Transcription technology?

Fri May 14 21:59:57 UTC 2010

Thanks for this information.  I noticed no one mentioned ELAN.  Is that
because y'all haven't used it, or because you find other programs better?
In particular, I'm transcribing multi-party audio/video conversations, and
find ELAN to have a nice set up for that.  I haven't looked at all the
others, though and wonder if I should change, since ELAN is a bit cumbersome
in other respects. Thoughts?

Sarah

On Wed, May 12, 2010 at 6:10 PM, Steven Talmy <steven.talmy at ubc.ca> wrote:

> I sent this a few hours ago, but it doesn't seem like it made it through.
>
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject:        Re: Transcription technology?
> Date:   Wed, 12 May 2010 13:26:36 -0700
> From:   Steven Talmy <steven.talmy at ubc.ca>
> To:     galey modan <gmodan at GMAIL.COM>
> CC:     LINGANTH at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
>
>
>
> Hello everyone,
>
> As far as I know, the short answer to Steve's question is no, there is
> no transcription software that one can use to transcribe interviews, at
> least automatically (i.e., plug an mp3 file into it and it spits out a
> transcript). However, there are many other options, as I'll describe in
> a moment. In answer to Galey's question, yes, there is software that
> allows you to plug a foot pedal into a USB port on your computer:
> ExpressScribe<http://www.nch.com.au/scribe/index.html>
>
>
> More on Steve's question:
>
> In my experience, there is no substitute for an experienced transcriber
> sitting down, listening to the audio/video record, and transcribing it.
> If you have lots of money, I would suggest hiring a research assistant,
> and training them in the theory and practicalities/conventions of
> transcription that you are after. You could also hire a professional
> transcriber, but the ones I've hired in the past have been very
> expensive, and usually "tidied up" the data, e.g. glossed over
> micro-details such as pauses, false starts, hesitations, etc. It's
> definitely not the case that all transcripts must include such details,
> but if that's what you're after, you'll need to train someone.
> Regardless, if you have someone else transcribe your data, I think it's
> important to go over what they wind up producing to check it.
>
> I use Audacity (freeware) for my transcriptions, and type right into
> Word.<http://audacity.sourceforge.net/?lang=en>. Here are a few other
> alternatives. This is by no means an exhaustive list, so please add to it!
>
> Transcriber (freeware) is good, though I haven't used it much recently:
> http://trans.sourceforge.net/en/presentation.php
>
> F4 (freeware) is also good, and can be used with video:
> http://www.audiotranskription.de/english/f4.htm
>
>  CLAN (freeware) has been developed explicitly for CA:
> http://www.paultenhave.nl/clan.html
>
> Transana ($50) is very good for video (also audio):
> http://www.transana.org/
>
> Dragon Naturally Speaking ($200 for Preferred version, now in version
> 10) is probably closest to what Steve is looking for. It's an excellent
> (really impressive) talk to text application: you speak into a USB mic
> connected to your computer and it transcribes what you say. It requires
> quite a bit of training to your voice, and prefers very clear input with
> little background noise, which makes it pretty much unworkable in terms
> of plugging in a sound file of naturally occurring talk and having it
> transcribe it. I've tried it on interview recordings and classroom
> interactions, and the results have been laughable: pretty much
> gibberish. Maybe in a few more years...? Regardless, I have had students
> tell me they use it to do preliminary transcripts: they listen to the
> audio of an interview, e.g., then speak what was said on the recording
> into the mic, and DNS converts that to text. That still takes quite a
> lot of time though, and requires further editing for details of
> delivery, turn-taking etc. I personally only use DNS for transcribing
> fieldnotes, and for making comments on students' papers. I don't like
> using it for much more than that.
> <
> http://www.dragon-medical-transcription.com/dragon_naturally_speaking_Preferred.html
> >.
>
> This is a really incomplete list, so I'd love to hear what others use.
>
> All the best,
>
> Steven
>
> ..................................................................
> Steven Talmy, Ph.D.
> Assistant Professor
> Department of Language&  Literacy Education
> University of British Columbia
> 2125 Main Mall
> Vancouver, BC  V6T 1Z5
> Canada
>
> Office:
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>
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>
>
>
>
> On 5/12/2010 12:31 PM, galey modan wrote:
>
>>  Further to Steve's question, I'd be interested to know if anyone knows
>>  of any good transcription technology which allows you to use a foot
>>  pedal so you can keep your fingers on the keyboard and stop and
>>  backspace with your foot, like the old-fashioned cassette transcribing
>>  machine way.
>>
>>  Galey
>>
>>  2010/5/12 Leila Monaghan<leila.monaghan at gmail.com>:
>>
>>   From Steve Bialosok, please reply to him--
>>>  Steve Bialostok<stevebialostok at yahoo.com>   (University of Wyoming)
>>>  10:39am
>>>  I am looking for some sort of transcription technology. My work involves
>>>  both interviews and classroom discourse.  I am unaware of sophisticated
>>>  software other than the type you can buy between $100-200.00 at Best Buy
>>> or
>>>  the Apple Store. I have been given a substantial amount of money (far
>>> more
>>>  than $200.00) to buy something that works well. And since I'm
>>> techno-stupid,
>>>  I'm hoping that it doesn't take a genius to make it work. Anyone out
>>> there
>>>  have any ideas or product names. (And to all those techno-savy folk out
>>>  there, what is "easy" and "simple" for you may be brain surgery for me.)
>>>  Steve
>>>
>>>  --
>>>  Leila Monaghan, PhD
>>>  Department of Anthropology
>>>  University of Wyoming
>>>  Laramie, Wyoming
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>