There is much that captionists can learn from those already serving Deaf or Hard of Hearing clients. The information in this article is taken, in part, from a workshop that Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland had for its interpreters and captionists on teaming by Rhonda Jacobs, CI & CT. As the field of captioning grows, teaming will become a more commonplace way to work.  

Ergonomics
From a captionist's standpoint, the main reason to team is one of ergonomics. Physically, a captionist can not type near verbatim text for hours on end.  Captioning with a team-member helps avoid repetitive motion injuries such as carpel-tunnel syndrome.  

A good rule of thumb when tag-teaming, is to switch captionists every 15-20 minutes or so, depending on the situation.  But, don't become so wedded to the idea of time that you go longer than you are comfortable with, or force a team mate to caption longer than they are able to in the situation.  Pay attention to each others' needs.  

Captioning is also mentally tiring.  The brain is processing the auditory information from the speaker, ambient information of all types, such as noise, speaker accent and other external distractions, as well as the inevitable internal distractions that happen to be going on with us as captionists. This includes things such as temperature of the room, fatigue, or our own personal worries of the day.  

The captionist must process the speaker's information, decide what is important and whether summarization is necessary, what to abbreviate, as well as remember the abbreviations, type them, and check to see if the output is accurate and correct it if necessary.  All this occurs simultaneously!  

Captioning involves mental multi-tasking as well as physical stress which makes teaming a necessary industry standard in many situations.  

Communication Access 
Our purpose as captionists is communication access and teaming is essential to serving our clientele effectively.  Feeding a team member missed information is an important concept we can all learn from the experience of interpreters.  The role of the co-captionist is basically one of helping the captionst who is "on", to communicate the message as accurately as possible.  Feeding missed or misunderstood information, either verbally, or in writing can be invaluable to communication access.  

Carry a notebook with you to captioning jobs so that you can jot down missed, or perhaps misspelled, names, dates, and formulas, as well as unclear references to "this" or "that".  The captionist who edits, takes the notebook home for reference.   

Team Captioning--Working Together 
Other helpful things that team members can do for each other include asking the speaker to clarify information, shutting the blinds to reduce glare, and closing the door if there is a disturbance outside.  If another class is waiting to use the room when you are finished, it is always good to help each other break down equipment as well.  

Communication with your team mate is essential to a good working relationship.  Be aware of how your team mate is doing during any captioning situation and be ready to take over at any time.  I was fortunate enough to team with someone who knew sign and could get information that was unclear to me auditorially, by reading the speakers' who were signing as well as voicing.  

It is important to learn each others' weak areas and be ready to compensate for them.  One captionist may be better at typing numbers, or captioning movies, for example.  It is good to plan your team situation accordingly.  

I have had the privilege of teaming with a variety of captionists whose strengths have inspired me.  From some, I have learned some on-the-spot editing styles that have enabled me to quickly clarify information.  From others, I have learned, or been reminded of many different abbreviations, and watched in awe as they abbreviated almost 90% of the speaker's output.  I have been able to team with a captionist who used voice recognition with C-Print, while I captioned using the keyboard version only.

In the 7 years I have been captioning, I am just beginning to be able to enjoy the benefits of captioning with a team mate.  It has improved my skills immeasurably. Each teaming situation has been an opportunity for much professional growth, and I highly recommend it!