Like, Transcription

May 15, 2012 7:02 PM

The web transcription of last month's podcast is 90% done. Stop by, and do a couple of 30 second snippets!

This MeTa can also serve as a discussion of the Fanscribed demo. I thought the interface was great, and I like the idea of transcribing the podcast for everyone, but I don't think the effort is sustainable with only a couple of transcribers working on it.

posted by zamboni to MetaFilter-Related at 7:02 PM (33 comments total)

That was fun and cool. Matt says "like" a LOT!

The interface works and I was glad to check it out. I love that you could crowdsource things like oral history transcription or meeting minutes. For MeFi, I'm not sure how useful this is, though.
posted by Miko at 7:55 PM on May 15, 2012

Okay, I did my bit!
posted by ocherdraco at 7:55 PM on May 15, 2012

I tried a bit, made a mess, accidentally saved it, and then it crashed my browser! So.
posted by verbyournouns at 8:07 PM on May 15, 2012

Wait. I'm having trouble. Can I make it pause somehow?
posted by Night_owl at 8:10 PM on May 15, 2012

(However, I think this is generally a great idea.)
posted by verbyournouns at 8:15 PM on May 15, 2012

Backslash, Night_owl, which is the slash under backspace (or under delete if you're on a mac like me). It is both pause and play.
posted by ocherdraco at 8:15 PM on May 15, 2012

well, that was easy and amusing. The interface and keyboard shortcuts are great!
posted by peachfuzz at 8:19 PM on May 15, 2012

Shit, that interface was fine, the actual transcribing was way harder than I expected! Also, I can't really tell mathowie from cortex. So. Those parts might be wrong.

I don't think the effort is sustainable with only a couple of transcribers working on it.

But- well, what if I PROMISE to feed and walk the dog from now on? And you won't even have to remind me? And I swear I'll clean up after it?
posted by Snarl Furillo at 8:34 PM on May 15, 2012

The interface was really nice! I wasn't sure how to handle people talking over one another at the same time, though.
posted by topoisomerase at 8:36 PM on May 15, 2012

Ok, yeah, so it ended up being easier for me to just let the bit play through multiple times. I did three, plus some reviewing. I'm happy to do it, but won't remember. If someone wants to email or MeMail nudge me when it's time, though, I'll do a bunch. I'm gonna listen to the show anyway.
posted by Night_owl at 8:45 PM on May 15, 2012 [1 favorite]

And I can totally tell mathowie and cortex apart! Much easier than on the other podcast I listen to regularly.
posted by Night_owl at 8:46 PM on May 15, 2012 [1 favorite]

This is a thread where we get to complain about how there hasn't been a podcast on time as promised right? Because I'm totally itching to do that and the podcast threads close right when the next one becomes late.
posted by Blasdelb at 10:40 PM on May 15, 2012

And Blasdelb, the last podcast still had "Metafilter Weekly Podcast" as the album art. Not that I blame 'em for not making it weekly, but you gotta admire the optimism there!
posted by barnacles at 11:06 PM on May 15, 2012

I was thought that said last month's podcast is 90% drone, and I was in the mood for some ambient background blather.
posted by StickyCarpet at 1:53 AM on May 16, 2012

And, now, to complete the circle, we just need to hack the transcript into short pieces and record them in the voices of random groups of three people.
posted by pipeski at 2:08 AM on May 16, 2012 [3 favorites]

I like how Matt commands his employees to be amused by his jokes:

Mathowie
Yeah, I felt like I contracted diabetes by the end of the donut.
Jessamyn and Cortex laugh

posted by pracowity at 4:40 AM on May 16, 2012 [2 favorites]

Also, I can't really tell mathowie from cortex.

I'm the one on the left!
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:19 AM on May 16, 2012 [2 favorites]

So, I see you have all finished the transcribing. Can I help review it? I've been meaning to listen to the podcast anyway, and I'm home sick...
posted by bilabial at 8:18 AM on May 16, 2012

You people are crazy amazing! Anybody have burning desires to continue on with transcribing more podcasts? Because that would be completely awesome.
posted by iamkimiam at 8:42 AM on May 16, 2012 [1 favorite]

iamkimiam sees a brand new corpus appearing before her very eyes...
posted by ocherdraco at 8:51 AM on May 16, 2012 [6 favorites]

I started to review it, but I was too sleepy to actually do anything. I did enjoy reading along with what I was hearing, and reviewing would be valuable because I did see a couple small errors (but again, didn't do anything about it...aren't I adorable?)

My 2 cents on one part of it...it would be more - fun? - IMO if the transcript containd all the umms and uhhs and ellipses and really literally captured what they were saying, like looking at one of those 911 transcripts on the evening news.
posted by mreleganza at 8:58 AM on May 16, 2012 [1 favorite]

And, now, to complete the circle, we just need to hack the transcript into short pieces and record them in the voices of random groups of three people.

Cortex is the one on the left.
posted by frimble at 9:03 AM on May 16, 2012 [2 favorites]

So, I see you have all finished the transcribing. Can I help review it?

Absolutely.

My 2 cents on one part of it...it would be more - fun? - IMO if the transcript containd all the umms and uhhs and ellipses

Transcribing the podcast is tricky enough without mandating absolute accuracy, particularly with the way they talk over each other. I find that eliding linguistic fillers makes both transcription and reading easier, but I tended to leave "like" in, since it often supplies a smidge of semantic content.
posted by zamboni at 9:18 AM on May 16, 2012 [1 favorite]

Can someone tell me what to press to review?

My problem solving skills and sneezing seem inversely related.
posted by bilabial at 9:28 AM on May 16, 2012

Click on the transcribe tab.
Make sure you have an identity saved in the column on the right (both name and email).
Click the review button on the left.
posted by zamboni at 9:33 AM on May 16, 2012

IMO if the transcript containd all the umms and uhhs and ellipses

It tends to make everyone read like an idiot in my experience. People say a lot of umms.
posted by smackfu at 12:43 PM on May 16, 2012

Umm like maybe you do
posted by jonmc at 1:18 PM on May 16, 2012

In a journalism class I was told "If you want to make people sound like an idiot wrote them directly. If you can't remember exactly what was said write what would make the person sound good."
posted by cjorgensen at 6:25 PM on May 16, 2012

cjorgensen: "If you want to make people sound like an idiot, quote them directly."
posted by pipeski at 1:26 AM on May 17, 2012 [2 favorites]

more like
cjorgensen: "If you want to make people sound like an idiot wrote them directly."
posted by jacalata at 11:26 PM on May 17, 2012 [2 favorites]

Thanks for helping us not sound like idiots.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:11 PM on May 18, 2012 [1 favorite]

"For MeFi, I'm not sure how useful this is, though." - Miko

Metafilter is a text-based website that offers a podcast as extra content.
For the deaf and hard of hearing, a transcription of the podcast is a delight!

The interface was really nice! I wasn't sure how to handle people talking over one another at the same time, though. - topoisomerase

After spending hours transcribing, I have found it easier to allow sentences to finish then add the interjections in a reader-friendly way.

The purpose of the transcription is to capture the conversation in a readable format.

....

I am so thankful to zamboni for the 90% post. I am glad that we can agree we have found a better way to transcribe. Now for implementation!
posted by TangerineGurl at 9:50 PM on May 18, 2012

This was labelled a demo page. How permanent is it? Should we copy it over to the pretty-solid-and-established wiki, or just link the demo page from the wiki?
posted by Pronoiac at 5:07 PM on May 21, 2012