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Digital Document Management System (DDMS)

The Digital Document Management System (DDMS) is the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel's (ASLBP) hearing management support system that combines web-based hearing and document management with electronic evidence presentation, real-time transcription, and digital recording to provide users with continual electronic access to searchable evidentiary material and video transcripts, and a means to present most evidence in an electronic fashion. The DDMS provides greater public access to ASLBP hearings by the use of evidence display monitors and Internet-available web broadcasts. DDMS also provides greater access to disabled persons by providing closed captioning, assisted listening, and compatibility with screen-reading technology.

On this page:

What the DDMS Does
Presentation of Evidence
Digital Recording
Remote Hearing Participation
Hearing Room Features
Related Information

What the DDMS Does

The DDMS enhances the ability to conduct efficient and effective hearings, provides support for agency and judicial appellate processes, and provides comprehensive real-time public access to information presented during the hearing. The DDMS brings information technology and audio/visual capabilities into the ASLBP hearing rooms, which supports information management for the proceedings during the pre-hearing, hearing, and post-hearing phases.

The DDMS records, stores, and displays the text and image of documentary materials presented during the hearing using pre-filed electronic documents from the Electronic Hearing Docket (EHD). Counsel for the parties can also bring prepared materials to the evidentiary hearing electronically and have those materials integrated and accessible in the hearing room.

The DDMS enables the creation and use of an integrated, comprehensive digital record for agency licensing and enforcement cases. It permits access and retrieval of the entire record, including documentary information such as daily transcripts and exhibits, audio recordings, video presentations such as prerecorded testimony and simulation models, and recordings of hearing sessions in an electronic format. The DDMS provides continual real-time access to the hearing record by the presiding officer and parties in the litigation.

The DDMS also incorporates hearing and document management. Features include full document search and retrieval, electronic exhibit stamping, customized document organization, calendar/scheduling, document and witness scheduling, and report generation.

Presentation of Evidence

DDMS allows the presentation of evidence via many different methods. Pre-filed evidentiary materials and testimony of witnesses and witness panels can be viewed on the monitors in the hearing room. A document camera can focus in on and digitally capture paper documents and physical objects which are brought into a hearing room. Electronic media such as DVD, VHS tapes, video camcorder tapes, mp3-type audio files, cassette tapes, etc. can be played in the hearing rooms and captured into the record. Laptop/computer outputs can also be displayed and captured. Touch screen monitors allow annotation of electronic exhibits.

Digital Recording

The DDMS has the capability to capture the audio and video of an entire hearing. The Rockville and Las Vegas hearing rooms have digital cameras which are voice-activated and capture each speaker when evidence is not being displayed. Each hearing room is equipped with digital recording devices.

Remote Hearing Participation

Each hearing room offers the capability for witnesses, attorneys, or judicial staff to participate in hearings from a remote location.

Teleconference systems afford participants who cannot be present at the hearing an opportunity to actively participate. The individual participating remotely will receive all of the audio from the hearing room, including any associated with evidence that is presented.

The hearing room video conference system similarly enables individuals the opportunity to participate in a hearing when they cannot be physically present in the hearing venue. In addition to providing audio to the remote location, the video conference system has the capability to send real-time video, including documentary evidence, to the remote location so that participants can view the evidentiary presentations.

Hearing Room Features

The hearing room environment offers several options to the public for the viewing of public hearings. Each hearing room is equipped with large plasma screens that are positioned for viewing by individuals who are seated in the public section of the hearing room. The image that is displayed on those monitors is the same image that appears in the digital recording of the proceeding.

The system also offers assistance to those who are hearing impaired. In instances where a real-time court reporter is available, the system will display the text of the reporter as closed-captioning on all monitors in the hearing room. Infrared assisted listening headsets are also available at any time, and may be used for language interpretation.