Re: AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!

On Apr 27, 5:21 pm, "Barbara Carlson" <bbcarl...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I don't understand the term "scoping." If I couldn't do it at home, I'm
not interested!


Barbara, a scopist usually does work out of their home. A scopist
goes over the reporter's transcript, what they call a "dirty copy,"
and corrects any untranslates, inserts correct spellings, and makes
sure the transcript is, in fact, verbatim or correct.

I followed up on the tip you gave me on the medical transcription a while
back, but the pay was way too low.

Barbara, I am not sure what medical transcription company you mean. I
haven't had any experience with medical transcription companies, but
if you are referring to FNS and the website with the application form,
I truthfully do not know what they pay.

I do know that most companies will not start somebody out with a top
rate because, truth be told, they don't know how competent you are or
maybe how much experience you have. I am sure with all of your
expertise in the industry, you would be earning an equitable rate in
no time.

In NJ I did a variety of transcriptions, but no court. AT&T used to
oursource their executive meetings because they did not want them
transcribed in house. Good audio from them! I did a lot of author's
interviews--one in a restaurant with background noise, glasses and
silverware tinkling, waiters interrupting! That is the worst one I ever
did. When I told them how bad it was they told me not to bother finishing
it. It's the only transcription I ever gave up on. Also transcribed
authors' dictation. A lot of focus groups, business meetings, and lectures,
etc.

That's quite a diversified range of transcription. I don't like to
turn back jobs either. I will usually give it a try if it is bad
audio, but when I get more than 10 inaudibles on every page, I become
concerned and will contact the company I am working for and ask them
to please advise. Nobody wants to pay good money for a work product
that is worthless. My favorite response -- NOT! -- is "Do the best
you can." LOL

I have had carpal tunnel surgery on my right hand several years ago, and it
was no big deal, so if this flare up doesn't end I will face it. I can go
to VR to keep working, as I did last time, though it will take me a lot
longer.

This is why I think scoping would be a good solution for you. With
your expertise in the industry, it does not require much typing to
"scope" a transcript. Most transcripts come to the scopist with the
words already written out, whether by the stenotypist or the
stenomaskter. It is the scopist's job to proofread, scope, and fix
the transcript. Most scopists I know work out of their home. The
audio is sent to them electronically, and the scopist does his/her
thing, and then e-mails back the finished product to the court
reporter.

Many times, stenotypists will use a back-up tape in case they have
drops in their notes. So you sit there and listen to the back-up tape
while the transcript is on your screen. When you see a word that is
misspelled or does not translate properly, you fix it. This is called
"scoping."

A stenomask reporter records on tapes, and in the stenomask world,
they are known as "2-track tapes." They do require a 2-track
transcriber, which ain't hard to get. Just like 4-track tapes that
are used in some courts, with speakers on four channels, the stenomask
reporter uses two channels.

On one track is the stenomask's voice repeating everything they are
hearing, and on the other track is the actual live proceedings.
Generally, the stenomask reporter also has handwritten or typed notes
for speaker identification as well as any unfamiliar terms.

Here in D.C., stenomask reporters are quite popular, and I know there
is a national stenomask association which would provide more
information.

Reporters love scopists because that way, they can go out and report
more jobs, make more money, and let the scopist work on the "dirty"
transcript. A good scopist has no trouble finding work, and with the
digital transmission of the audio and notes, the sky is the limit as
far as how much work you would like to have.

Personally, I'd rather scope a stenomask reporter than a stenotype
reporter, but that's just me.

Hope this helps.

Jennie
Washington, D.C.





Barb C."Jennie" <jamal...@xxxxxxx> wrote in message

news:1177682787.484342.188720@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx



Barbara, to your first point, this is a major problem in the
transcription industry. Client-provided audio sometimes is great, and
sometimes it sucks.

When push comes to shove, I am capable of banging 300 pages a day of
crystal-clear audio, and so can the mainstream, for lack of a better
word, transcriptionist -- again, only when push comes to shove. ;>)

What separates the lions from the lambs, though, is that an
experienced transcriptionist can handle a variety of difficult
situations that do crop up in this racket.

Hard-to-hear audio is one thing, but there's also the technical
transcripts which require additional work, looking up spellings,
knowing when and when not to clean up the speaker. Verbatim
transcription is a whole other ball of wax when it is imperative to
get every single word down, and you must at least have some sort of
knowledge base of format structure, going in and out of Q&A and
colloquy, setting up an interpreter or voir dire examination or jury
charge.

Which brings me to the second point, Barbara, about the carpal tunnel
syndrome you have recently experienced. I think scoping would be an
EXCELLENT job opportunity for anyone who has a strong transcription
skills set, but who cannot physically sit in the cockpit hours on
end. That knowledge and skills set is worth something, IMHO.

Proceedings when a court reporter is present, if you are transcribing
for that court reporter, can be a pleasant transcribing experience, if
the court reporter knows what they are doing. And I'm not talking
about the Government employees known as "court monitors." I am
referring to trained, accredited, certified -- whatever word you want
to use -- court reporters. What a treat it is to get a job with
notes, good audio, and name spellings provided by somebody who was
there on site.

One oddity here in D.C. which may be different elsewhere is that we
have a lot of stenomask reporters, more than in other regions of the
country I think. I don't know why that is, but I believe it to be
true. Anybody who caught the Bobbitt trial on Court TV saw the mask
reporting method being utilized in Virginia.

The stenomask association has made advancements on their voice
recognition system. I know a stenomasker who produces his own
transcripts via this $10,000 system. At the beginning, he said he
could type faster, but today, with his dictionary built up, he can
kind of "scope" it, much like the stenotype method, expeditiously.

Scoping would be an excellent line of work for a seasoned
transcriptionist and worthy of looking into. My friend the scopist
can scope 40-plus pages an hour when she's on a roll and the notes are
good. The page rate is less than a transcriptionist would receive,
but, hey, if I could pump out 40 pages an hour at 75 cents to 2 bucks
a page, depending on the turnaround time, I think I could be a happy
camper!

Jennie
Washington, D.C.

On Apr 27, 8:44 am, "Barbara Carlson" <bbcarl...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
The firm I did transcription for in New Jersey used to do recordings like
that, sometimes. I remember one where there were questions from the
audience, but you couldn't make out the question because they did not
have
portable mikes, so you had the answer, but virtually blank questions.
Then
you had the focus groups where the mike was in the middle of a
rectangular
table--some you could hear, some were very distant. These were all
tapes,
too.

I would like to have applied for the extra work you posted, as I have
done a
lot of that type of transcription, though years ago. However, have
developed carpal tunnel on my left hand and can barely get through my
normal
day of transcription. I've had it on and off for a couple of years, but
it's not going away this time. I had the surgery on my right, and now I
guess I may be headed for the left!

Barb C."Jennie" <jamal...@xxxxxxx> wrote in message

news:1177666010.031640.210880@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

That is so very frustrating. As I write this post, I am giving up on
a CD recording, something I don't like doing, but I ain't a magician.
The quality of the audio is horrible because the recording device is
too far away from the speaker

In this instance, the speaker is a Federal Government official giving
a speech before an audience in a very large room. You can hear his
voice, but it is difficult to make out the words.

It seems to me like the person who is holding the recording device is
sitting at least 20-plus feet from the speaker. He most likely turned
the volume up on HIGH. The audio is over-modulated. It sounds as if
this guy is speaking in a large tunnel.

I echo Ed's comment: AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!

On a good note, I notice today that my posts on Google NG are being
posted right away as opposed to waiting several hours before they
appear. AND, of course, one thing to be happy about today is TGIF!

Jennie
Washington, D.C.

On Apr 27, 4:34 am, "Ed Chait" <edchait4rem...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
OK, now the wonder-dictatress NP that I had complained about earlier
has
added a new trick to her repertoire of things that infuriate me.

In addition to her total inability to express coherent thoughts and
sentences, she now has acquired the habit of moving the recorder
closer
and
farther away from her mouth so that I have to constantly adjust my
volume
setting in order to either hear what she's saying or prevent having my
eardrums blown out. That's bad enough in itself, but it's also really
slowing me down.

I'm really going to have to concentrate on centering myself and
approaching
her in a calm and constructive manner about this because I've realIy
had
it
and I'm very tempted to do the opposite.

thanks for listening,

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