atw: Re: Digital/analogue Voice Recorders

I have recorded thousands of hours of interviews with SMEs. Because in
many instances I was not aware of what might emerge from the
conversations, initially I transcribed all the content immediately after
the interview - so I could put in the body language [which I had taken
in hand-written notes]. I found it took me about five hours to
transcribe each hour of conversation.

When I got further into understanding a subject area and wanted
confirmation of an hypothesis, I could skip to just the bits I wanted -
then it took me about two hours for each hour of conversation. The
'beep' function would have been lovely, here.

So, my interlocutor wouldn't feel embarrassed at asking me to stop
recording during sensitive points, I agreed in advance a set of hand
signals for my interlocutor to use that I would follow.

To aid transcription, I made up a foot-switch to control stop, rewind,
fast forward and play operations so I could use both hands on the
keyboard. Because of the time I spent in transcribing, I found it better
to use a loudspeaker rather than headphones; with the headphones, I
often missed important phone calls, and after a couple of hours of
wearing headphones, the area around my ears started to itch.

Though I didn't do it, if you want to capture screen shots or keyboard
shots, think about using a video camera - then you don't have to
interject running comments.

Brian.

-----Original Message-----
From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of David Godley
Sent: Wednesday, 26 April 2006 7:21 PM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Digital/analogue Voice Recorders

Chaps,

Do any of you souls out there use digital voice recorders (or indeed 
analogue ones for that matter) to capture comments from SMEs, briefing 
meetings or other similar type things.

After one too many discussions where ideas were flowing thick and fast 
and/or unrelated, but important excursions in the conversations occurred

I thought that it might be an idea to try to capture this.

Do any of you use these sorts of things?  If so, any comments on your 
experiences or even recommendations?

Cheers,

David
**************************************************
To post a message to austechwriter, send the message to
austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

To subscribe to austechwriter, send a message to
austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "subscribe" in the Subject
field.

To unsubscribe, send a message to austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
with "unsubscribe" in the Subject field.

To search the austechwriter archives, go to
www.freelists.org/archives/austechwriter

To contact the list administrator, send a message to
austechwriter-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
**************************************************




******************************************************************************
The information contained in this e-mail and any attachment/s may be privileged 
and confidential and are intended for the recipient designated only. If you 
have received this e-mail in error, do not use, disseminate, distribute, or 
copy this e-mail and any attachment/s. However, please notify us either on 
telephone +612 9684 7777 or the sender via return e-mail and delete all copies 
of this transmission together with any attachment/s. 

Mitsubishi Electric Australia Pty. Ltd. has implemented anti-virus software, 
and whilst all care is taken, it is the recipient's responsibility to ensure 
that any attachments are scanned for viruses prior to use. 
******************************************************************************

**************************************************
To post a message to austechwriter, send the message to 
austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

To subscribe to austechwriter, send a message to 
austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "subscribe" in the Subject field.

To unsubscribe, send a message to austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 
"unsubscribe" in the Subject field.

To search the austechwriter archives, go to 
www.freelists.org/archives/austechwriter

To contact the list administrator, send a message to 
austechwriter-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
**************************************************

Other related posts: