How do you pick your HITs??

Discussion in 'CastingWords' started by jmcgraw1409, Apr 29, 2013.

  1. jmcgraw1409

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    I know there is a learning curve and I am trying EVER SO HARD to be patient.

    But several days of working for HOURS and making less than $2/day is starting to wear on me.

    I did transcription for Geico for several years and they were a VERY HARD company to work for and even then I didn't have the trouble there that I am having here.

    I'm starting to doubt myself here.

    My question is (and I'm so sorry to rant and rave :eek::tape::( )

    When you pick HITs....how do you go about it?

    What I mean is.......it takes me FOREVER to find HITs that I think I can even understand in order to transcribe.... then after each HIT I have to go through the entire process all over again. 9 times out of 10 I end up listening to the same audio over and over again because I can't keep track of which ones I've already listened to. I'm wasting so much time listening to audio to see if it is even something I can do.

    I have started keeping a list of the audio #'s that I have already listened to and passed on so that I don't click on that one again. But then I have to take time to look down the list.

    Is there any way to look for ones that are easier? I know that sounds ridiculous - I can hear how ridiculous that sounds as the words are "coming out of my fingers".....but I just have to ask.

    I'm assuming that the cheaper paying ones are for better audio because they would pay more for bad audio.......but I have not necessarily found that to be true.

    So what do y'all do??
     
  2. turkimaniac

    turkimaniac Banned

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    I have not done CastingWords jobs in a while, I'd say about 3 months now. When I did though, I would find the easier on the ears express transcriptions and then find a group that was easy, accept 15 of them, download the audio on each one in the exact numbered order that they were in my queue, go do them, and then go submit them all. Most efficient way that I found to do it. Like I said though it's been a while since I did any for them but I'm assuming it's mostly all the same now.
     
  3. Salvia

    Salvia Member

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    The good audio has been going fast lately. Usually I try to find something good and just keep working on items in the same series until that series is tapped out.
     
  4. ayeembored

    ayeembored Active Member

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    Using turkers.castingwords.com will allow you to see the titles of the files, sometimes (sometimes not) making it easier to find HITS that interest you. You have to be logged in to see the actual titles. If you aren't, you just get the generic titles that you see on Mturk.

    And yes, the good work on express and higher is disappearing very quickly. When you find a good series, grab as much of it as you think you can do in the time limit.
     
  5. jmcgraw1409

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    Thank you so much for your advice everyone :)

    I'll keep plugging away.

    I did come across a good batch of Claritrans ones yesterday that kept me on a pretty good roll for most of the day but of course they don't pay as well and they are so short I hate to waste time downloading the audio to use on ExpressScript so I have to spend a frustrating amount of time rewinding every 2 seconds.
     
  6. LadyTexan

    LadyTexan User

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    Have you tried doing the Crowdsurf transcription hits? This requester is rumored to be a spinoff of Casting Words, and they do video transcription. The speakers are, for the most part, easy to understand, the files are less than one minute long, and their interface and controls are very easy to operate. I think there's a qualification hit for them, but with your experience you shouldn't have a problem with that. I hesitate to mention them because I don't want competition ;) but I can sense your frustration and wanted to help.
     
  7. electricaltill

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    I use a custom stylesheet to change the colour of visited links on CW's site, so I can keep track of what stuff I've already looked at. Stylebot for Chrome is a good way to do this; I'm happy to explain how to do it if anyone wants.
     
    #7 electricaltill, May 2, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: May 2, 2013
  8. deeriley

    deeriley User

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    Well, just know that if it's labeled "difficult audio", those are the really hard clips, some of which are practically unlistenable. So you know that in searching for hits, you can totally skip over those to narrow things down.

    Another trick is to just remember the "code name" of whatever hit you remember being listenable/ unlistenable. For example, a few weeks ago there were some really terrifying hits (bad audio, heavy English accents) that were labeled "X-Ray" something as other. As soon as I committed that name to memory, I knew to skip over any hits labeled that ASAP. :pound:

    This remembering of hit titles in the beginning takes some time to remember, but after awhile, you'll get a knack for it.
     
  9. ayeembored

    ayeembored Active Member

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    Actually, there are sometimes files marked difficult that are better than the average normal transcription. Those seem to be the files that the client has marked as difficult themselves, but they really aren't. It's worth checking any new HITs labeled difficult, but only the new ones.
     
  10. jmcgraw1409

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    Thanks so much everyone!!

    LadyTexan - I love the idea of video transcription. So far I haven't been able to find any. Not sure if I'm just not seeing them or what but haven't seen any :-(

    Electricaltill - I would love to know how to do that. Can't promise I'll understand your explanation LOL....I'm sooooo not techy. I downloaded a bunch of scripts (I think that's what they are called) that were recommended and now don't even know what to do with them LOL!
     
  11. electricaltill

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    Start by installing the Stylebot extension for Chrome.

    What site are you using for CW? Are you using mturk, workers.castingwords.com or workshop.castingwords.com?
     
  12. seaboardavenue

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    Here's a guide for general HIT finding:

    Sea's Mini Guide for Finding HITs:

    First of all, if you don't like tabs. Get used to them, learn to love dem tabs. Keeping multiple tabs up with different sites up can help you find HITs faster. On my good days I have at least 10 tabs up at a time.

    Second, pick some sites for HIT finding other than mturkforum. Mturkforum is great but other sites have great HITs posted too. I use mturkforum, mturk w_i_k_i, reddit.com/r/hitsworthturkingfor, turkalert, and cloudmebaby. In that order (mturkforum has the best HITs, while CMB has the least amount of good HITs posted).

    Third, learn to do your own searches. People will post the good batches on here so don't worry about being able to find those. But surveys you'll need to find yourself, seriously. I know, I know, you want to just be lazy and get all your HITs from forums, but you'll never earn the big money that way! I like to search "survey" in HITs I'm qualified for, that were the newest created, and that pay at least $0.25. Then use the TO plugins to find the good ones. If it has at least a 4.5 in "generosity" then it'll usually pay well.

    Fourth, post your HIT findings, and gifs on the forum, please!

    Fifth, always ask how to get masters and where the batches are.

    Lastly, I love you all, and PM me if you need help.
     
    #12 seaboardavenue, May 20, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 2, 2013
  13. Keysbum

    Keysbum User

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    I like the Speechink transcriptions to fill in. They have audio and audio/video transcripts of little podcasts which are usually very easy and the pay isn't too bad. Usually around $1 for 5 mins and if you only need to run through twice that's $6 per hour. But they're usually fun and interesting for fill ins.
     

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