Claritrans Hits

I don't have a specific answer for you, but I'm not sure one is possible---the thing about the transcription business is that the company you're transcribing for has to have some work they need done. If they don't, no HITs that day. Every transcription company on Turk will have a similar up and down pattern.

About SpeechInk work, you might want to check this post on my blog: What's Up With SpeechInk?

 

They generally seem to be reviewing them within a day.



***I just realized your link was about SpeechInk and not Claritrans. I haven't tried anything transcription except Claritrans and Oscar. With some Crowdsource Google search hits I just did, I should make my $1.50 today. Fingers crossed.

 

Good luck, ewd. Yes, I mentioned SpeechInk because the OP said something about them.

(Just so everyone's clear, although Oscar tags his HITs "transcription," they are not audio transcription. You're typing text from images of business cards. By the dictionary definition, they could be considered transcription. But not by the usual definition for the transcription business/field.)

 

If you like Claritrans, try their Crowdsurf hits - I actually like those even better since they have video and sometimes the visual helps.

 

Anyone else doing CrowdSurf HITs today and not able to get past the SUBMIT dialog box? Just wondering if it's a problem on my end or theirs.

 

I'm new to transcribing, and have done the SpeechInk test and several CrowdSurf ones. SpeechInk was verbatim and very fun for me. To clarify, what is the exact difference between verbatim and nonverbatim? If a HIT does not say verbatim, can I assume it not to be? If not, why is it in CrowdSuf's style guide they teach you how to insert "uh" and "um"? What makes a task not verbatim, if not the unneccessity to include uhs and ums?

 

Hi adaaam
Whether or not a company requires a verbatim (word for word) or non-verbatim (cleaned-up grammar, including the removal of uhs and ums) can vary, so you really do have to pay attention to what the company is asking for.
Your question really depends on the Requester that you're doing the HITS for. For Speechink, they have different clients giving them the files to transcribe, and those clients request TO Speechink that their files be either verbatim or non-verbatim, and then, in each HIT, Speechink will let us know. A good thing to look out for when transcribing for Speechink is that USUALLY there is a small window alert that pops up when you preview their transcription jobs that will tell you, basically, Hey, this is nonverbatim.

For Crowdsurf, they do request that you follow their style guide, and so far I haven't seen them request otherwise. Same for Claritrans, Redwood, etc.

As far as the reasoning behind each company's different transcription formats, remember, they are outsourcing these jobs to us, so in all actuality it's pretty hard to determine why or why not they request verbatim/nonverbatim jobs. Also, keep in mind that technology, as well as the general practice of crowd-sourcing, DOES change, so these different style guides and transcription rules may change with the times as well, HOPEFULLY in a direction that makes the HITs MORE turker/requester friendly.
Don't worry. If you're new to transcribing you will soon find that over time, you sort of memorize each different company's format for transcribing, and may even start to prefer one requester over the other.
However, DO be sure to check that you're keeping up with their guidelines, and reading the HIT requirements as you're accepting them. This helps to minimize any rejections you might get

 

Not quite sure why that would happen, but I do know that when you hit the SUBMIT button, a pop-up does come up, with a feedback form and a kind of, Are you sure? thing. I'd imagine that if you had a pop-up blocker, that the HIT submission wouldn't work right. I'm not 100% sure, but I didn't have the problem with the SUBMIT box last night.

 

The ones that I'm beginning to do are the snippets for ClariTrans and CrowdSurf. They do not make mention of verbatim or not, but even if it was one or the other, their style guide does not reflect the difference. Many situations are not covered by the guide (whereas if it was a verbatim job I know exactly what to do). For example, if a speaker is speaking, and is interrupted mid-sentence, and then finishes his sentence, I can easily transcribe it verbatim, but since this is ClariTrans and I have to follow their guide, I don't know whether to use dashes (their guide mentions ending sentences with periods), commas, or periods. (SpeechInk instructs the use of ellipses). Another example is if you get a millisecond of a word at the start of a snippet, it's unclear just by viewing the guide whether to transcribe it as inaudible or approach it nonverbatim and omit it.

 

Generally speaking, a Requester that asks you to type out the um's and ah's, for example Claritrans and Crowdsurf, is asking you to do a verbatim transcription. Verbatim means word for word, when you break it down to its definition, and if a word was interrupted, I don't consider it to be a word when I transcribe. I guess it's just that the word was never really said completely.
Part of Claritran's guideline says:

Speaker Pauses Mid-Sentence Insert a comma where the pause occurs.
Audio Cuts Off Mid-Word If the cut off word is obvious based on the portion of it you heard and the context of the sentence, then complete the word. If you cannot discern the cut off word, type iii. If the word is cut off at the beginning and you can't hear it, do not type anything.

As far as this Audio Cuts Off Mid-Word portion, I follow this rule whenever I'm faced with that situation, where a speaker interrupts themselves to correct what they are saying, or if the speaker is interrupted. And for words cut off at the beginning, if I can't hear the complete word, I don't type it.

This is just what I do, it may be different for others, but my ratings are pretty good and I have a 99.8% approval rate. Hope this helps.

 

So one clip I just did had a guy saying "dequest riligi--request diligence". How would you transcribe that for Claritrans? Another question: their 'ums' shouuld never be preceded by commas, according to the style guide. So what if a guy says "So (pauses for 1 second) um, how are you?" Would you have two commas?

 

I get where it can be a bit confusing but I'd say just try to follow the guidelines as best you can. I think using your best judgment here would make it clear to Claritrans that you're attempting to follow the rules and stuff, and if things get too confusing you can always expand the HIT category in the list of HITS, and click on the link Contact Requester to ask them your specific questions.

Also, if there is no number next to the HIT after it's been accepted, on your list of hits for the day, you're pretty much golden. Basically, if you're doing it wrong now, they'll let you know with their grading system (For example, 3 means you should review the guidelines again, so something you're doing isn't adding up).

I'm really sorry I can't specifically answer your question. I hope you don't consider that rude of me, but I don't work for Claritrans so I can't definitively tell you which is better. All I know is that I try to follow the guidelines to the best of my ability, and if I'm not doing something right, they will let me know.

 

Ive done both So, Um, and So Um, in the same context and both times I received a 4. Probably they are more concerned with making sure the comma was after the Um. And since it did make sense to have it after the So, that worked too. I usually spend a lot of time making sure the commas and punctuation are right on those and I am probably taking too much time to make them worthwhile for me.

 

Claritrans is a verbatium transcription, they want all the ums, ahs, etc, so I am assuming that Crowd surf is the same way since they are the same company.

 

The um's drive me crazy too but worse than that are the words that are started and then stopped. SpeechInk makes you record every single utterance which can take for-e-vah.

 

My transcribing peeve? MMKAYyYyyYyYyyyYyYyY

 

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

INT: So um, w-, (________) what the ...[SS]... you talkin' 'bout? iii I don't understain [sp].