Symposium on Videoconference and remote interpreting in legal proceedings, London, February 2011

For those of our readers interested in interpreting and how interpreting provision is changing:

International Symposium: Videoconference and remote interpreting in legal proceedings
London, 17-19 February 2011

www.videoconference-interpreting.net/symposium/

The judicial services throughout Europe are currently implementing videoconference technology to facilitate communication at all stages of legal proceedings. In the area of criminal justice, for example, the emerging settings include videoconferences with witnesses, experts or suspects abroad as well as video links between courts or police stations and prisons. Videoconference technology is also used in immigration contexts and other legal settings. Any of these settings may be multilingual – involving more than one spoken language or a spoken language and a sign language – and thus entail the integration of an interpreter into a videoconference situation ('videoconference interpreting'). Additionally, videoconference technology offers a potential solution for current problems with the provision of qualified legal interpreters, especially for minority languages. Thus, 'remote interpreting' via video link, using interpreters at distant locations, is also gaining momentum in legal proceedings. Encouraged by the European 'e-Justice' initiative, which recommends the use of videoconferencing to speed up legal proceedings and to save costs, the area of legal videoconferencing is likely to expand in the future. While these developments are changing the practice of legal interpreting, knowledge about the viability and quality of videoconference and remote interpreting is scarce, and training for interpreters and legal practitioners on these emerging forms of interpreting is almost non-existent.

This International Symposium, organised by the EU project AVIDICUS – 'Assessment of Videoconference Interpreting in the Criminal Justice Services' (co-ordinated by the Centre for Translation Studies, University of Surrey, 2008-11), seeks to disseminate the findings of the AVIDICUS project and other ongoing project initiatives relating to the use of videoconference and remote interpreting in all types of legal proceedings. It will include reports on current practice and presentations of findings from the small but growing body of research in this area.
The Symposium, which is the first of its kind, will provide a forum for discussion and bring together:

* legal professionals and public service providers
* practising interpreters and interpreting service providers
* representatives of interpreting service users
* researchers in the field of legal interpreting incl. spoken and sign-language interpreting
* specialists in the use of videoconference technology
* representatives of educational and training institutions

The programme will include acknowledged experts in all fields that are relevant to this Symposium: legal proceedings, interpreting and videoconference technology.

Venue:
The symposium will be held at the British Computer Society (BCS) office in London, which is located centrally between Covent Garden and the Strand. The address is: British Computer Society, 1st Floor, The Davidson Building, 5 Southampton Street, London, WC2E 7HA, UK.

Registration:
Early bird registration until (15th December 2010): £150.
Late registration (until fully booked): £180
As the number of places is limited, please reserve a place as promptly as possible, using the online form at the symposium website. Registration will be based on a first-come, first-served basis.

Symposium website:
http://www.videoconference-interpreting.net/symposium/

Organisers:
Dr Sabine Braun and Dr Judith Taylor
Centre for Translation Studies, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 8FD, UK

All enquiries to the organisers should be sent to symposium at videoconference-interpreting.net.

The Symposium is organised with financial support from the EU DG Justice, Criminal Justice Programme.