That fear has been there for many jobs over the years and a perfect example is the new check out lines in large retail chains that give you the ability to check yourself out.  There is still that required individual that needs to oversee the process and make sure that a human entity can step in when a machine needs our input or worst-case scenario, need’s repair.

In this instance, there are several positive ways to see how the new technology works in our favor and how we are more than just ‘typists.’

Editing

Editing is still and will continue to be a human job.  Virtually there is, even with the best of software, a margin error of at least 5% and that means mistakes.  However, until the artificial intelligence get’s to be fool proof, we (the transcriptionist) are there to make sure that you do get a 100% perfect job.  Removing the ‘uh’s'  and ‘ah’s', typo’s from where, wear and were,  and even punctuation marks that will assist in the inflection of what it is that the speaker is trying to put across.

We as transcriptionist are still needed.

Layout

I have little faith in that most software can completely layout a document in the way we want it by reading our minds.  I know, ye of little faith right?

I can’t even crawl into my client heads and get it accurate 100% of the time, but software has made it extremely easy to make those changes to the documents instead of having to reset a typewriter and retype the entirety of it with the new layout schematics.

Software can assist… I doubt that it will ever replace.

Personal Touches

I can’t tell you how much I get a “Thank you” when a client calls our office and actually reaches a voice of a human being on the other end of the phone.  Far too many times, myself, I get recordings and a ‘push #1 to get…’ on the other end, and it spends 15 minutes trying to get my account number.

Small offices and even some large offices still have that personal touch and I appreciate knowing that when I contact that office I am still treated as a valued client, not as a number.  Software can’t give that type of personal touch or that customer service that most people lack in good business today.

Yes, speech recognition, layout software and computers as a whole definitively make our jobs easier, and possibly even much quicker to accomplish, but we here at ProTypists do not use SRS, and we choose the human touch to make sure that things are done accurately and definitively.

American businesses are what holds this country together and in these hard economically hard times seems more important than ever. Offering word-of-mouth advertising, referrals and support to those that we do business with locally, statewide and even nationwide  inevitably provides us with the network that ultimately guides those businesses to corporations and strong financial feeders of our communities.

We here at ProTypists are one of the few that can stand by and state that our business and our clients are Americans, and even though we offer our services overseas, we rarely see them consult us on their projects. I believe most of it is due to the outsourcing that can be done in other smaller countries for pennies on the dollar, and we are not chastising the ability to motivate those in countries in need, but as American’s, we like to know that we are contributing to re-stimulating what financial slump, we have found ourselves in by staying and doing business within our boundaries and supporting those smaller businesses that just need that little bit of a boot in the right direction.

We would like to thank all of you who have sent referrals, support and constant business our direction, and we hope to provide the same in return. Keep watch for special pricing structures for our clients for referrals. We will continue to provide quality transcription, typesetting, and even design elements for all of you who are in need.

Verbatim transcription includes the, ‘ah’s', ‘ooh’s', false starts  and even annoying elements like, ‘you know’ or ‘like’.  These elements appear in natural speech for many hundreds of people, but to keeping it in written material is not always necessary.

A false start can also be included in these.  For instance, an individual starts the sentence with one subject, “With the price of food today…” and then change their mind half way through that thought process and restart the idea with, “Essentially cost of food will effect your recipe ingredients.”

As a rule, we don’t normally include those false starts, but can incorporate them pretty easily and will if you request it.  Be prepared to pay just a little extra on verbatim transcription though, as it does take more time to transcribe and definitely more time to proof read. Make sure you let us know if you need that element in your transcription, we would be glad to incorporate that in your pricing and in your final product.

In my short hiatus away from my lovely readers, I have found a new world that has given a new perspective to providing reading material and education to thousands of people, those that are Visually Impaired.  After doing some great research, I have also found that Braille Transcribers are amazing individuals with a brain that works not only in alphabetical capacity but in a ‘coding’ capacity which I find intriguing.

Conversion of text to Braille for the visually impaired is actually a process that still should be handled by a human being, much like how we here at ProTypists handle each of the project’s we receive.  Despite technology and the elements in which computers can offer assistance, it does not always accurately transcribe the text from print to Braille accurately.

Here is an extremely good article that gives more insight into what it takes to transcribe your work into items that support the Visually Impaired.

Most people would find that providing Audio products would be more lucrative in servicing those with a handicap, however, there come with it problems and short comings that you may not consider.

• Audio can’t easily be used by students to refer back to quotes or for studying purposes;
• Sharing between those who use Audio and not Braille would be limited to those who have compatible hardware;
• Visually impaired people may also be hard of hearing as well, making audio programs useless;

When providing additional options for your materials to be read and used, please consider those that you may not have much contact with, such as the blind.  I am sure they will appreciate your efforts and your information.  I know, my family will.

Wood blocks were the original innovation. Pages of books were carved into them and then in turn those ‘plates’ were used to produce multiple copies of that item.

With the knowledge of metal and it’s qualities, metal came into play around the middle of the 15th Century.  Every heard of Guetenberg’s Bible?  This was one of the first publications produced from Guetenberg’s invention of the movable blocks of typeface that produced a more efficient page being able to utilize that one particular letter in more than one place producing a vast number of combinations. Boxes were laid out with blank typeface blocks used for spaces and once completed you saw a reverse image of what was to be printed.

Years later, machines took over giving mass production a whole new look.  Machines, similar to a typewriter, would inlay a type in which a mold was manufactured.  This  later involved a Teletype writer punched tape which could be used with the Linotypesetter which eliminated the need for human involvement in typesetting the lines by hand.

Photo-mechanical composition moved the mechanical era up a notch providing the use of one drum to produce a multiple element in sizes of type.  As the drum spun, flashes of light located a particular character and placed it it’s desired place at which point the drum then moved to the next line to get the desired typeset story.

In the early 1960′s, Cathode Ray Tube typesetting made the technology world peek it’s head in to see what was possible.  Using codes for the type, size and placement of the text making this the first attempt at computerizing the information to typeset printed matter.  Machines of this time were as large as a bedroom and sometimes it took more than one of these machines to hold just a small bit of data only to place it on magnetic strip for later use. Justification, leading, hyphenation also become a variable that we could start to play with.

As technology progressed and laser’s were shrunk to fit into laser printers, photocopiers and fax machines, we have found what we have today in hundreds of thousands of offices all over the world.  Giving even more variables such as printing photographs, utilizing foreign fonts and of course, producing crisp and readable elements at any size.

Because of the advancements in technology, equipment, materials and knowledge of the typesetter, papers that took days to do in wood block probably now only take minutes giving you the client the ability to make changes and give us, the typesetter versatility and speed.