Digital Dictation ... "Take this down Mrs Jones" |
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Page 1 of 2  download article Do you recall the 1950s film portrayals of businessmen where Mr Chumley-Warner summons his prim secretary into his office to take a dictation? How times of changed. You don’t find many scenes like that now: for a start the boss is just as likely to be female and who does short-hand anymore?Despite advances in technology, typing correspondence and reports is still very much at the heart of modern day business. Dictation may have come a long way since short-hand, with tape recorders and more recently digital recorders, but still relatively few people do it. We may dream of speaking into our PC and a finished report appearing, ready to go. However, the complexities of speech recognition, means learning a whole new language to get your instructions across, making it a painful experience that falls far short of our expectations. We have a long wait ahead for perfect speech recognition and formatting. So, it looks like digital dictation and transcription are here to stay, for a few more decades at least. So, what do you need to know about digital dictation and transcription services? DictatingIf you’ve not done it before, dictating is easy enough, once you get the hang of it. There are rules and protocols to follow, that make it easier for the Transcriber – which means they’ll be faster and cheaper - so they will usually provide you with some basic training and guidelines.Normally, you’d squirrel yourself away somewhere to dictate a letter or report, be that in your office, car or just somewhere private. You don’t often hear someone dictating in public, but it’s not uncommon to find someone recording meeting minutes (e.g. at construction site meetings). This avoids typing work after the meeting, so you can move on to the next task with a clear head. Common uses for digital recordings include notes, meetings and interviews. Surveyors and Estate Agents make notes and dictate reports as they conduct a survey; HR Managers sometimes record sensitive employee meetings (e.g. disciplinary hearings); and Market Researchers and Consultant Psychiatrists record interviews. This way they have a permanent record of conversations and find it easier to work from the full transcription. Less obvious examples where dictation can save time include, making research notes (from observations, books and internet searches), capturing information thoughts after a meeting or sales call (especially when there was too much going on to get it all down in the meeting), or perhaps even capturing your thoughts and ideas when you’re relaxing in the bath? |
