Speculations : The Rumor Mill : Anonymous : Writing and Voice Recognition Software

Topic 256 was started on 1999-04-12. There are 141 messages available to read.

Will the advent of cheap voice recognition software will increase the ranks of writers (and the slushpile) tenfold? Or are we just jumping at shadows again?

Oldest Older Newer Newest

Message 141 was left by S.N.Arly * on 2003-11-24 13:59:15. Feedback: 0/0 Some captioning is definitely done by transcriptionists (I work with one), but I'm not sure about things like news programs that can't be done far in advance. VR would be nice, but you'd have to do some sort of training with the broadcasters, and even then you'd have interresting recognition errors. A lot of transcription is outsourced to India, and these could be human made transcription errors as a result in less familiarity with the language.

Message 140 was left by Jay Arr * on 2003-11-23 20:26:47. Feedback: 0/0 We have the captioning turned on for several of our televisions and I'm having quite a bit of fun comparing what people actually say with what appears in the captions. Does anyone know if most of these captions are created by VR? Or do they have wage-slaves busily typing away? I suspect that much of the captioning is by VR and, if so, I think I'll pass for now. Hehehe. I'm thinking of keeping pencil and paper handy and recording some of the better captions. It might make a funny short article for some humor magazine. "piece of shit" = Pizza ship? That's hilarious.

Message 139 was left by S.N.Arly * on 2003-10-22 14:38:54. Feedback: 0/0 That's lovely. I've been to that place from time to time. I will point out that when you hit that level of frustration with your VR, don't, under any circumstances, bite the microphone, no matter how good an idea it may seem at the time. Microphones only *look* soft and squashy.

Message 138 was left by Lori * on 2003-10-21 17:24:26. Feedback: 1/1 Shamelessly stolen from the Onion: Voice Recognition Software Yelled At NEW YORK—Fidelity Financial Services' Gwen Watson, 33, shouted angrily at her IBM ViaVoice Pro USB voice-recognition software, sources close to the human-resources administrator reported Monday. "No, not Gary Friedman! Barry Friedman, you stupid computer. BARRY!" Watson was heard to scream from her cubicle. "Jesus Christ, I could've typed it in a hundredth of the time." After another minute of yelling, Watson was further incensed upon looking at her screen, which read, "Barely Freedman you God ram plucking pizza ship."

Message 137 was left by SHARON * on 2003-10-04 17:27:53. Feedback: 0/0 I HAVE BOUGHT THE VIA VOICE AND DS330. THEY SAY THAT YOU CAN USE THEM TOGETHER. NEITHER CAME WITH INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO USE THEM TOGETHER CAN ANYONE HELP ME WITH THIS.

Message 136 was left by S.N.Arly * on 2003-08-12 14:10:51. Feedback: 0/0 I haven't had time to check into reviews on recorders, but while I was at Diversicon this weekend I ran into someone whose spouse trains folks to use VR. It sounded like she was quite fond of Olympus as a brand for VR.

Message 135 was left by Geoffrey A. Landis * on 2003-07-28 10:37:30. Feedback: 0/0 >Geoffrey - I couldn't find the recorder or headset. from Google, the number one hit on terms DS-330 olympus recorder is http://www.startstop.com/ds330.asp

Message 134 was left by S.N.Arly * on 2003-07-25 13:52:05. Feedback: 0/0 Geoffrey - I couldn't find the recorder or headset. I could just be incompetent today. Is it a separate recorder and microphone set up? I've found that a lot of VR users are... well enthusiastic. Based on the number of reviews I found when I upgraded my headset mic a few months back, you should be able to find some reviews on the different recorders out there and which ones work best with which programs (if there's a difference). Terry - No big. I can't do my own transcription because my hands are messed up.

Message 133 was left by DaveK * on 2003-07-25 11:32:46. Feedback: 0/0 Here's a news article that might be useful: http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusgen/cnet07-23-153506a.asp?t=CNTEK

Message 132 was left by Terry * on 2003-07-24 20:42:33. Feedback: 0/0 S.N.Arly, mea culpa: I was just talking about recorders, not ones compatible with Dragon. I'll be doing my own transcribing if I ever use ours.

Message 131 was left by Geoffrey A. Landis * on 2003-07-24 15:17:02. Feedback: 0/0 Well, I put in an order for ViaVoice to play with. (My web search had taken me to a page with Dragons press release talking about their developing a Mac version... obviously, this didn't happen). Any advice on recorders to use? The Dragon website seems to feature the Olympus DS-330 + Plantronics Hands-free headset The Olympus is a little pricy, with a list price of $140, but it does have built-in USB, it's mac compatable, and Google says I can find it as low as $108 plus shipping.

Message 130 was left by S.N.Arly * on 2003-07-23 15:03:15. Feedback: 0/0 Yeah. The toughest part about the switch to Dragon for me was that I don't think orally... or I didn't at the time. If you're already used to doing dictiation, and you think in spoken word, I think VR is a lot easier. Digital recorders for $30-40? When I last looked, the most basic one that would work with Dragon was in the neigborhood of $200. Perhaps it is time to look again. Though I don't tend to have too much dead time. My commute is a 15 minute walk, and the folks on my route might think I'd lost it if they saw me talking to myself. We have plenty such folks in the area.

Message 129 was left by Terry Hickman on 2003-07-23 08:57:28. Feedback: 0/0 S.N., they have electronic recorders that can hold up to like 1.5 or 2 hours' recording at a time, for pretty low costs, $30 - $40, I think. Ones that have noise cancelling are no doubt more expensive. This is something I think about trying now and then because of my commute (3 hours round trip). But I'm a very visual person; I've never felt I would be *able* to compose stories verbally. I suppose it's worth trying. I have a cassette recorder of my husband's I could use. It has a very good mike with it but I suspect it'd be very hard to hear me over the highway noises. Still vacillating...

Message 128 was left by S.N.Arly * on 2003-07-22 13:57:05. Feedback: 0/0 If you're on a Mac, I think Via Voice is pretty much your only option. In the past, Dragon Systems toyed with the possibility of a Mac version of the software, but it never quite panned out (though I'm still hoping they can come out with a Linux version). Dragon is now owned by ScanSoft, and they haven't made any Mac noises. Their site even recommends Via Voice for Mac users. I've seen a lot of reviews and reports from folks who test and use both programs, and it sounds like they are comparable in many respects. I think the biggest disadvantage over Via Voice is that the initial training is a bit longer. With any program additional training will make the recognition better, so it's sort of a moot point. I haven't used a portable recorder, mostly because I'm too poor to buy one. You'll want noise cancelling, if possible, because the accoustics, and therefore your voice, will be more variable than sitting in the same room all the time. You'll also want to be sure to read over anything you have transcribed close to when you dictated it (especially when you first start) because it can be tougher to sort out recognition errors later, instead of as they occur. None of these are bad things, per se. Just things to keep in mind and expect as you start out. I think it's a great idea to dictate during the "dead" time.

Message 127 was left by Geoffrey A. Landis * on 2003-07-21 14:54:34. Feedback: 0/0 I'm mulling over getting some voice recognition software, to see if I can use a portable recorder to use otherwise "dead" time to get some words down. Any commentary over Via Voice (IBM) or Dragon, used on a Mac?

Message 126 was left by Geoff Nelder on 2003-06-24 16:20:05. Feedback: 0/0 Can anyone tell me how to get Narrator in OfficeXP to read out highlighted text from Word.

Message 125 was left by ol;h;oi * on 2003-06-12 17:52:44. Feedback: -1/1 o;guo

Message 124 was left by S.N.Arly * on 2003-06-10 22:15:58. Feedback: 0/0 Crossposted to Ergonomic Issues (because I couldn't find this topic). I got the following note earlier this week. If you use voice recognition and you're interested in talking to the guy doing the article, his e-mail is scottlajoieAThotmail.com (and of course you substitute @ for AT). ~~~~~~~~~~~~ I am doing an article for Wired magazine on how the creative process of literary writing will change when authors start moving to VR, and comparing it to how it changed when we went from typewriters to word processors/computers. You would like to talk to me about this? Do you know of anyone else who uses VR to write novels? Scott Lajoie

Message 123 was left by S.N.Arly on 2002-09-16 13:33:53. Feedback: 0/0 I've been using Dragon NaturallySpeaking Preferred version 3.01 since April 1999. This weekend I received version 5 as a gift. Can hardly wait to see what the new features are and how they work. I understand that its/it's should come out correctly more often than my current version. I hear version 6 has loads of new features but is as flakey as a Microsoft product.

Message 122 was left by S.N.Arly * on 2002-07-03 13:14:27. Feedback: 0/0 My dad has several voices. The one I usually hear, the real dad. Then there's the pharmacist voice and the ham radio operator voice. I can always tell when he's on a phone patch with someone's radio. I haven't been on the air enough to delevop radio voice. True the average book is read in the head and that may be the more important filter generally, but since I do more reading than selling right now, it's a perk. I disagree that anything can sound good read out loud. I have a couple of stories that I expected to read nicely out loud, but they end up confusing the listener because it's harder to see what's going on - who's speaking. And in these cases I'm pretty sure I haven't devolved to Star Wars quality writing. I prefer my stories to work both out loud and in the head when possible. Isn't always. I don't use a different voice for dictating, although I may try to enunciate more clearly. Some VR programs require dictation style speech, Dragon doesn't. I think that would have made it harder to learn. And yeah, most of us would rather stick with what's comfortable and familiar. Why change if you don't have to?

Message 121 was left by Elizabeth * on 2002-07-03 11:18:52. Feedback: 0/0 Hmm. My dad has always dictated everything, through a 45-year (and continuing) legal career. That's a lot of dictated words. As a teenager adn college student, I played substitute-secretary when his real secretary was on vacation, so I got to hear how his dictation was different from his regular speech. Not much difference. That's what continuous practice will do for you. Of course, Dad's a heck of a speaker. What I did notice was how much his phraseology rubbed off on me. I, too, can speak and write in that formal dialect that so impresses people. What I cannot do, however, is dictate it. I can speak it, but I can't dictate it--if you can see the distinction I'm making. I suspect that I could learn to dictate it, and it is merely that typing is easier than dictating that keeps me on the keyboard. Most people feel self-conscious when speaking aloud, particularly when theirs is the only voice to be heard. I can't imagine a significant number of people could overcome that, but couldn't be driven to type, if they really want to write. I suspect also certain generational gaps will interfere--Dad's from a generation that learned to speak in public (public speaking class is now usually only an elective or only one semester). Further, the current generation is used to a keyboard--they grow up with the computer, as I grew up with a typewriter, as my father did not. I'll grant that people may start writing by dictation, and I don't think that will be a terrible thing--but before that happens, we will have to have widespread use of voice-interfacing, and less use of the keyboard. People are unlikely to change their habits unless there is a significant reason to. Perhaps physical problems such as Snarly's (and, for the record, mine) will drive that change. Shifting to a slightly different topic--I never did hold with that "what does it sound like read aloud" business. It's a bonus if something sounds good read aloud, but the average book isn't read aloud--it's read in the head. I'm much more interested in how easily my writing gets through that filter. And, speaking from experience, pretty much anything sounds fine read aloud, if the reader is talented enough. The writing has to be pretty bad--say, on the level of the script for SW episode II--before it sounds horrid out loud. Not that there aren't plenty of people writing such horrid stuff, and those are clearly the people who need to read their work aloud. But I don't think most writers need to worry about it. --E

Message 120 was left by S.N.Arly * on 2002-07-02 14:09:27. Feedback: 0/0 Terry - Thanks. I'm really very pleased. Oh, and loads of people call me Snarly. I switched to the VR because I have chronic tendinitis in both arms (hands and all). I really hated it the first month I used it... April 1999. I'm a written word person, not an oral word person, and you are correct: the thought process is different. I never had to consciously come up with sentence structure and punctuation when handwriting or typing, but speaking was not an auto pilot feature for me. I had to think a lot harder and I wrote a lot slower. So when my hands got back to baseline I went back to typing... for a month. Then I had a really bad flare, which made me realize there was no way I was going to be able to write as much I need and want to if I stuck with typing. I wrote my last novel between January and August 2000 and did the creating process entirely by Dragon. It started out a little bumpy, but I was determined to get used to it. An advantage I've found with the VR, other than saving the nasty little handses, is that my stories now read out loud as well as they read in the head. My older stories don't all read well out loud. It's not a necessary thing, but I think it's kind of nice. I have few sales and have done more readings instead. Since you already have the software, it's only going to cost you time to learn how to use it. If you're willing to take the time, you may find you like it. Most writers aren't willing to make that compromise unless they have to, myself included. There are handheld recorders that work with Dragon. They record digitally and you plug them in to process (like hotsynching a Palm Pilot I suppose). The recorder is supposed to be able to do some filtering. I suspect it has an audio card designed for voice, like the microphone I use. It blocks out lots of noises and only focuses on those in the vocal range. I haven't used a recorder, and I do like seeing the recognition as I go. I'm more likely to catch and be able to fix some of the more unusual errors. Sometimes I'll miss an error until I'm doing a read on paper and I can't figure out what the heck I tried to say. My, I'm long winded.

Message 119 was left by Terry * on 2002-07-01 16:28:46. Feedback: 0/0 Congratulations, S.N.Arly! (it would be easier to call you Snarly, but wholly inappropriate gestalt-wise!) Anyway--My husband bought Dragon a couple of years ago and never used it. I've thought about it--but I'm so visually oriented, I've always thought that the transition between typing-seeing and *speaking* -- even if one could *see* the computer's "typing" at the same time--would be very, very difficult for me. I guess I've never seen an advantage. If I drove my 120-mile daily round trip to work & back *alone*, maybe I could dictate into a tape recorder--but I wonder if the extraneous sounds of the car & road wouldn't really louse things up. Do you think there's any reason for me to try to train Dragon & myself to work together? I do find the idea intriguing...

Message 118 was left by S.N.Arly * on 2002-07-01 14:55:44. Feedback: 0/0 Finished my second Dragon assisted novel on Sunday. Go me! I will freely admit VR isn't for everyone, and it does take some getting used to. It's not perfect, and I don't expect it to be. But it means I don't have to type as much, which means I can still tie my shoes. I like being able to tie my own shoes. And it types faster than I do and ever did. Am already starting the overhaul of said novel, but plan to go easy over the summer. This is both because I need a holiday and because I have to edit by keyboard. Editing with VR is very clunky.

Message 117 was left by R.J. Carter * on 2002-06-10 11:49:14. Feedback: 0/0 Given my experience with watching someone use Dragon, I think I'd rather type. "Write to the right, Mrs. Wright. I'll see you in Aisle C."

Message 116 was left by S.N.Arly on 2002-02-08 13:17:00. Feedback: 0/0 ... on marble pedestals... ... on marble pet assaults... I'm the botanicals instructor... I'm the tentacles instructor... Gotta instruct those tentacles. Get tangled up otherwise. Despite the oddities, I finished chapter one last night.

Message 115 was left by S.N.Arly on 2002-02-06 13:01:00. Feedback: 0/0 Started my second Dragon assisted novel this week. It should go even more smoothly than the first one.

Message 114 was left by S.N.Arly on 2001-09-24 13:24:00. Feedback: 0/0 Dragon doesn't like it when you cough into the microphone.

Message 113 was left by S.N.Arly on 2001-09-04 13:36:00. Feedback: 0/0 After not using Dragon for several months (I've been doing lots of rewrite), I sat down on vacation and cranked out a synopsis for my most recent novel. I think once you get used to using it, it's like riding a bicycle.

Message 112 was left by Paul Pence on 2001-08-07 15:31:00. Feedback: 0/0 Don't know if the memory is getting bad or just cluttering somehow. It's that I clearly remember being able to edit 30-minute long files, then I was having trouble with 20 minute files, and now I'm having problems with 13 minute files. It's forgetting the sounds of the earliest parts. The new microphone helped. I'm still around one or two errors per line, but I think it's improving. My most irritating problem is that it takes the end of my words and turns them into seperate words and won't let me consider them together. "Dogs" becomes "dog is". I presume that it's because I emphasise the last letter of each word more than a normal person. That's what I get for having good diction.

Message 111 was left by S.N.Arly on 2001-08-07 12:54:00. Feedback: 0/0 Do you think your memory is going bad? I've found RAM and processor speed are the biggies with VR. A functional mic is also useful. I finished last year's novel with a mic that had a dead short. If I jiggled the headset right, it worked. If I moved whilst dictating it might cut out and I'd lose the VR engine and have to reboot. Very irritating.

Message 110 was left by Paul Pence on 2001-08-03 17:37:00. Feedback: 0/0 Things are getting better. I bought a new microphone/headset after I discovered that the old one was dropping in and out -- bad plug. The error rate is to the point, now, that most of the sentences are understandable. I'm wondering if the memory-on-hand is getting shorter. I'll be keeping an eye on it.

Message 109 was left by Paul Pence on 2001-07-27 16:03:00. Feedback: 0/0 Today's dragonism: My hero, rushing to an elderly woman's aid "ran through the old woman with a guilded spritzer." Lesson I learned in the last 24 hours -- keep the dictation files short. The dragon software only keeps 20-30 minutes of recording on hand, so it can't learn from corrections if the files are too long. I have noticed that my brain doesn't operate fast enough to put in the descriptive passages, only the dialog and stage direction.

Message 108 was left by JVG * on 2001-07-26 13:11:00. Feedback: 0/0 Aren't we all?

Message 107 was left by Paul Pence on 2001-07-26 11:02:00. Feedback: 0/0 Okay, the new user profile works better. It's making more little errors, but it's no longer making gross errors mistaking one vowel sound for a distinctly different one. After cleaning and correcting for a while, I think this will work good. Oh, and I've got a dragonism for you from the training. I read "Alice in Wonderland". The white rabbit was very excited because he was "going to be laid".

Message 106 was left by Paul Pence on 2001-07-25 17:14:00. Feedback: 0/0 I managed to record about 20 minutes in bits and pieces. The memory stick software is not as friendly for editing as I'd like. Now I've trained a second user on Dragon, this time using Alice in Wonderland as the training text. I'll compare the two versions (old vs new training) of transcribing the training dictation. But now that I have that done, I don't have an excuse to prevent me from getting back to "writing".

Message 105 was left by Paul Pence on 2001-07-24 07:56:00. Feedback: 0/0 Retraining the computer is proving to be difficult, since I have to be running my truck at freeway speeds in order to get the true background noise. That means recording a bit here and a bit there until I get 30 minutes of the prescribed reading. May take anohter week at this rate before I finish. (I'm trying to be careful not to give my widow a recording of a horrendous car wreck to sell to the TV stations.) I'll probably end up dicating on regular tape and then do a start/stop start/stop re-dication onto the voice recorder. Well, it's still easier than typing on a laptop as I drive.

Message 104 was left by Paul Pence on 2001-07-19 08:51:00. Feedback: 0/0 It was a Feghoot entitled "Easy as Pie", filled with math puns (which are incidental to the actual punch line). Sent it to Planet Relish. I'm planning on re-doing my initial training this evening with the microphone directly in front of my face (I know it's not recommended). I think a good part of the problem might have come from the intitial training when I didn't understand the dictation commands and couldn't properly simulate the actual background levels. My weekends belong to my wife, so I don't have a whole lot of time to turn my first drafts into finals, but there's no shortage of stuff to work on.

Message 103 was left by S.N.Arly on 2001-07-18 12:52:00. Feedback: 0/0 Was that your first story or your first story with the voice recognition software? Any updates on how the recording is going?

Message 102 was left by Paul Pence on 2001-07-13 15:58:00. Feedback: 0/0 Ran a series of tests with the microphone in different positions. Turns out, for me, that the best position is right in front of my mouth, despite the instructions that say otherwise. I figure that it gives a better contrast between the heavy background noise and the voice (background is constant, but the voice gets louder). Sure, the asparants get in the way, but not nearly as badly as the background. I've also found that I'm now producing more first drafts than I have time to produce final drafts. Sort of discouraging in a way, but the problem will get better as I learn better how to write with my voice. Sent out my first story last night. Of course, five minutes later, I figured out another change I really wanted to make. Oh, well...

Message 101 was left by S.N.Arly on 2001-07-12 13:32:00. Feedback: 0/0 Aphasia maybe? I would still recommend that you actually sit down with your computer and work on some of the training issues. I think it would improve drastically. And 35 WPM isn't so bad for a start. You will get faster. I did. Though I've never bothered to figure out my WPM for writing. There are times when I have to stop and think and the like, so it doesn't seem a very useful measure. For me, anyway. I usually do a daily word count instead. Or have a goal of finishing a particular part of something.

Oldest Older Newer Newest

* Posted by non-registered author.