In my cyberspace travels, I notice there are still a lot of misperceptions about Virtual Assistants (VAs) and what we do. There are VAs with skills and experience in varied industries offering a wide selection of services, and then there are those that focus on one select service.
Today, I invited guest writer Annalisa Holmes, Director of The Transcription People (or as I know her via Twitter @transcribe) to do a post regarding her expertise; transcription.
Audio “transcription” is the process of converting spoken words into written words known as a 
transcript.
However, when we think of “typing” we are generally referring to “copy typing” which is simply typing from previously written or typed material and producing another document.
The two differ dramatically when it comes to actual transcription experience. In my business, we receive many job enquiries per day from people looking for transcription work who describe their transcription experience as “many years spent typing”. All our candidates are given a sample audio file to transcribe. However, when it comes to reviewing a trial transcript, I am often surprised at the poor quality of the transcription compared to the experience outlined in the resume. I too, soon forget just how different the two really are.
Transcription is the art of following a set of principles to create a specific transcript, particularly audio transcription which is our specialty. Setting the tone of the conversation, correct grammar, correct punctuation and to a large extent the interpretation of the speech makes up the set of principles.
There are then a number of factors which can affect the transcript including audio quality, number of speakers, background noise, terminology of the dialogue, document layout and formatting which all influence how accurate a transcription can be, whereas typing is simply more the act of typing words without necessarily following a particular format.
Typing is akin to cooking without a recipe, but transcription you need to follow a recipe to the letter.
Director
The Transcription People Pty Ltd
1 comments:
I often get people asking about transcription, and thinking, "Oh, I can type, I can do that," without realizing just how different it is from simply typing up a letter!
Post a Comment