Transcription Questions

Discussion in 'General' started by pieper, Oct 24, 2012.

  1. pieper

    pieper User

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    Hi all. Newbie here (how could you tell?)...LOL. Here's my question(s):

    1. Will a foot pedal work with VCL for transcription?

    2. Does anyone else use ExpressScript and how do you like it.

    3. If it says you have "4 days" to finish the project, I assume that means you can stop and pick it up later. Will it go in the "hits assigned to you" tab to wait for you? I assume if it's a 38-120 minute transcription, one is GOING to have to take a break at some point.

    Any help will be appreciated.

    And this forum is GREAT...stumbled on it but glad to have found it. :cool:
     
  2. Maggiemw

    Maggiemw User

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    Hi, I am mainly a transcriber on Mturk, and love it.

    In answer to your questions: yes, a foot pedal will definitely make your life easier, if you have one or if you're serious about transcription. I use an Infinity pedal compatible with Express Scribe. I reassign commands to the pedals so that they do exactly what I want them to do.

    I don't know about VCL, however. Express Scribe is wonderful and very flexible - I enjoy using it, with or without a pedal. Its hot keys are worth exploring - my favorite for the moment is F12, which gives me nice pauses at the speed I've chosen.

    Yes, if they give you 4 days, you have 4 days to do the assignment, so you can pause, rest, format, check spelling, check meaning...to your heart's content!

    Good luck and enjoy!
     
  3. pieper

    pieper User

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    Thank you! I love transcribing but need to make it a lot easier than my testing! LOL. Appreciate your input.
     
  4. Maggiemw

    Maggiemw User

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    There are several great threads over in the Castingwords section that apply to transcription in general as well. One of our members is also in the midst of creating an ebook on the subject, which will help too. There are some very, very, very good people around here!
     
  5. Indian_Turkers_Unite

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    What do you think about Speechink verbatim hits maggie and which are the biggest money-spinner hits on Mturk?
     
  6. Maggiemw

    Maggiemw User

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    Sorry, I don't do SpeechInk verbatim. I really dislike verbatim transcription and never do it if I can help it. I actually enjoy doing what is usually called "intelligent verbatim", without the false starts and fillers. The kind of language you can quote in an article, for example.

    Once your skills are really good, you can aim for higher paying audio and do more in less time, which is the only way that transcription becomes well-paying.

    It is the kind of composite skill (grammar, punctuation, vocabulary, an ear for meaning) that can be used way beyond the walls of Mturk... in places and for companies where the pay is much better.
     
  7. clogan98

    clogan98 User

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    I don't like Speechink verbatim's either. It's usually a bad cell phone, a non english speaking person and too many um, uh, likes that make you want to shoot yourself.
    I do the video transcription. However I did just have to complain and return a $50 HIT because the entire 2 hour movie was in JAPANESE! Yeah, OK. American over here!!! (waving hands)
    I don't use the foot pedal but I do use Express Scribe. It's good. I have the paid version because I do the videos. I want the foot pedal eventually, but then again, I usually do these on the couch with my feet up so kind of a moot point.
    Videos are the only ones that give you 4 days to do them.
     
  8. Indian_Turkers_Unite

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    I agree with both of you, maggie and clogan but speechink pays $25.50 for an hour of verbatim transcription while it pays along with Castingwords not more than $15 to $17 for an hoour of non-verbatim hits. So you need to slog for almost twice the time to earn as much money as a verbatim hit. Though verbatim hits takes more time, I make it a point to transcribe an hour of verbatim hits everyday so that my daily earning is at least $25 and sometimes it's more if the audio is a bit easier.

    What are the other better paying speechink and castingword hits or any other requester that pays more?
     
  9. clogan98

    clogan98 User

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    I admit, the main reasons I prefer the video are you get 4 days versus a few hours to do them and sometimes it helps to see them speak when it's a difficult to understand transcription.
     
  10. pieper

    pieper User

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    I purchased the foot pedal...supposedly compatible with Express Script and although it says it is set up, it doesn't work! So, am wondering if it only works with the paid version of Express Scribe...anyone know? Thanks.
     
  11. naturegirl

    naturegirl User

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    I have not noticed this thread before...I think because I was out writing the week it was posted. :)

    Hi, pieper! Yep, it probably does only work with the paid version. NCH, Express Scribe's maker, says more about this on their site, so check over there. But the nutshell version is that only a few pedal models will work if you don't upgrade to the paid version, and I'm guessing you don't have one of those. That's why I don't recommend pedals for MTurkers, purely for budgetary reasons: MTurk transcription won't pay you well enough to make back the cost quickly, unless you are sure you're dedicated. Otherwise, put the pedal cost together with the upgrade cost on ES, and that's a lotta money.

    As you might have guessed, I am the person that maggiemw mentioned---the one who wrote the book! I did it to put everything that Turkers ask about in one place; info in my sig. So as she says, I think it should help a lot. In fact, yours is at least the fourth question I'm answering just this week that has to do with info that's all collected there.

    Indian_Turkers_Unite, you are badly misinformed about payscales on MTurk transcription! It can pay much higher here than you realize. That's another reason I wrote the book, because I don't think most Turkers know what's possible on MTurk alone, and I thought it would be invaluable to people to find out specifics on those: which requesters have exactly which HITs to look for. I think many more people can do well at it than are, and part of it is just that no one knows what jobs are available for certain quals. It gets pretty complicated, though, and there are other factors involved (which is why the book has 12 chapters plus an Introduction, lol).

    So to ITU and anyone else who believes what he does about Turking transcription pay, please consider looking harder into all the possibilities some more, even if you choose to do it on your own, without the book. There's no reason anyone needs to be settling for that little on MTurk if they get up and running with transcription, and I hate to see anyone doing that.

    Yes, I had an easier time researching because I already have all the quals necessary (and yet it still took me weeks to gather all the info), but if you need not to spend the $2.99, I still think it may be worth your time in the long run to try and do the research on your own. You will be amazed at how much better the income possibilities look once you do.
     
    #11 naturegirl, Nov 3, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 3, 2012
  12. pieper

    pieper User

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    I was wrong...it does work with the free version! (The FP is one recommended). You have to actually start the file first! DUH. I am definitely going to start following you, naturegirl! I can use all the hints I can get. When I worked for the PD, transcription was my very favorite part of the job!

    SpeechInk prefers one to use VCL media player, but I have yet to figure the foot pedal out with it, even though I bought the software specificially for it. I am still in training on the Video Transcription...it's pretty fun, but needs to be a LOT easier for me, which I am assured it will be with practice (sort of like getting to Carnegie Hall, I guess ... LOL).

    As for the foot pedal, I have a small online business which allows me to write it off as an office expense

    The other habit I MUST break is the old rule of TWO SPACES after a period...I know I'm getting old, but did not know this rule (of thumb...LOL) had changed...
     
  13. naturegirl

    naturegirl User

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    Awesome, you got the right model! I am really happy to hear it.

    Okey-doke on the following. ;)

    Fascinating: you have PD transcription experience! There are law enforcement transcription opportunities available generally, off of the MTurk world. You might try Googling those if you're interested, and PM me if you can't find anything, because I can probably get you a lead or two. (As with everything else, you can always make more money with just about any task if you are willing to move off of MTurk with it---I like to be very up-front about that with people, because Turkdom should not be anyone's "reach for the stars," even though I think you can definitely work on maxing out your income on it.)

    Yeah, one space. Funny little quirk but can be so huge! Tip: double-space all you want, and then just use find and replace through your word processor to pick up all double spaces and replace them with one space.

    It would be great to hear whether you find video transcribing at all profitable, so let me know. In the book, I specifically state that on MTurk, I do not recommend it because it does not pay well enough. So, because the book is focused on getting Turkers to a double-digit hourly rate with transcription, I just refused to talk about options that would not get people there!
     
    #13 naturegirl, Nov 3, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 3, 2012
  14. pieper

    pieper User

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    Here's another stupid question - how do I get Express Scribe and Windows to stay open at the same time? I made each smaller, but when I try to type in Word, ES goes into the tray...grrrrr...
     
  15. naturegirl

    naturegirl User

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    That I can't help you with at the moment---I'm out of town and don't have access to my main machine! All I can do is guess.

    As I recall, ES has an Always on Top setting. I would look in Preferences or Options, which might be under a different menu. You may also just need to tell it to stop minimizing, which is also an option. Sorry I can't be of more specific help!
     
  16. pieper

    pieper User

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    I do remember seeing that...I WILL get the hang of all these new gadgets - just miss my IT guy at work - he just set me up and away I went...LOL.
     
  17. shariqueahmer11

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    pieper, to keep more than one window open at the same time do this:

    Right click on windows taskbar

    Select--> Tile windows horizontally
     
  18. naturegirl

    naturegirl User

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    Good luck, pieper! Yeah, no onsite IT guy is a drawback of freelancing. And I do think of Turking as freelancing---I think business-mindedness is really helpful in making it profitable!
     
  19. pieper

    pieper User

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    Thank you so much. I will try that!
     
  20. pieper

    pieper User

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    I don't have a Kindle - how can I get a copy of your eBook? If I'm going to freelance, double-digit hourly income would be awesome. I'm still researching some places that will offer PD transcription, and I will definitely contact you for input, if that's alright.

    And yes, search and replace is a GREAT idea!

    I'd much rather transcribe a 100-chapter book than video transcription, I think...LOL. Years ago I freelanced for a publishing company that had me retying hard copy of an author's work with special tagging (usually three letter codes, i.e., instead of an apostrophe, you'd type this three-letter code) - now you want to talk about clumsy! And the subject matter was very technical.

    But,the way I look at this training period is this: it's just training! Sort of a plus on my "resume" so to speak. I needed to get my confidence back after being away in the "retirement" world for 18-months.

    Anyway, you enjoy your weekend and I'll get this mess figured out soon - LOL :)
     

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