This presentation was given as part of the digital humanities workshop series at the Digital Scholar Studio. It includes a brief overview of transcribing for oral histories, as well as techniques and tools that can be used. Various speech recognition software are analyzed, and information given on the hardware available at the Digital Scholar Studio at Florida International University

Bakker, Rebecca

English

DigitalCommons@Florida International University

Florida International UniversityFIU Digital CommonsWorks of the FIU Libraries FIU Libraries3-2017Transcription Tools and SoftwareRebecca BakkerFlorida International UniversityFollow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/glworksPart of the Library and Information Science Commons, and the Oral History CommonsThis work is brought to you for free and open access by the FIU Libraries at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Works of theFIU Libraries by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact dcc@fiu.edu.Recommended CitationBakker, Rebecca, "Transcription Tools and Software" (2017). Works of the FIU Libraries. 62.https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/glworks/62Transcription Tools and SoftwareRebecca BakkerDigital Collections CenterFlorida International UniversityTRANSCRIPTION• Written record of an interview• Printed representation of what has been spoken out loudWHY TRANSCRIBE?Accessibility• Helps viewers to quickly skim and determine relevance of an interview  • Helps viewers understand voices on the interview• Provides the means for a full-text search online• ADA requirements for Web AccessibilityTRANSCRIPTION BUILDS SKILLS• Active listening• Empathy• Analysis• Literacy BuildingINTERVIEWER TIPS• Have a “lead”!  The lead should consist of: the names of narrator and interviewer, day and year of session, interview’s location, and proposed subject of the recording.• Immediately after the interview, write down your notes.  Add some context, biographical information on the interviewee, or anything that will help the audience or transcriber understand the interview.  Make a quick summary.  This may be used to create an abstract that can be used as a finding aid later.INTERVIEWER TIPS• Obtain release forms! Include the interviewee’s name, date, signature and make sure it includes a statement of permission.  Keep copies.• Make digital copies, and make sure copies are being preserved within accepted best practices.TRANSCRIBING TIPS• Consider transcribing only relevant or important portions, if time and money are a consideration.  Indicate the time of the excerpted portions on the transcript.• Listen to a few minutes (or the whole thing!) first before you start typing – it allows you to pick up the cadence and speech patterns of the participants.  • Research any unknown names, places.  Look at the places on a map – it will give you a greater context for what the interviewee is speaking about.SPEECH RECOGNITION SOFTWARE• Accuracy still lacking• Transcription vs. DictationSPEECH RECOGNITION SOFTWAREAvailable at FIU:• Dragon Naturally Speaking• Adobe PremiereFree:• Google • YouTube• Apple DictationPaid:• PopUp ArchiveSAMPLE TRANSCRIPTIONHersh: I’m doing an interview with Mr. Aristotle Ares, and this is at the headquarters of the Miami Design Preservation League on December 10, 2011. The interviewer is Kathy Hersh and this is a Miami Beach Visual Memoirs Project. You were telling a story about something that happened in your neighborhood, early on - the Ku Klux Klan arrived?Ares: Yes.Hersh: What brought them there, what happened?Ares: There was a young couple with two children that happened to move in. All of a sudden there was a lot of screaming and yelling going on and things being thrown around. And after a couple of days, our neighbor Mr. Powell called the police. The police came and it stopped for a few days. Then all of a sudden it started again. My mother noticed, when she was hanging out the laundry, that the lady had moved in was all black and blue. On her face, her arms. The next thing I knew, there was a commotion at the front window and I see my mother and my sisters going to the front window and there’s three Ku Klux Klansman, fully robed. They’ve come and they’ve taken him and they’re taking him out to their car. She’s hitting the third guy, telling him to release her husband –“Leave my husband alone!” Premiere[Speaker 0] I'm doing it a few with Mr Hurst all terrorists and that this is that the um headquarters of the Miami design preservation me on December two thousand eleven of the interviewers Kathy her chances in Miami Beach his own memoir structure you were telling a story about something that happened in your neighborhood [Speaker 1] early on with mom the Ku Klux Klan or I guess what what brought them there what happened [Speaker 2] the monthly arm couple with two children that happened and move them all of us Umno it was a lot of screaming and yelling going on and things am thrown around and after a couple of days our neighbor Mr Powell call the police police came and stopped for a few days not all of a sudden it started again that my mother noticed when she was lying about the laundry but the lady that was he had moved them most all black and blue with on our face or arms and up next thing I do there was a commotion at the front window and I see my mother my sister is going to the front window a nursery Ku Klux Klan one bolero that common they take it down a polltaken time out to their car and she a city in the third guy a toll on him to really surprise relieve my husband alonei'm doing an interview with mr Aristotle heiress and this is at the headquarters of the Miami design preservation League on December tenth 2011 the interviewers Kathy her she says the Miami Beach visual memoirs project you were telling a story about something that happened in your neighborhood early on with the Ku Klux Klan arrived yes what what brought them there what happened with theyoung couple with two children that happened to move in and all of a sudden there was a lot of screaming and yelling going on and things being thrown around and after a couple of days our neighbor mr Powell called the police the police came and it stopped for a few days then all of a sudden it started again and my mother noticed when she was hanging out the laundry that the lady that washad moved in was all black and blue with on her face or arms and next thing I knew there was a commotion at the front window and I see my mother and my sisters go into the front window and there's three Ku Klux Klansmen fully robed they've come and they've taken him and they're pulled taking them out to their car and she's hitting the third guy telling them to release her husband leave my husband alone I’m doing an interview with mr. Aristotle Eros and this is at the headquarters of the Miami Design preservation league on December 10th of 2011 of the interviewers Kathy her since is a Miami Beach visual Memoirs project you were telling a story about something that happened in your neighborhood early on with um the Ku Klux Klan or what what brought them there what happened remove the young couple with two children that happened them move in and I all of a sudden there was a lot of screaming and yelling going on and things being thrown around and after a couple of days our neighbor mr.Powell call the police police came and its stop for a few days then all of a sudden it started again and my mother noticed when she was hanging out the laundry that the lady that was move them was all black and blue with on her face or arms and the next thing I knew there was a commotion at the front window and I see my mother and my sister is going to the front window and there's three Ku Klux klansmen fully row they've come and they've taken him and they're both taking them out to their car and she's hitting the third guy telling them to release her husband leave my husband aloneI'm doing an interview with Mr. Aristotle Erris. And this is at the headquarters of the Miami design preservation league on December 10th 2011. The interviewer is Cathy Herse this is a Miami Beach official memoirs project. 0:27.33F3 You were telling a story about something that happened in your neighborhood early on with the Ku Klux Klan right. Yes. 0:39.15M1 What what brought them there what happened with the young couple with two children that happened them move in. And all of a sudden. There was a lot of screaming and yelling going on. Other things being thrown around and after a couple of days our neighbor Mr. Powell called the police police came and it stopped for a few days. Then all of a sudden it started again. And my mother noticed when she was hanging out the laundry that the lady that was in had moved then was all black and blue on her face her arms and next thing I knew there was a commotion at the front window and I see my mother and my sisters going to the front window and there's three Ku Klux Klansman fully rolled. They've come in they've taken him and their poll taken them out to their car and she's hitting the third guy telling them to release her husband leave my husband alone. I'm doing an interview with Mr. Aristotle Aris and this is at the headquarters of the Miami design preservation leak on December 10, 2011 on the interviewer's Kathy Hirsch is a Miami Beach visual memoirs project you were telling a story about something that happened in your neighborhood early on with the Ku Klux Klan arrived this what what brought them there what happened beautiful young couple with two children that happened to move them all of a sudden the there was a lot of screaming and yelling going on things being thrown around and after a couple of days our neighbor Mr. Powell call the police police came in at stop for a few days thatall of a sudden it started again my mother noticed when she was I got out the laundry that the lady that was had moved them was all black and blue with on her face her arms in the next thing I knew there was a commotion at the front window when I see my mother and my sisters going to the front window and there's three Ku Klux Klan's wonderfully role they've come alive take a dam in the poll taken him out to their car and she is hitting the third guy tell of the release her husband leave my husband alone SPEECH RECOGNITION SOFTWARESPEECH RECOGNITION SOFTWARESPEECH RECOGNITION SOFTWAREVOICE WRITINGVOICE WRITINGI'm doing an interview with Mr. Aristotle Eris, this is at the headquarters of the Miami design preservation league on December 10, 2011. The interviewer is Kathy Hirsch, this is a Miami Beach visual memoirs project. You were telling a story about something that happened in your neighborhood, early on, with the Ku Klux Klan arrived?YesWhat brought them there what happened?There was a young couple with two children that happen to move in and all of a sudden there was a lot of screaming and yelling going on and things being thrown around. And after a couple of days, our neighbor Mr. Powell called the police. The police came and it stopped for a while. Then all of a sudden it started again. My mother noticed when she was hanging out the laundry that the lady was had moved in was all black and blue. On her face her arms. The next thing I knew, there was a commotion at the front window and I see my mother and my sisters going to the front window and there's three Ku Klux Klan's been fully robed. That, and they've taken him and they taken them out to their car and she is hitting the third guy telling him to release her husband leave my husband alone. That was interesting I think I could probably get better at thatALTOEDGE TRANSCRIPTION FOOT PEDAL• Three-button USB foot pedal • Designed for use with Express Scribe by NCH Software, but can be adapted to work with many different transcription applications• Works with Microsoft Word and all major word-processors• Allows you to play, stop, fast-forward and rewind with simple foot pedalsEXPRESS SCRIBE TRANSCRIPTION SOFTWARE• Variable speed playback (constant pitch)• Supports audio and video playback• Uses 'hotkeys' to control playback when transcribing into other software (e.g., Word)• Works with speech recognition software such as Dragon Naturally Speaking to automatically convert speech to textTRANSCRIBING IS AN ART, NOT A SCIENCEA transcript of an oral history interview is, “at best an imperfect representation of an oral interview. The transcriber’s most important task is to render as close a replica to the actual event as possible. Accuracy, not speed, is the transcriber’s goal.”“Oral history is not an exercise in literary composition; the transcriber should avoid value judgments about the grammar or vocabulary of an interviewee.”Baylor University Institute for Oral History. Style Guide: A Quick Reference for Editing Oral History Transcripts. Waco, TX, 2015TRANSCRIBING IS AN ART, NOT A SCIENCE• If there are multiple people working on the same project, agree on a “style guide” to ensure consistency (headers, font, format, etc.)• Always indicate change in speaker• Indicate time stamps at regular intervals, and when there is an inaudible portion• Whatever you do, be consistent• When in doubt, use Chicago Manual of Style:• Abbreviations• Capitalization• NumbersTRANSCRIBING IS AN ART, NOT A SCIENCECommon issues:• False starts• Run-on sentences• Non verbals• Dialects• Filler words[TRANSCRIBING IS AN ART, NOT A SCIENCE]Use brackets to indicate anything you have added to the document:[inaudible 00:33:04][end of interview]My grandfather is buried there [pointing out the window], under that oak tree.[laughing]I work in the DCC [Digital Collections Center]every day.[crosstalk 00:04:45] TRANSCRIBING IS AN ART, NOT A SCIENCEThe transcript:• Should not embarrass the narrator or make him or her look foolish• Should capture the flavor of a narrator’s speech• Should be clarified when appropriate with the use of bracketsTHE ART OF EDITING TRANSCRIPTSStart with a verbatim version – everything said, including repetitions, false starts, grammatical errors• First pass edit – fix transcription errors, try to identify inaudible passages, spell check• Second pass edit – correct names, global fixes, formatting• Third pass edit – “big picture.”  Remove some stock phrases, ensure flowTHE ART OF EDITING TRANSCRIPTSVerbatim:I did want to mention the psychiatrist. When I was sitting with the Herald shrink, he was just asking me a lot of mundane questions and then he asked another question and he said, um, have you, do you ever have urges that you can't control? And um, and his eyes got kind of glittery and he’s sort of staring at me. And uh, and I said, yes, because I figured I had to say something. So, uh, and he said, and what are they? You know. And I said, at least once or twice a week I can't help myself, I have to drive to Dairy Queen and get one of those pineapple Hawaiian sundaes and, um, with coconut. And he said, oh. [Laughs] And that, that was about the end of that. THE ART OF EDITING TRANSCRIPTSFinal edit:I did want to mention the psychiatrist. When I was sitting with the Herald [Miami Herald] shrink, he was just asking me a lot of mundane questions and then he asked another question and he said, “Do you ever have urges that you can't control?” And his eyes got kind of glittery and he’s sort of staring at me. And I said, “Yes,” because I figured I had to say something. So he said, “And what are they?” I said, “At least once or twice a week I can't help myself, I have to drive to Dairy Queen and get one of those pineapple Hawaiian sundaes with coconut.” And he said, “Oh.” [Laughs] And that was about the end of that. REFERENCESStyle Guides:• http://www.mnhs.org/collections/oralhistory/ohtranscribing.pdf• http://guides.lib.usf.edu/ld.php?content_id=158936• http://sites.clas.ufl.edu/spohp/files/SPOHP-Style-Guide-2016.pdf• http://sohp.org/files/2013/11/A-Practical-Guide-to-Oral-History_march2014.pdf• http://ufdc.ufl.edu/IR00002513/00001REFERENCES• http://ohda.matrix.msu.edu/2012/06/transcribing-oral-history-in-the-digital-age/• http://ohda.matrix.msu.edu/best-practices/• http://www.loc.gov/vets/transcribe.html• http://www.nebraskahistory.org/lib-arch/research/audiovis/oral_history/processing.htm• http://www.oralhistory.org/about/principles-and-practices/• http://www.oralhistory.org/web-guides-to-doing-oral-history/

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