I do not write this post to complain about my transcription woes, but rather to comment on this aspect of inaccessibility within the oral history field. Thankfully, my professor was more than understanding, and asked that another student whose interview withdrew at the last minute perform the task of transcribing my piece. Essentially, it was unable to accurately understand the voice through my speakers, thus requiring me to go through the painstaking process of retraining the entire program to accurately hear two voices. So, I repeated the steps and watched as my program decided to reboot itself to its introductory stages. In a state of panic, I attempted to discern the problem.
DRAGON NATURALLYSPEAKING PREMIUM 13 STUDENT TEACHER EDITION SOFTWARE
Within an hour, the software was only capable of producing 99 words, none of which formed a cohesive sentence. “All 616 so first question what do you dislike and the individual the only Mount Washington my father would it is so applied to it quite a while will but I really want to stay home and precinct on was the campus like very welcoming verys the student union with just a cross place that was really nice the ball all that was your starting to have been possible names that this that was a witness agreed by non-as far as I think that was it wasn’t so much the buildings and everything is it was the intellectual” After returning home, I simply activated the software, positioned the microphone toward my speakers, and turned on the recording. With my professor agreeing to my plan, I borrowed the appropriate equipment, and set out to create a modified transcription. After all, I had read that voice recognition programs, while not entirely successful, were accurate enough to create a decent transcription. Not wanting to disappoint my interviewee, I suggested that I would attempt to transcribe the interview through my Dragon NaturallySpeaking speech-to-text software. But it would be unfair of me to ask someone to transcribe my 45:01 oral history, word for word. If a particular section was especially pertinent, I would simply ask for assistance with typing the necessary passage. Therein lies the problem for me as a budding oral historian. An hour-long interview may only utilize a fraction of a specific recording. However, journalists only need to search for a few specific quotes in order to produce the piece.
Similar to oral historians, journalists often transcribe excerpts of their recordings. Throughout my Journalism studies, I sat down with countless individuals asking them to share their stories. I utilize an electric wheelchair to move, a speech-to-text program in order to finish my numerous assignments, and a friend who acts as my scribe in the classroom.ĭespite my physical limitations, I completed my undergraduate schooling with a dual degree in Classical Civilizations and Journalism. Surprise, I’m physically disabled.Īt 13 months old, I was diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type II, a neuromuscular disorder that gradually weakens my muscles over time.
Transcribing shouldn’t be too difficult, right? Not for an able-bodied individual. Plus, our lab came equipped with Express Scribe software, as well as a transcription pedal. These conversations even included recommended transcription methods.ĭepending on the length of the interview, transcription by a non-professional like me may prove to be nothing more than an 8-hour process: laborious, but doable. I was thrilled knowing that my classmates and I had the opportunity to sit down with participants of this movement, learning about their incredible experiences.īefore our prospective interview dates, our professor facilitated classroom discussions on best practices for conducting an oral history interview.
With the goal to raise one million dollars, students garnered national attention for their efforts to prevent Duquesne from shutting its doors. In this guest post, public history graduate student Grant Stoner reflects on the difficulties of oral history transcription for individuals with physical disabilities, challenging us to consider issues of accessibility within oral history methodology, while noting the limitations of digital technologies.ĭuring my first semester as a graduate student in the Public History program at Duquesne University, I was tasked with conducting an oral history of the Third Alternative campaign, a local campus movement that lasted from 1970-1971 consisting of several student-led fundraising events. Transcribing Woes of Disabled Oral Historians