Importance of reference materials

In today’s article, we are going to focus on the importance of reference files in doing client work.

The very first thing a transcriber or editor checks before starting to transcribe or edit a transcript is to check the “Reference Folder”.  This folder contains information about the content of the audio file.  It might be in the form of PowerPoints, snapshots of PowerPoints, PDFs, MS Word, or text files.

Here are some examples of such references.  In case of an interview, the reference document provides the names of the interviewer (person taking the interview) and the interviewee (person being interviewed).  The document might also contain the sequence of the questions being asked or some information about the interviewee like his field of work, associated institutions, or names of associated books or reviews.

Another instance is in the case of a symposium/conference.  The reference material could contain the agenda of the conference, the participating nations/organizations, the various sessions, the names of the titles, information about the moderators and participants, along with PowerPoints of the presentations made in the symposium.

In case of multiple speakers or a meeting, the reference material may contain the minutes of the meeting identifying speakers according to the time stamps on the audio.  For example, “Mr. Saito – 15:26 – We identified…”  This helps identify the voice of Mr. Saito and that he is going to begin his speech with the words. “We identified….”  Such reference in lengthy audio files helps to positively identify speakers throughout the transcript.

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There are many advantages of having reference material while transcribing a file.  The provided reference can give a clue as to the content of the audio file.  The transcriber gets the material to select the title of the transcript, which identifies the content of the transcript.

The content provided in the reference files also helps the transcriber to search the internet for further information about the speakers or the subject of the audio.  It also can help in understanding content in case of speakers of varied accents which are difficult to comprehend.  Reference material can also help with homonyms (similar sounding words) in case the content is medical or technical in nature.

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In case the reference material is not provided, the transcriber may have a lot of difficulty understanding the content of the audio.  Research for speaker names or technical terms in case of medical or highly technical files could also take up a lot of time and affect the quality of the transcript.

All these factors point out to the fact that reference material is indeed an essential tool which helps transcribers and editors save an incredible amount of time and effort which can then be utilized to work on the content of the transcript.  They can then come up with optimum quality, accurate, and unclear-free transcripts.