Hello, thank you for joining us today for this webinar called Using Zoom for American Sign Language Assignments in Court. My name is Amber Tucker and this is my co-presenter. Hi, I'm Robin Shannon. Thank you again for joining us for this next hour. Hopefully you will find some benefit from our presentation. Before we get started with the content, we have a few brief housekeeping announcements. And that will help us all move together through our presentation today smoothly. This webinar will be recorded and that recording will be archived and uploaded. It will be available online for you to watch again in the future if you need to refresh or remind yourself of anything that we've covered today. During the presentation today, if you have any questions or would like more information about something in particular or need some clarification, please use the QA feature at the bottom toolbar. You'll see an icon that looks like a speech bubble and is labeled with the letters QA. Just click on that and a window will open. You can type in your question there and then we will be monitoring those questions throughout the presentation and we will save all of those questions until the end. When we're done with our presentation, if there are any questions remaining that have not yet been answered, then we will go ahead and address those at that time. However, if we run out of time from the presentation, all of those questions will be compiled and we will follow up with you with answers via email. And Robin, would you like to review the agenda? This is our agenda for today and we'll expand on each of these topics as we move through our presentation. Great, so that's our plan. So you may be wondering who we are. My name again is Amber Tucker. I've been a professional interpreter for about 20 years. I am certified and I have a master's in deaf studies and history. I'm a white woman. I am hearing. I have chin length brown hair. I'm wearing a gray dress with a black cardigan. And today I have a necklace with a stone pendant. I am a white man. You can tell that I am balding. I wear glasses. I have a beard. I have a long sleeve gray shirt on and I'm standing in front of a black background. My name is Robin. I have a master's in interpreting and a bachelor's in American Sign Language, both from Gallaudet University and I've been a professional interpreter for about 15 years specializing in legal interpreting. So before we get started, we want to take a moment to acknowledge and recognize a few things that we think will be helpful for framing our presentation. Each of us has our own unique identity that impacts our worldview and frames our experience. Robin and I recognize that as individuals, our identities include some privileged perspectives and positions. Those perspectives may influence our presentation, our comments. We may overlook or forget to mention perspectives other than ours because we don't share those perspectives. So that is to say that our presentation today is from our perspectives and does not mean that it is exclusive and the only information or perspectives that exist. So I was born in California, but I apologize, I don't remember all of the signs that Californians use. So this is a disclaimer that some of the signs that we use may be regional or different from the signs that you recognize where you live and that are used in your community. So if any of our signs are offensive or incorrect, please relay that information to Jackie and she will forward that to us because we are always interested in proving for our future presentations. Additionally, today when we say the word Deaf or you see the word Deaf in our slides, that encompasses the entire community of Deaf, DeafBlind, Deaf Plus and hard of hearing folks. Yes, we also would like to acknowledge the past, present and future members of the Native and Indigenous tribes and communities who are the traditional stewards of the land where we are today. We show our gratefulness for the opportunity to live, work and play on this land by giving our respect to its first inhabitants. We ask that each person learn about the history of the land you currently are inhabiting and foster an appreciation for the relationships of the peoples with each other and with the land, both historically and currently. Okay, so now we will get into the content of our presentation today. So while you're interpreting from your home office, working remotely, and this presentation is going to specifically focus on using Zoom for working from home, but before we can access a Zoom meeting, we need to have our office set up with the appropriate equipment. The equipment has to meet minimum standards that ensure that access is going to be consistent, clear, and strong. So these are the basics of the equipment that you will need to set up your home office. And before we get into that, I wanted to point out that the Americans with Disabilities Act does have some legal requirements for what you must have for any remote interpreting. First, real-time, full-motion video and audio. So that means it must be fully accessible, both video and audio. The video must be clear, without any blurring, lagging, or choppy video connection. And the same for audio. It must be clear, with no distortions, delays, or disconnections. And lastly, the law requires that folks who are on-site, who are helping to set up the equipment, must have training about how to set that up appropriately. So this training today is included for folks such as clerks of the court, scheduling coordinators, other folks who will be on-site, as well as for the interpreters who will be working remotely. So, in your home office, you will want to have a laptop or desktop computer to connect with the primary court proceedings. Tablets and smartphones are not recommended for the primary connection while you're interpreting. However, if you are connecting with your team interpreters, that's when those secondary devices, such as a tablet or a phone, can be useful. However, to emphasize, when you're joining the main meeting, you must use a laptop or desktop computer. And the reason for that is the screen size is more optimal, you have full access to all of the navigation features of Zoom, and you will be able to provide access and have access to all of the things that you need to provide interpretations. Through the laptop or the desktop, whereas a tablet or a phone do not offer all of the options that you would need. In addition to your computer, you will also need a headset with a microphone. When you are looking for a headset to purchase, you will see that they are labeled as background noise canceling. Those are the ones that you want to purchase. Those are very helpful because they block out any background noise in your home environment. For example, if the air conditioner or furnace is running, if somebody in the house closes a door, if your dog is barking, that background noise will all be filtered out and will not interrupt the court proceedings or be heard by anyone in the Zoom. It's also important and it's best practice to use an Ethernet connection, which means that you would be hardwired from your modem directly into your laptop or desktop. Wi-Fi is possible to use, but it's not best practice because it's more susceptible to disconnection. Having a hardwired Ethernet decreases the likelihood that you'll have Internet issues. You also want to make sure that your lighting is appropriate in your office. Try to avoid having shadows that show up in your frame. If you have windows or natural light in your office, be cognizant of the fact that as the sun moves through the sky throughout the day, you may have shadows that impact your screen visibility and the ability to see your signing. Also, if you have natural lighting and there is traffic moving by outside, for example, if a car drives by, the reflection of the light off of the car will reflect in your Zoom window. So you want to make sure that you have that consistent lighting without the distracting shadows. You also want to make sure that you have a plain background with no visual distractions, such as plants or picture frames behind you. And finally, make sure that your office is not in a common area of the house. Make sure that you have privacy with a door that can close so that you can ensure confidentiality and confidential communication. Here are a few examples of what your desk setup could look like. These show two monitors in each screen, and you can absolutely do that, but it's totally up to you. It's not required by any means. However, if you are in a Zoom meeting and there are multiple participants, there are maybe shared screens with different documents that you need to reference. Screen real estate can quickly be occupied by all of those things and can make everything very small. So having a second monitor can help you to expand that and make sure that you can see everything more clearly. I'll give you a moment to read this list. And I want to mention about the last bullet point. Using earbuds, wireless earbuds in particular, is not recommended because of the battery life. If you are in the middle of interpreting and your battery dies, you will lose audio connection and you'll need to figure out how to replace those and reconnect, which can be disruptive. So having that USB wired headset connected directly to your laptop or computer can make sure that you stay fully connected to the audio the entire time and you don't lose your battery charge. Now, if you have a headset that has two earpieces while you're connecting to the primary Zoom meeting, the courtroom, and you're in the middle of interpreting, if you have a headset that has two earpieces while you're connecting to the primary Zoom meeting, the courtroom, you could use wired earbuds to connect with your team in a second channel. So if you have a headset with two earpieces, you could put your earbuds underneath one, like in your ear underneath one of the headsets to connect with your team interpreter. Or you can also find headsets that have only one earpiece on the same side with the microphone, and then you could put your earbuds in the other ear that doesn't have an earpiece with that headset. So those are a couple of options, and you can use that depending on your comfort level and the agreement and dynamics that you have with your team. This slide shows a few examples of potential backgrounds you could use. In the top right corner, you'll see the pop-out or pop-up kind of backdrops that you can purchase. And those are plain, solid colors. The one next to that has a cloudy or smoky background like the one that I'm using. It's just a piece of fabric that you can hang behind your workspace. Or if you have the ability in your home to paint a wall, you could do as Robin has done, where he has painted a solid color on the wall behind him. It's important not to use red, yellow, orange, or too bright of colors for your background. You also want to choose a color that is going to contrast with your skin tone. And again, be aware of any shining surfaces or reflective surfaces in your space Using matte colors in the background is best to avoid shadows and reflections. And I'm going to turn it over to Robin for the next part. Great, thank you. Now we'll talk about some best practices and things to keep in mind. We do recommend, and we can't emphasize this enough, that you be assigned co-host status. You'll have a lot more control over what you're doing. And we'll talk a little bit more about what that entails and the benefits of being co-host later in the presentation. Also, as Amber had mentioned, when someone is sharing their screen, it will make all of the video frames much smaller and more difficult to see, also more difficult to keep track of where the interpreter is, where the deaf client is. So we recommend that while the screen is being shared, that all conversations pause so that everyone can review the document on the share screen, then remove the share or stop the share, and discuss the points that had previously been shown on the screen. So just to emphasize not having communication happening at the same time as the screen is being shared. Also, in American Sign Language and Deaf culture, typically when we're in person, we will use indexing to spatially locate the change in speaker in the room. On Zoom, it's difficult to do that because everybody's screen is different. Their layout is different. Where you point and reference on your screen, other folks will not be able to follow because their screen may not be the same. So what we recommend is that when you're in person, because their screen may not be the same. So what we use is something from DeafBlind culture, where we not only index, but we also say the name of the person and some visually specific information about them. For example, we would maybe index to the right and say, blue shirt, John, or index to the left and say, red shirt, lawyer. And that will help the deaf consumers locate the people on the screen so they know who is speaking as the interpreter is navigating the changes of speaker. It's also important to keep in mind that the screen may be mirrored. For example, when I teach American Sign Language, sometimes I will be indicating something to the right, but because I'm teaching virtually, my students think that I am indicating something to the left. So it can be tricky, and it's important to remember that if you're talking about, for example, a car accident, it's important to indicate not only through your directional sign that something happened to the right, but to also overtly state if something happened to the right or the left. Another tip may be to look in the background and see if you can find things in the environment on the screen. For example, if the person has some writing on their shirt, you can tell whether or not it's mirrored, and that can help you with directionality that is coming from the deaf client. So it's just something to keep in mind. Another best practice is that one size does not fit all with remote interpreting. Some people aren't experienced with technology. Maybe they're a little bit more old-fashioned. Maybe they have intellectual disabilities or other challenges and mental health considerations or epilepsy or seizure disorder that is triggered by screens. So it's important as the interpreter that we watch for any signs that communication may not be successfully occurring, and then we can ask for a delay or reschedule and recommend that everyone be in person for the benefit of that person, that particular person's needs. Also, it can be confusing or difficult to navigate if there is more than one person per frame, so we recommend having one person per frame. So let's take a look at the roles of the usual participants in a court proceedings. Typically, if you're in person, you'll have a court reporter there, but remotely, there will typically be a clerk who will take on a variety of different roles that would be covered by different people if you were in person. The clerk is the person who will have the authority to assign co-hosting status, so when you log into the Zoom meeting, that would be the person that you would look for in the participants list, connect with them, and request co-hosting status. Of course, there will also be lawyers in the Zoom room. They may have multiple cases and have a variety of clients who are there logged into the same meeting waiting for their case to be called. So you may have multiple lawyers as well as multiple clients, and it's important to have the folks displaying their Zoom name with their role so you can easily indicate who the lawyers are and who the interpreters are, for example. There's also a couple of different types of interpreter roles. So for example, the proceedings interpreter versus the table interpreter. It's important to include that in your display name so that the deaf client can easily identify which interpreters are there to interpret between them and their lawyer or their attorney, as well as which interpreters are there for the general courtroom. There may also be other people in the courtroom there, such as advocates, guardians ad litem, and a variety of other people. So, while working remotely, you may have a situation where everyone is also joining remotely, or you may have a situation where some people are together on site or in the same location, and that would be considered a hybrid. And you will navigate those a little bit differently. In some situations where there are multiple folks in the same room, they may all be joining via the same device and be sharing one video screen, but again, we recommend that if it all possible, everyone has their own video screen, which would require each person to have their own device. Once in the meeting, you could have anywhere from half a dozen to 50 or 60 participants in one Zoom meeting, which can create a very crowded video screen and will require you to have two or three pages of video participants. If you have co-hosting status, you have the ability to relocate where the video screens are located for what you see on your screen. So you can find the participants that you'll be interpreting for and move them from the second or third screen to the front page of your video screen so that you have an easier time of making sure that you maintain video connection with everybody. And that's something that you can do with your co-hosting privileges. This is what I was mentioning earlier about the different roles of the interpreters. The IFC, Interpreter for Counsel, and TI, Table Interpreter, those are the same role. It's just that IFC is for when you are virtual and TI is used for when you're on site. That is for when the interpreter is working for a deaf participant in the court when they are communicating directly with their counsel. PI or Proceedings Interpreter is the interpreter who is interpreting everything that is going on in the general court proceedings. As I mentioned before, in your various roles, something to keep in mind is that you may need to shift between being the IFC or the TI and the Proceedings Interpreter. So for example, if there's a client who needs private consultation, private interpreting, but you are the Proceedings Interpreter, you'll need to consult with the judge and get permission to change roles to become the IFC to interpret that confidential communication between the deaf client and their attorney. And then you may remain in that role of IFC for the remainder of the proceedings and they would have to bring in another interpreter to take over the PI roles. And lastly, VRS is an option. For example, if you aren't able to get enough interpreters so that you can switch from PI to IFC and the lawyer still needs to communicate privately with their client, VRS is an option but we don't recommend it because you don't know what the qualifications are of the interpreter that will answer that call. Once you call VRS, it's first come, first served and we don't know what the qualifications are or the appropriate match of that interpreter to that client. Also, if you need a deaf interpreter or a CDI, those aren't available through VRS. So we don't recommend using VRS except as an absolute last resort. So, once you're logged into Zoom and before the proceedings start, you want to make sure that your display name shows your role to identify that you are the interpreter, whether you're the ASL interpreter, which is used for hearing interpreters, or the Deaf interpreter, which is used for CDIs, and then add your first name after that role moniker. That makes it easier for everyone on Zoom to identify who is in which role. Also, the option for live transcript or closed captioning is available on Zoom on the icon at the bottom toolbar, so any sign language users who would like to utilize that can do that as long as it is enabled. Also, we recommend that the court staff do not disable the chat, and the reason for this is that if a Deaf person has logged in and they're unable to locate their interpreter in the video screen, the way that they can communicate to the court is to type into the chat function, but if it is disabled so that they're not able to type in the chat, they have no other way to communicate to the courtroom that they are not able to access their interpreter or find them. So it's important to leave that function enabled. Also, as we mentioned before, with interpreters being co-hosts, that does give you the ability to pin and spotlight. We'll elaborate on the difference between those two functions in a bit. Amber will go into that. So, when we're talking about pinning and spotlighting, say that there is an interpreter who is the IFC as well as the lawyer and the deaf person. Those folks would all want to have each other pinned. And the interpreter can explain to the deaf clients how to pin the appropriate people so that everything stays clear and organized as far as accessibility goes. And if the deaf client does not know how to navigate that, the interpreter can briefly explain how to find the pinning option on the navigation toolbar within Zoom. And Amber is going to show you how to do that in case you're not familiar. But as the interpreters, when we have familiarity with that, we can briefly explain to the deaf client if they're not able to navigate that. And if they're still unable to after our brief explanation, we would refer them to the clerk and interpret a conversation between the clerk and the deaf client to help make sure that they have everything set up for accessibility purposes. Also, it's important to make sure that you take time at the beginning before the proceedings start to establish clear visual connection as well as a code so that if you ever do lose video connection, you can sign time out, which means that the interpreter and the deaf client have for whatever reason lost sight of each other. And then everything puts the brakes on and we stop until we've regained visual connection. And then we proceed. Once you know the basics of how to navigate that, you can set up reconnection with the interpreter and the deaf client so that the proceedings don't move forward and then the deaf client is missing out on what's going on. So that's of the utmost importance. And the interpreter can simply say to the judge or the lawyer, we have lost visual connection. And then the lawyer or the judge can pause the proceedings until the interpreter and the deaf client can reconnect with each other. Make sure that everything is squared away and established for clear communication access. Get that resolved and then move forward with the proceedings. Also, you can utilize the virtual hand raise function. To bring attention to you and then lower your hand when you're done, and we'll go into that in a bit. Amber will explain how to utilize that function so that you can see it in action. These two flyers are available in the resources that we will include with our materials. So later when the recording and the slides are posted online, you will be able to access a link within the slides to these flyers. These flyers are designed for anyone. It's not specific to deaf people. But they're a nice resource and it's helpful for folks who don't have a lot of experience with using Zoom and aren't confident about getting logged in. So these flyers are a nice summary to get folks joined to a Zoom meeting. But if you need more information specific to deaf folks, getting established with their interpreters and connecting to accessibility, that's not included on these flyers. But it's a nice starting point and it's a good resource for you to have. Now we'd like to show you an example of what it looks like if somebody were to be joining via their smartphone, specifically an iPhone. This is just some basic navigation. The pictures are somewhat self-explanatory, but you can see that on the main screen is what is shared and then at the top in the smaller picture is the person who is speaking. And you can swipe right and left to bring up the navigation for the chat function or other options with the transcript or the captioning. And then here you see that it's labeled screen one and screen two. This is when you swipe between pages. You'll see that the first page is your main page where it has the shared screen document and whoever is currently speaking. If you were to swipe to the second, third, or fourth page, that will show you the rest of the Zoom participants. And the way that you pin someone in this format on an iPhone is to find their video image and double tap on that image, which is different from how you navigate it on the computer. So on the phone all you simply do is find the video that the person that you want to pin, for example the interpreter, and you double tap on that video image and it will pin them. It's also important to mention that something to keep in mind is that if a person is joining via the phone and they're driving or moving around, the judge may remove them from the Zoom meeting for safety purposes. So I just talked a little bit about the specifics of the iPhone, but for other devices such as Android or other devices, if you'd like to know how the basic navigation for those works, reach out to Jackie and ask her and we can follow up with that information. And as we mentioned before, joining through the phone is not for the interpreter. Of course, you'll be joining through your computer or your laptop in your home office. But if a deaf client or participant in the meeting joins using their phone, they may not have a laptop at home, so for whatever reason, they may be joining through their phone. It's important for the interpreters to be able to briefly explain how the deaf client can pin the interpreter. But also, as Robin said, the judge may not allow somebody to join via their phone, the judge may not allow somebody to join via their phone if they are driving or walking around. So you may need to wait until that person is settled and can set up their phone in a stable place to participate. So this is just more of an FYI for you as the interpreters, because of course, we won't be joining via our phones to interpret. Yes, thank you for that clarification. It's also something to keep in mind that you won't ever really know what phone the client is using because technology changes and people get new and updated phones and there's a variety of options out there. So it's just something to keep in mind. So now we are logged in and ready to interpret. I want to go over a few important features that will be the ones you use most frequently to ensure that access is happening smoothly. So when you first log in you will notice at the bottom on your toolbar the first two icons are your microphone and your camera. If there's a red slash through the icon it means that it is muted and if there is no red slash mark it means that you are unmuted or your camera is on. Always check to see if your camera is on and your microphone is muted when you log in. You should only be unmuting your microphone when you are speaking. When you are speaking if you notice that other people in the courtroom are indicating that they can't hear you, your first check is to look and see if your microphone has a red slash mark through it or not. Also next to the microphone icon there is a little up arrow called a caret. If you click on that it will open up your options screen. That is where you can check and make sure that your microphone is connected to your headset and you want to make sure that you are able to hear through your headphones and that when you speak your microphone on your headset is picking that sound up and conveying it to the rest of the courtroom. So this is where you check that. Look for the check marks and that will show you how you are connected. If you have a problem where you can't hear what's going on in the courtroom or the courtroom can't hear you speaking but your microphone is unmuted, check to make sure that the system is picking up your headset microphone and connect it to your headset ear earphones and that should solve the problem. Now if you have done all of that and you're still not able to access the audio, the third red arrow on this slide shows where you can use your phone to connect to the audio. So that means you'll still be connected to Zoom through the computer for your video feed but you will call in through a phone or cell phone through the system to be able to access the audio within the room and then they will be able to hear you responding through the phone line instead of through the Zoom audio. So that is a backup backup plan. This red arrow shows expanded audio settings. These should be checked before you log into the Zoom meeting and can be accessed in your Zoom account. These marked items will set you up for success. The checkbox that says Zoom Optimized Audio, that is a setting within Zoom to help you soften environmental noise. So if you have your background canceling headset and microphone plus the Zoom internal feature, you can help to reduce all background noise in your environment. Also, all four of these boxes should be checked. Now we'll look at the video options. This icon also has that same up arrow caret icon that you can click on. The first check mark shows that I am connected and the second arrow indicates the blur my background option which should not be selected. If you blur your background it will mean that your sign production will not be clear because your hands may blend into the background and our number one priority is ensuring that our video feed is as clear and crisp as possible. So not only is that best practice it's also legally required for video remote work through the Americans with Disabilities Act. Here are the expanded video settings. Robin had previously mentioned about mirrored video. This is simply my view of my own window, my own video feed. So I can either set it up so it looks like I'm looking in a mirror or I can set it up to where my right hand will actually be on my left side in the image. But it's best practice to check mirrored video or mirror my video because it helps us to be more accurate like Robin had talked about. If for example we're talking about a car accident and trying to be clear about which direction things are happening whether that's left or right, mirror video can help. But it's important to understand that it will not change the way that other people see your video feed. It will only change the way you see your own video feed. The third red arrow on the screen is very beneficial because as Robin had just mentioned when we're indexing we also want to incorporate a visual description or the name of the person. So for example a person in a yellow shirt named John. If that arrow box is checked it means that the display names will appear for you on each of the video squares on your screen. However if it is not checked then the names will not display. So that can be incredibly important for us as interpreters because most of the time people will forget to say their name when they start to speak but it can help us navigate and indicate to the deaf client who is speaking if their name is displayed there and we can reference it easily. I'd like to add something here about assumptions. We want to avoid making assumptions about anyone's race or gender and just stick with visual descriptors such as shirt color. Right absolutely and use the phrasing of person who is speaking, person who is signing, and then add a visual description. And if somebody is if there are multiple people all wearing blue shirts then you can use other visual descriptors such as short sleeves or glasses other visually identifying information. That way as Robin said the deaf client can easily locate that person visually on the screen and identify who it is that is speaking. Now for each video screen you will see in the upper corner three dots. If you click on those three dots it will pop up a menu. Now if you are not co-host you will only have a couple of options that pop up in that menu but if you are co-host then you will have the full list of options available to you. As interpreters we need to have all of those options so that we're able to set up our screen for accessibility reasons. Now we'll talk about the difference between spotlighting and pinning. If you are the co-host you have the ability to either spotlight or pin. However if you are not the co-host you can pin but you won't be able to spotlight. Also if you are co-host you can pin multiple people on your own screen. You can have as many people pinned as you would like and you are also able to spotlight multiple people. So for today on your screen you will see me and Robin. We are both spotlight for today's presentation but let's talk a little bit about what the difference is between spotlighting and pinning. Pinning only impacts your view. It only changes what you see. So for example if I pin the deaf person and I pin my team interpreter my screen will have those two video boxes. I will have the deaf person and my team interpreter and the other participants will be hidden from my view. However if I spotlight then I'm going to force my screen view to be the same as everyone else's. So I will force everyone to have the same view as I do. So if I spotlight someone then that will make everyone else have the same view and they won't be able to change that or do anything about it. So that's an important thing to remember when you are setting up your screen. If the judge or the clerk wants to spotlight someone that's totally fine however you can still pin the people that you need to pin on your screen. So for example today during this presentation I see Robin and I see myself because we are both spotlight and then I also have pinned our two interpreters who are working today. So my screen has four video squares but your screen still only has the two who are spotlight. I'd also like to add that the benefit of spotlighting for clients versus pinning is that if they don't know how to navigate technology or they're struggling to find the interpreter to pin you can spotlight the interpreter which will immediately give them visual access to you. So this arrow shows where you can add a second, third, fourth, fifth pinned video. So earlier Robin mentioned about using the virtual hand raise feature. Down at the bottom on the toolbar you'll see something that looks like a smiley face and it says reactions. If you click on that this window will pop up and if you click raise hand then you'll see the little hand in the corner upper corner of your video and also your video window will move to the very first spot on everyone's screen. So for example if I want to highlight a person on the screen. So for example if the deaf person logs in and can't find the interpreter if you click the raise hand feature it will move you to the very first spot on the screen for everyone and the deaf person will be able to see you there. You can then explain how to pin the interpreter and then once they have you pinned you can lower your hand. Now I'd like to talk a little bit about the new feature that Zoom has released called the ASL channel. There are several things that need to be done prior to opening the Zoom meeting that the interpreter will not be able to do. The host of the meeting will have to set these up. So for this new feature the host must do several things before the Zoom meeting is ever launched. You'll have to go to your Zoom account and go under settings and I'm just going to advance the slides that show you the steps that you need to take to set this feature up. Also make sure that you check to make sure that you are updated. So all of that is before the Zoom meeting is launched. Once the Zoom meeting is launched at the bottom there will be a new icon that appears in the toolbar that looks like a globe. The person who is hosting the meeting will have to click on the globe and then assign interpreters to the ASL channel. They will be listed as first interpreter, second interpreter, or interpreter one, interpreter two for as many interpreters as you need. It's important to note that the higher the interpreter is on the list those interpreters will take precedence over the lower interpreters on the list. So for example if interpreter number one's camera is on the list the interpreter number two's camera is on the list. For example if interpreter number one's camera is on you will not be able to see interpreter two. So that's important for when you're working with hearing and deaf interpreter teams. You'll need the deaf interpreters to be interpreters one and two and the hearing interpreters to be three and four so that the deaf interpreters can always be seen when their camera is on. Once the interpreters are in the channel they will not be able to unmute and speak for the courtroom unless the hosts click on allow to talk. So you can see in the pop-up window there in the participants list the host will click on the interpreter and they will have to select allow to talk. Now for the deaf participants or deaf clients who are in the meeting they will need to click on the globe and select American Sign Language. Once they do that a new window will immediately pop up and that is the interpreter who is in the ASL channel. That window is movable. It's also able to be resized. The benefit of that is that it's more visual it can be made larger if the person is deafblind or if they're older or if they have any reason why they'd like it to be larger or in a different spot on their computer. If they have a second monitor they're able to move the interpreter to the second monitor so that their first monitor has the rest of the Zoom participants the judge, the lawyers, the shared screen and then their interpreter can be on a separate monitor completely. Once the interpreters are allowed to talk then they will also appear in the gallery as well as in the pop-up window and that way the other people in the Zoom meeting will also be able to see the interpreter when they're speaking. That new feature has a full video that explains how to set it up and how it works and the YouTube link to that video will be provided in the resources for you. And here are just some final ideas, suggestions, and tips. You could think about having a third device set up for your interpreting team to connect with each other. This feed would not be for supports or direct interpreting but for any side conversations or notifications or other sorts of feedback that you have that you need to have with your team. Also remember that the deaf interpreter or the hearing interpreter can copy sign and repeat what a deaf client may be saying so that's just another accessibility tip to keep in mind. Also remember one interpreter per screen and having that co-hosting status can allow you to solve a lot of problems very quickly. If the deaf person pins both interpreters then they can navigate between the two interpreters as they switch during their turns more easily. Also you can utilize the participant screen which is the icon at the bottom of the toolbar that looks like a couple of people standing shoulder to shoulder. It will bring up a list of the participants. Their microphones will be active when they are speaking so that's another way to see who is speaking if you can't identify them on the video screen. Also always remember that if communication is not successful remotely you may need to recommend that it be held in person. Also when we're talking about confidential communication when you are remote and everyone is joining via Zoom if confidential communications need to happen between the client and their attorney you can be asked to be switched to a breakout room and make sure that the interpreter is also transitioned to the breakout room as well. If you are hybrid and there are some people who are in person make sure that not only the video feed is removed from the larger courtroom but also that the audio feed is disconnected for protecting confidentiality. Sometimes we think about, for example, if we are interpreting and they have us on a laptop or a small TV in the courtroom that if we are brought into a side room for confidential communication between the deaf client and their attorney we need to remember to check and make sure that the audio feed from the computer is not still on in the main courtroom because that means they will be able to hear whatever the interpreter is saying. So that's just something to be cognizant of and work with the clerk to ensure that everything is set up correctly. Okay, so to wrap up these four items are the key takeaways that we'd like to emphasize. Co-hosting status is essential. If we are not co-hosts then we honestly cannot ensure that accessibility and communication connection is going to be maintained. Also make sure that you are always in contact with the deaf person throughout the proceedings and set up that code ahead of time at the beginning to signal any time that you or the deaf person cannot see each other and then the interpreter should let the court know that we've lost visual connection until that's reestablished before proceeding. Also CDIs are best practice for legal interpreting especially when working remotely so we recommend that you get to know who are the CDIs in your area, develop relationships with them before the time arises when you need a CDI. If you are working remotely it's even more important to have those CDIs ready and available. And again, remember that everything can be set up perfectly and we can do our best to make sure that VRI is ready to go and it may still not be the best fit for every deaf person. So I notice that there's no questions in the Q&A function so far but this is your opportunity to ask any questions if you have them. Feel free to type them in the Q&A section. Also, if you don't have any burning questions right now, but afterwards you think of something that you'd like some clarification about or you'd like to ask, please email Jackie and she will compile all of the questions over the next 48 hours and then submit them to us and we will respond either directly to you via email or we can set up a meeting if it's something that's a little bit more in depth or something that is specific or unique. And I do see a few questions that are popping up now, so let's take a look. I'm just looking through the list here. Oh sorry, Robin and I were talking over each other there a bit. One question asks how to use the second screen during Zoom. So once you have a second monitor, plug it into your computer tower or your laptop, and then if you go to your desktop screen, your home screen, without any applications open, just your plain home screen, and this is for PCs not Macs. Macs are different. On your PC, left-click and select display settings and that will allow you to see that there is a second monitor available. Select the second monitor. When you initially open it, it will be grayed out because it's not yet selected. So once you select it, it will become white or alive, active, and then you will see that you have screens one and two or monitors one and two. Now when I initially set up mine, my actual second monitor is on the left, but my display had it on the right. So I needed to switch and make my primary screen, my primary monitor the one on the right, and my secondary monitor the one on the left. So that's how you get it set up is you plug it in and then you go to your display settings and select the second monitor. Robin, did you want to add anything about that one? Duncan can do one more question. And someone asked if I was hardwired in. Yes I am. I am plugged in through my Ethernet cord. Robin, I don't know about you. Yep, I am set up through my Ethernet. And I did want to make a comment about the speed test. Something like 500 megahertz for download speed and upload speed of 30 megahertz. Amber, what is your speed? Yes, you can actually go online. Just Google or do a search for Internet speed test. And you want to have an upload and a download speed. I think the download is 1 or 200 and the upload is something, it's a smaller number, it's like 30 or 50. Oh, that's interesting. Your numbers are different. Are you on a laptop or a computer? I have a laptop. That's interesting. So I think we've answered the, there's a question on there about Zoom, about whether courts use other platforms such as WebEx or Microsoft Teams. In my experience related to the courts, I've never seen anyone use WebEx except for within prisons. If there's conversations that inmates need to have with their lawyers, there's something about the security features of WebEx that they will use there. So I'll see that used often. But it's not as deaf-friendly as Zoom is. But I will see that used in jails or prisons for confidential conversations. I've never seen Microsoft Teams used for anything in the courtroom or in a legal situation. I think it probably depends on the court district or whether it's a state-level court. I am sure there's a variety of factors. It looks like unfortunately we are out of time, although I do see some more questions. Jackie is going to compile those for us and then we will follow up with you and get those answers to you. And one more thing, if you are looking to earn CEUs, in the chat you will see a couple of links. One is the registration form where you put your RID number and the other is the evaluation, which is feedback about our presentation today. Please do fill that out and be honest. We value your feedback. And thank you all so much for coming today. And we were looking forward to more questions. Bye everybody. Take care.

Zoom

American Sign Language

court interpreting

remote work

Deaf community

technical tips

confidentiality

accessibility

Certified Deaf Interpreter

Continuing Education Units