The goal is to capture as quickly as possible the words
on tape. This generally moves very slowly for the first several minutes as
you get used to the process,
the person's voice and rhythm, and the tools you are using. Avoid multiple
repeat listening to the same segment - you are not after perfection -
mistakes will be caught during the next phase.
Before you begin, first familiarize yourself with the Style
Guide. It is not critical that you follow this during the Raw Transcription
Phase - but you will need to re-correct later to follow the Style
Guide.
The key at this point is not to let all the rules of the Style Guide slow
you down - but understanding the final format will help.
-
Listen and transcribe quickly using the software tool
Listen & Type. Try to avoid having to replay audio/video sections.
-
Use "Question:" to tag
all interviewer questions and comments.
-
Answers follow in next paragraph
(double-spaced) - do not label answers - just begin typing responses.
Question: Describe when and where you
born?
I was born in a small village outside
Hamburg, Germany in 1922.
-
Establish paragraph breaks at all obvious change of topics - force a
break at all opportunities to avoid paragraphs that exceed normal writing.
Quite often subjects will talk at great length in what appears to be
a single sentence - but if you listen carefully, this will be filled with
transitions. Take these as opportunities to create a paragraph break.
Example
...the village was mostly Jewish, but
after we moved to Hamburg we lived in an area that was
filled with people from
all walks
of life because they came from..
Becomes this -
...the village was mostly Jewish.
After we moved to Hamburg we lived
in an area that was filled with people from all walks of life because they
came from...
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Put in parentheses (.....) all unintelligible names
and terms, unknown spelling, etc. This our signal to make sure to revisit
to
clarify.
