Transcription Trends: Insights into the Future of TypeWell Work
At the beginning of the Fall 2023 semester, TypeWell polled active transcribers to gauge how much work they were assigned, what kinds of work they were assigned, and how they felt about it. Update: Our Spring 2024 survey is now up. TypeWell transcribers are encouraged to respond before May 31, 2024. Remote vs. on-site work […]
Facing the Tides of Change: The State of Real-Time Transcription in 2023
Before diving into the complexities of our industry’s current state, I’d like to take a moment to reflect on my last post, ‘Speaking of AI: Why I’m Confident in the Future of Professional Transcribers.’ While that conviction remains, this article aims to provide a more nuanced view of the challenges and opportunities we’re facing as […]
Speaking of AI: Why I’m Confident in the Future of Professional Transcribers
I firmly believe that human expertise in transcribing is essential for ensuring effective communication. Moreover, I am convinced that professional transcribers can maintain job security by being adaptable and committed to continuous improvement. When it comes to the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the real-time transcribing profession, I believe that this isn’t an […]
Portland Community College and TypeWell: A Partnership for Equal Access
Founded in 1961, Portland Community College (PCC) is the largest post-secondary institution in Oregon with over 60,000 students. PCC is an open enrollment institution, serving a diverse population of adult learners. As part of the PCC’s commitment to equal access for all students, the College has partnered with TypeWell since 2002 to offer live transcription […]
Transcribers as Captionists: What’s In a Name?
We used to be real sticklers about referring to TypeWell service providers as “transcribers” rather than “captionists.” That’s because we specialize in training our speech-to-text professionals to produce real-time transcripts, which are complete, textual records of full-length classes or meetings. We customarily reserved “captioning” to refer to the production of captions which, by definition, are […]
The Magic Behind the TypeWell Dictionary (Part 2)
When someone sends TypeWell a word suggestion to add to the abbreviation dictionary, I personally look up each word in a variety of dictionaries to try to verify that it’s a real word. Sometimes the “word” is really a misspelling or lesser usage of the proper word, and I’ll discuss those with the submitter to decide what to do. Even if a word is “improper,” we’ll often include it in the dictionary because if a teacher says an improper word, well, you need to capture that. So improper words are a feature, too.
The Magic Behind the TypeWell Dictionary (Part 1)
Counter to what most people might think, minimizing keystrokes is not the only goal of the TypeWell abbreviation system. We also have to consider the issue of learnability, and how real users function in a classroom transcribing environment.
The Indispensable iPad
As the solo transcriber in my school district, I take the initiative to stay abreast of the latest and greatest in the world of transcription. After TypeWell released web linking, I was excited to run a parallel test with an “Indispensable iPad”, while still giving students the laptops as readers. An Aha Moment – The […]