette IBM began with holds 360K of information. This means about 360,000 characters (one "K" is 1,024 characters), or between 180 and 300 pages, depending on your format. The diskettes are double sided, double density (DSDD). You will find that at least 95% of the law firms that request ASCII diskettes can use 360K 5-1/4" diskettes.

With the advent of the IBM AT (and other 80286 and 80386 computers), a new diskette was introduced that held almost four times as much. These "hig h density" diskettes hold about 1.2 Megabytes (a Megabyte, or Mb, is 1,024K). When you buy them, make sure you order double sided, high density (DSHD). They cost two to three times as much as the 360K diskettes.

Laptop computers and the Personal System 2 both use a 3-1/2" diskette, which is not only smaller, but holds more. The DSDD version holds 720K, or twice what a standard 5-1/4" diskette holds. The high density type holds twice as much (1.44Mb), but costs almost four times as much. Not too many people use these.

Since these other types allow you to put so many pages on a single diskette (over 1,000 with some formats), I am often asked by my customers how to put several transcripts on one diskette. This is an easy task, but be careful how you bill your clients. Obviously, if you charge $50 per diskette, an attorney would rather get four depositions on one diskette and pay $50, than get four se parate diskettes for a total of $200. If you want to provide the service, but still make your money, charge by the transcript, not by the diskette.

Now that you know that, what do you do about it? All you need to do is follow a few simple rules, and making these diskettes will be no problem at all:

1. You can't make high-density diskettes in a low-density diskette drive. Make sure you know what kind of disk drive your computer has.
2. You must format a diskette before you can use it. Formatting is like having lines on a sheet of paper - it shows the computer where to write. You can either buy pre-formatted diskettes, or use the DOS "format" command.
3. High-density diskette drives can read and write low-density diskettes, but there are often problems with reading them. It is always safer to format low-density diskettes in a low-density drive or buy pre-formatted diskettes. If you must format a low-density diskette in a high-density drive, the command to do so is:

           format a:/4          for 5-1/4" diskettes
           format b:/n:9/t:80   for 3-1/2" diskettes
   

4. Label the diskettes plainly, stating not only what transcript is on the diskette, but what the file is called. Files in DOS (the program that all IBM-compatible PC's have in common) have not only a name up to eight letters long, but also have an extension three letters long. Most programs that produce ASCII files automatically use extensions like PRT, TXT or LST.

What If It's Not DOS?

You may get requests for types of diskettes other than DOS (IBM-compatible). For example, there are now litigation support programs and law office management programs for the Apple Macintosh, so we are starting to see more attorneys with Macs. As a general rule, you can't make diskettes for a computer you don't have. If you do happen to have a Mac, or have access to one, there are a number of products available for around $100 or less that can copy DOS ASCII files and create Mac ASCII files (no, they aren't the same!). Two of these products include the cables you need and the programs for both computers.

Another approach is to find a computer company or a computer consultant that can do the conversions for you. This is certainly the way to go if you don't already happen to have another kind of computer, as it doesn't require you to invest in new equipment.

If you have the capability to produce these diskettes, advertise it! There may not be many attorneys around using them today, but if you find the ones that do, they will certainly want to do business with you!

How Do You Make Special Litigation Support Diskettes?

To some people, anything that helps an attorney to make his case is litigation support. To others, only diskettes formatted specifically for a litigation support program count. In either case, you need to know of these programs and how they work.

I offer apologies in advance to those vendors whose products I don't mention here. This article is not in any sense a litigation support program evaluation, and I list program names only as examples.

Litigation support programs range from glorified word processors to monstrous packages running on mainframe computers that give attorneys access to transcripts of tens of thousands of cases. With most of them, the attorney will purchase the program, and you need only provide a diskette in the appropriate format.

With several products, such as CAT-Links and Discovery ZX, the program is free. The ASCII files, however, must be converted to their format, and they charge by the conversion. With these programs, you contact the company to get your copy of the converter, and find out how to get an ASCII file from your CAT system into their converter program. This is usually an easy step.

But Does It Make Me More Money?

Any service that you can offer your clients can be a source of income for you. I have spoken to many attorneys that don't know they can get a transcript on diskette, or what an "ASCII diskette" even is. If your clients know that they can get a transcript in a format that will load into anything from the simplest word processor to the most complex litigation support program, many become interested in buying it, because it makes their job much quicker and easier.

There is, of course, a flip side. Stories abound of attorneys who find out that they can buy an ASCII disk for $25 or $50 and print themselves copies of a transcript instead of paying you for copies. Generally speaking, these are the same attorneys that would photocopy your printed transcript anyway, and if you adopt a policy that ASCII diskettes are only available to attorneys who buy a printed copy, this is not likely to lose you much revenue.

All in all, a basic understanding of what litigation support is, coupled with a bit of marketing to your clients, can help you to serve your clients better. If you can help them into the computer age, it not only provides you with a little more money today, but builds your image as a leader in the technologies of court reporting.