Hello everyone! I lead project to provide transcripts for the podcast, which is great for both accessibility for people who can’t listen to podcasts or find it easier to read transcripts, and for searching things that were said in podcasts. Now with SUSD’s heroic pledge to release a podcast every week this year, the current transcription team (i.e., me and on rare occasions my wife) needs some extra hands so that the transcription doesn’t slow down too much and/or we don’t get burned out and abandon it altogether. That’s just a reality of the amount of time something like this can take, but the good news is that many hands make light work, and transcription can be fun and rewarding!
So with that in mind, for anyone who would like to contribute to this project, please send me a message so that I can add you as an editor in the Google Docs folder. Here are some FAQs:
- What’s the time commitment? A: No commitment necessary! Contribute as much as you can, when you can.
- Is there a set of transcription/formatting guidelines to follow? A: There are no official guidelines, so you can transcribe in whatever way is easiest for you. You don’t have to follow the style of the current transcriptions, as long as you’re including the names of the speakers. I will be going over any transcriptions to clean up and correct errors (a much quicker process than the transcription itself), so that will help smooth any minute style differences.
- Are there any tools I can use to help transcribe better? A: Yes! There is a free software called Express Scribe that has playback controls, different speed settings, and pause-and-repeat functionality that I’ve found very useful.
If you have any other questions, post them below and I will answer them and add them to this list. Again, if you’re interested, message me and I can get you set up. It’s a good, low-pressure way to contribute to something minor but meaningful and support a team that provides so much excellent content for us.