They appear to have dozens of these HITs up. If you do work for speechink, it would be a good idea to take the test. When these come up they have 3-9 seconds of audio and are crazy simple fast (for the most part, always preview). They pay isn't awesome by any stretch of the imagination but they help pad your score. Throw in a couple dozen 100s for your score and that next 80-something won't knock you down so far. A few weeks ago I took the test and it was scored within a few days so I couldn't work on the (then) current batch. Did work on some a week or so later though.
I saw that too and requested for a test, but haven't taken it yet. On their site it says that hold the qualification though, whatever that means. But I should probably go ahead and take the test. It wouldn't hurt. Oh, and BTW I finally got the non-verbatim hits graded today. But I didn't know that you can't review those like the verbatim ones on their site. But they all got approved which means I can now confidently accept the longer, more paid hits and know that I'm not wasting my time possibly doing them wrong. Just thought I would let you know since we were on that topic earlier.
The only time I got feedback on non-verbatim HITs for SpeechInk was when I asked for it when I submitted the HITs. I did that for the first two or three. Since then, I never get any feedback from them on non-verbatim HITs. They always get approved though. I can only hope that means the HITs meet their standards and it's a 'no news is good news' sort of thing. I saw the Home Inspection HITs but haven't tried them yet. I guess I'll look around for the test and take it just to try one out.
I was wrong. They're graded separately. No bump to regular score. The home ones are fun once you get a groove going. And the style guide is slightly different (no numbers are spelled out, British English). Crap pay for me since SpeechInk HITs are high-load times. But like I said, fun for me. To take the test I think you have to request qualification (from an existing home inspection HIT), they email a link to the test.
Got it...good to know. Now that I know that they passed I feel like those are more worth it in the end to do than the non-verbatim ones. It makes me more motivated when I see my earnings go up by a few dollars and not just a $1.60 or $2.20.
I'm going to bring this thread back up, rather than start a new one. There have been a lot of these HITs the last couple of days and I can make about $3 an hour on them, which isn't too bad. The only thing I have a problem with is reviewers who don't understand the requirement. It has to be BRITISH English (I got a score of 63/100 because the reviewer changed 'panelled' to 'paneled' which is US English). You also have to treat the start of a list with a ';' but reviewers keep editing this in where there is no list following! It is driving me crazy. I have emailed SpeechInk to see if they can review my reviews. Also I got a very low rating on one because the reviewer actually added the words 'full stop' at the end of the sentence! LMAO! The speaker is telling you to use a full stop or period, not wanting it typed out in full! I will let you know if I get any response from SpeechInk.
Oh no =/ Last time I did those, I ran my sentences through a British English spell checker =) SpeechInk's way of counting "characters changed" for grading really can blow. And for tiny transcriptions, it's killer. Especially if there's a rogue editor that is working off the regular style guide, not the home inspection one. Hopefully you get some sort of positive communication going with them. I've never had them write back to me when I've had a question.
Yep. I returned one of those (from a different requester). Keep the "full stops" verbatim and an editor may take them out; omit them and the editor might put them back. :rolleyes: "You take, Zathras die. You leave, Zathras die. Either way, it is bad for Zathras." -- Babylon 5
I've seen bosses tear shreds off office juniors for typing out "full stop, new sentence". I suppose the problem lies because non British English users may say "period" instead of "full stop". Adding those words was almost half the characters changed in the entire clip. So not fair.
You'll be vindicated when they get complaints from the client, interneteditor. Trust me, at some point the client(s) will ask SpeechInk why the hell they are writing out full stop (the US equivalent of writing out period), lol. Hopefully, it will be sooner rather than later!
I wish these hits weren’t edited and rated by fellow turkers to be honest, as like others have said, it is clear that some editors have not read the instructions about British English and the use of semi-colons. I am glad you have contacted SpeechInk interneteditor. In addition, does anyone else wish these hits were grouped together, so that you could automatically accept the next hit?
Yes it is VERY annoying to find each HIT. I take a ctrl+c of the address bar after I've done a SpeechInk/available to me search but it's another two steps pasting that and entering to get the list again. There are also too many clicks/loads to get to the actual transcription, it all takes time and lowers the value of the HIT. I however DO like SpeechInk's inline player and now do only their work because of it. There's too much preparation involved for CastingWords rates. If you get a snotty comment about not using UK English, it's probably me 90% of the time I have to remember the US English differences, how hard would it be for you to figure out the UK differences. Or, hey, how about leave the work for those of us who WILL do it correctly. The other day I had lots of clips from a man who had hiccups. It was driving me bananas. Why would you not stop and get rid of the hiccups before recording? People who dictate with food in their mouths make me want to kill people, too. They should be made to spend a day transcribing their own audios, it would soon teach them what not to do! I don't hold out any hope of a response from SpeechInk. Although, they were fast enough to fire off an email to me with a ticking-off because I had submitted an incomplete transcription. Actually, the audio stopped where it stopped, if there had been more I'd have typed it, but hey, thanks for giving me the benefit of the doubt or... here's an idea... CONTACTING me first!
Really annoyed with whoever did my reviews today. Removal of hyphens which were grammatically correct. I hate losing out to someone else's ignorance. If they can't do the grammar they shouldn't be doing the jobs. Also one I had a couple of days ago said something like "fifty pounds and 55p". The correct way to transcribe this is £50.55. I thought some idiot reviewer would downgrade me for not putting the "p" on the end but no, even better, they put some stupid A with some accent on the top in front of the £. Crocked that rating down to 54 as it was only a few words. Can anyone enlighten me on why someone would do that? There must be some reason I don't know about.
The a with the accent at top means there was a problem between your/their word processing format and speechink's, I believe. When home audio is up, do a search for "speechink home" or something similar. Right-click to open in a new tab. When you're done, they're still sorted. Or right-click and accept several. Then you'll have some stocked up and can be found under Hits Assigned To You
It was an unnecessary edit, whatever they were trying to do. I've thought about accepting a few at a time but I have small children,there's always a chance of being distracted and not getting it done on time.
It may not have been an edit regarding that character. It may have been an issue between different word processors talking to each other. Just like we're to turn smart quotes off when using a WP program -- they turn into crap when put into the company's system.
a) I use SpeechInk's input box so no issue of WP formatting issue. These are texts of between 4 and 10 or so words, usually. b) You can see each HIT's text, what you typed, what they edited and what the final result was. So I can definitely 100% say, it's a human error. Reviewer wouldn't be using their own systems to DL these.
If I have to click "OK" on this one more time I think I am going to go mad. At least the ratings for these hits are separate from the ratings for other SpeechInk transcription hits.