Law school students use Courtroom 21 to practice their legal skills, enabling visitors to see the technology in action. When someone speaks, the voice-activated camera aims at the speaker and the system projects that image on the largest portion of the monitor. Within seconds of typing court testimony, a reporter's transcription appears on computer monitors for use by lawyers, judges or hearing-impaired jurors. All video evidence as well as any live video is displayed on individual monitors for each juror. Some of the lessons learned in adapting technology to courtrooms include using sound-absorbing material in courtrooms.
Hard surfaces can play havoc with voice-activated video systems.
Also, courtrooms should not be built on concrete floors because of problems with wiring. Raised floors not only solve cabling issues, they are easier on the feet. It could also prove to be quite vexing, according to Lederer and McMillan. Courtroom 21 has experimented with video conferencing using one-quarter of a T1 line for transmission. The costs are reasonable and the video quality is adequate for typical meetings between lawyers, judges and witnesses.