Castingwords Transcribers - Questions and Answers

Discussion in 'CastingWords' started by nobody, Jul 15, 2012.

  1. hapless

    hapless Guest

    OK. I wonder, though (since you seek such "exact" understanding), do you assume that every staffer's editing practices are always necessarily "exactly" the same as every other's, in every detail?
     
    #101 hapless, Jul 26, 2012
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  2. Scott

    Scott User

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    I can tell you as a grader, I have seen some mistakes that would make your 4th grade English teacher cringe.
    All I can say is run spell check on any submissions and re-read your transcript before submitting.

    I follow the rules they give for style, and rules of the client that wants it. - That way you should always get an 9 or an 8.
     
  3. angelface83

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    I am having a really tough time. I generally get 8's and 9's. But I just want my transcripts to be PERFECT.

    I also do not get this...because sometimes we get marked down for making big run on sentences..and other times we get marked down for making them into their own sentences.

    I hate this :/ Sometimes I just make an executive decision and sometimes that can blow up in my face,lol.

    Because every editor seems to want something different.

    Also another issue I am having is I had a transcript where this person interrupted a LOT! And I did transcribe every time he interrupted. It meant a LOT of broken up sentences. Only on two did I get a bad grade for that. Which is making me bawl!

    I got one point taken away :eek::(. I did not know what to do. My other transcripts, I had done the same thing and was given 9's and also 8's. No one mentioned me breaking up the sentences with so many interruptions. The person said, "yeah" a lot and interrupted. I can understand not wanting to interrupt the flow but I also did not want to nix their words.

    I didn't know what to do. Sometimes I am so scared of not getting it perfect or right, that I just put down what they say and follow the guideline as best as I can. Somethings in the guideline contradict each other.

    It says no paraphrasing but it says to clean up grammar a few times.

    I am lost. Any help?

    I have submitted a request saying I didn't like getting such a low grade when the style guide was not specific about this. Also I asked for help on what to do next time.

    Should I nix out the "Yeah's" or one word interruptions? Or should I just put them after the person is done speaking. It is not true to the time they said it but...I can't afford to get another 6. It was my first and I am only at 81.

    Any help would be appreciated. I am on pins and needles waiting for the help desk to respond. I really want to be transcribing right now but now I am scared to do it until I hear back from them and know exactly how they would like me to do these in the future.


     
  4. angelface83

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    Oh I also had another problem to ask about- Now in English I learned you always start a new paragraph if it is a new though- No matter if there is just Two words or one sentence in the first paragraph- New though, new paragraph.

    I got marked down for this only in one transcript. Ok I am going to makeup an example. Tell me how anyone as an editor would do it- What is better for Casting Words? Is it better to make sure you clump things in paragraphs or is it better to actually make a new paragraph for every thought that is different from the last sentence?

    EXAMPLE:

    My friend Mary tends her garden everyday.

    Gina called me today at 1:00.

    OK. So how should I do this everyone? Should I just clump this together even though they are totally unrelated? Which one will make the editors happy is what I want to know. I want to get it right and exactly how they want it.

    I just found this in the New workers please read..I received this from the help desk- I wish it had been sent to me in an email. It would have been a great help- Here is what CW says about paragraphs.

    Paragraph Breaks

    Jim Allan: Many speakers talk on and on about some subject and reading a huge long piece of text can be boring and difficult on the eyes. This is why we use paragraphs. Every time a speaker changes the focus of what they are talking about you start a new paragraph.

    The proper format for a new paragraph is to hit enter twice after the old one. This leaves a blank line in-between each paragraph so the reader can easily tell where ideas begin and end.
     
    #104 angelface83, Jul 26, 2012
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  5. angelface83

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    I do all my paragraphs as they state- Under the 500 and no more than 4-5 sentences. But I have had a problem with people wanting long paragraphs when the sentences are unrelated to each other.

    Also a person who replied to me on the help desk told me to write long sentences- They took a sentences from one of my transcripts and they combined something I made into three sentences and made it into on. It went over 2 lines :/. Sometimes they confuse me. I have never got a mark down for turning a big long run on sentence into something right. Only twice so far from editors. One mad everything into a big long run on sentence. If the speaker spoke it without stopping, she didn't put a period until she made a whole new sentence on her own. The help desk agreed with her on some of it :/.

    This is not what I learned in English nor what I thought Casting Words wanted. Combining more then two sentences together is a huge no no. Also combining two that are extremely long is also a big no no.

    I am lost!lol
     
    #105 angelface83, Jul 26, 2012
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  6. Whimsy

    Whimsy User

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    :::deep breath:::

    It's not going to happen. Sorry, there are going to be edits that you don't get.

    Do a good job. Expect 8s and hope for 9s. Your PPT will rise. You'll be able to see more final edits and look at how the big picture looks.
     
  7. nobody

    nobody User

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    I thought the CW staff was two people, which is way better than hundreds of graders and editors doing different things. :)

    I sometimes get feedback that contradicts the style guide. A lot of my final edits also contradict the style guide. In the beginning, I followed the feedback...all of it. I also did what was done in the final edits on my transcripts. If I knew then, what I know now, lol.

    Now, I think I can tell which feedback (on their site) is from CW (as in the people who pay us, not turkers). That, I pay attention to. It never contradicts the style guide. Occasionally, it does say missing commas though (palm, meet forehead).

    I just figured out the other day that someone can sign up for CW and start grading on their first day. Wow. I didn't start grading until I had done over 150 transcripts!

    Anyway, that's why I was curious if those edits were done by one of the two CW people. If it was, I'll know how CW wants technical terms quoted, that they take out false starts and all filler words, that they do not, in fact, use sentence fragments, they do correct the grammar of ESL speakers every time, and a few other things.

    Those are things I did from the beginning, and later changed due to feedback I thought was coming from CW. They have a lot of turkers working for them who don't follow the style guide. I just hate that it took me so long to figure this stuff out. :eek:
     
    #107 nobody, Jul 26, 2012
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  8. Whimsy

    Whimsy User

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    It would depend, for me. I would need more sentences to make the call. I'd probably put them in the same paragraph, though.

    Depends on the interruptions. If he's asking things that qualify the response in some way - it stays. If it's mm-hmm, yeah, OK...they can go. Sometimes there's two people talking directly over each other in a matter of a few seconds.

    Man 1: And they...

    Man 2: Oh yeah...

    Man 1: ...came over.

    Man 2: ...I remember that.

    If it works, I put.

    Man 1: And they came over.

    Man 2: Oh yeah, I remember that.

    I only do something like that if it works. And it's sequential. Tricky.

    My thing is, I want to be able to read the transcript and fully understand what is said. With half-thoughts here and parts over there...it doesn't flow.


    That being said, I have not been working for CW for very long. Most of the work I do is on Improve A Transcript jobs and I am not able to see the final edit from those transcripts. I can only rely on my given grade and any feedback left for me from whoever grades it and compares the before/after of the transcript. And my PPT is steadily on the rise.
     
  9. hapless

    hapless Guest

    Not to derail the discussion here, but just a random thought:

    I wonder why CW (per the style guide's "What If" page) prefers to transcribe "Javascript" with a lower-case "s".

    In the world outside of CW, "JavaScript" (with capital S) is the well-established correct form of the name of that scripting language.
     
  10. angelface83

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    Thank you. CastingWords told me the same thing when I emailed them about this. They said to not transcribe interruptions. But some interruptions are valid, you are right.

    I dislike all these interviews with people who constantly interrupt,lol. :/
     
  11. Whimsy

    Whimsy User

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    crap. with names like that I check google and see which way has more instances on the first page. So far, it's worked for most things. I forgot they have that on the What If page.
     
  12. hapless

    hapless Guest

    Bad news turned into good news today:

    I spent a lot of time on a certain transcript, but had to leave some tricky spots unresolved. I anticipated an 8, or in the worst case, a 7 -- but a certain Turker recommended a 6, which I honestly felt was undeserved.

    Fortunately, CW paid the HIT as an 8. Still, the Turker's note alarmed me. After some honest reassessment of obvious flaws in my transcript, still I felt quite sure: There was no justification for this Turker's note recommending a 6.

    I sent a polite complaint to CW, and received a very affirmative reply, clearly indicating that the Turker's suggested grade was wrong. My assigned and paid grade therefore remains 8, which is entirely appropriate. Further, that Turker's note has been removed from my record.

    "All's well that ends well."
     
    #112 hapless, Jul 27, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 27, 2012
  13. Scott

    Scott User

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    Good to know! I think worst I ever gave anyone was a 7 and I think that should have been lower.
    Somehow I always see good work!
     
  14. Whimsy

    Whimsy User

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    A 6?

    Holy crap that's awful. I am glad you wrote to cw and they were cool with it all. I'm glad the 8 stuck. I really can't imagine you turning in something of a 6 quality.

    6. Needs substantial editing, may need sections retranscribed. We will have to send it out to be edited an extra time before doing the final edit. Usually means transcript has many missing or mistranscribed words. Most sentences will need work done on them. Some missing sections might not be marked with an [xx].

    ::shakes head::

    Maybe it's a new (and now reprimanded) editor.
     
  15. hapless

    hapless Guest

    I'm tempted to quote from CW's reply, but I'd better not.

    Rogue graders, beware! :mad: :eek: :p ;)
     
  16. Whimsy

    Whimsy User

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    I come across a fair amount of 6 work, and mark it as such, but that's on Improve a Transcript jobs. What I figure is the Improve jobs are the filter between transcriptionist and editor.

    The two times I've come across 4 or below work, I've written to CW and they've pulled the transcription from the Improve "pool". They're incredibly fair. And good news! I got 49 bonuses today. Those Improve jobs were finally paid out.

    eta: just looked at some stinking final edits and have some with NO CHANGES EXCEPT SPEAKER TOKENS and an 8 given

    yup, expect 8s and hope for 9s
     
    #116 Whimsy, Jul 27, 2012
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  17. hapless

    hapless Guest

    ... :cool: ...
     
  18. angelface83

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    Holy comma....CW wants a lot of comma's! I received a reply from a support ticket and reviewed an edited transcript. There was a lot of comma's put in there. I will now be comma crazy.
     
  19. Whimsy

    Whimsy User

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    We've come to understand that commas are tricky and it's a matter of finding balance. We don't all completely understand every rule in every instance -- and the same goes for the people who edit.

    On another note: I think I'm on auto-approve for Improve a Transcript jobs :D Only did one but received the email notification of a bonus within what seemed like minutes after.

    If you guys are ever bored, seriously -- go check those out. Even if you don't want to do them, it is interesting to see how other people interpret the Style Guide (or effectively throw it out the window). I opened one up today that had 29 words caught by the system spell check. Seriously? I had to skip it because the audio was a little bit too low for me to clearly get what the woman was saying. There were no periods. It was one long paragraph. No speaker token, either.
     
  20. angelface83

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    I agree 'grimace'. I am getting a bit frustrated. Well the thing is I got an edit from support- And they literally had eight comma's in one big sentence.:/ So I guess that is what they want. But I did just make a post about how I had one person edited my transcript and they took OUT almost every comma I had- Which was generally ONE in a sentence. WEIRD! Also they put IN filler words, including at the beginning of sentences. EEEK! That is goes AGAINST the style guide. How did I get an eight on that, when it was about perfect and the edit including removing comma's- Which again were about 1 on the sentences they took them out of. Also, they put in filler words at then beginning of sentences...What?
    And they put periods in where I put two different ellipses...Then the sentence didn't make any sense...Because it ended in the middle of a thought...? It was an extremely bad edit.

    I won't be contacting support about it though because the person I keep getting keeps agreeing. So I give up pretty much. If they don't follow their Style guide though... I don't know what else to do to please them.

    If I put too many comma's like CW wants, I am afraid of getting marked down- But I put them in ALL the right places in this one and the person took out every comma. :O smh.

    They also changed words- The lady said many, many friends- And she put very many. Many is not a filler word and CW said not to change words unless it is slang like gonna etc. They told me that in a support response. OI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    I just can't win,lol.

     

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