CastingWords Turker Blog

Bonus Contest Results

In 48 hours over the weekend 1388 minutes (over 23 hours) of audio was transcribed for CastingWords.

And here's the top three transcribers who won the bonuses:

1. Worker #101 won $25: 241 min
2. Worker #4197 won $10: 213 min
3. Worker #4186 won $5: 168 min

I was really impressed with the amount of work everyone did this weekend. Great job all around!

Posted by Rachel

Transcription Bonus Contest

We're offering some bonuses this weekend to whomever transcribes the most audio for CastingWords.

The ranking will show up here:

castingwords.com/Admin/turkers/top_transcribers

The contest will be for work submitted between 8pm PST tonight (Fri Sep 6) and Sun night at 8 pm.

Note that stuff won't show up right away as we have to approve it before it gets counted.

The bonus prizes are:
1st Place: $25
2nd Place: $10
3rd Place: $5

Posted by Rachel

Transcribing on dial-up

Just because I'm on dial-up doesn't prevent me from accepting CastingWords HITS. All I do is open a window and let the audio file download. Sampling the audiofile before accepting the HIT gives me a headstart on the download. While it's downloading, I simply open another window and accept other quick HITS for a penny or so. Otherwise, I try transcribing the first few minutes of the downloaded file, which works for me because by the time I finish transcribing that snippet, a new snippet is available for me to do. To save on dial-up costs, as soon as the audiofile is fully downloaded, I right-click the file, save it on my desktop, and disconnect. I then upload the audiofile on my Express Scribe and continue transcribing. I keep the HIT window open on my computer -- the timer is still running even if I am disconnected so I get to pace myself. When I'm done editing my work, I log on again and send the file. At least three hours shaved off my dial-up internet account usage! Soon, I hope to make enough money from this to afford a DSL account.

Posted by Cabecou

Increasing Productivity

There are many things you can do to increase your productivity while doing podcasts. The easiest thing that I've found is slowing the audio down. This can easily be done using a winamp plugin (such as "Slow Me Down" for winamp ). Using these slows down the talking without affecting the pitch of the speaker, giving you more time to type.

Another thing you can do is use hotkeys. Instead of using your mouse to pause, rewind, and play the audio file. Set up your global hotkeys to do these so your hands don't have to leave your keyboard. Even better is if you happen to have a set of joystick-pedals from a racing or driving game that plug into your computer. There are programs out there to convert their movement into controlling the speed and direction of an mp3 file in winamp. Remember, keeping your hands typing will speed up your transcribing because your thought processes doesn't have to stop when you need to adjust the playback!

Posted by Andrew F

How Accurate Should a Transcript Be?

First of all, this is my own opinion and not anything officially approved by Casting Words. Over the past few months, I've had a chance to see many transcripts and do some myself. When I first started transcribing, I tried to make the text an exact replica of everything that the speakers said, recording every ummm, ah, you know, and partial sentence start. Over time, I've come to realize that readability can be greatly improved by abandoning that approach. We speak and write differently and I think that has to be taken into account when transcribing. Here are three simple things that you can do to make your transcripts much more readable:
1) Eliminate "you knows".
2) Eliminate false sentence starts.
3) Repair sentence fragments when possible.

So, unless the notes say otherwise, I think it's best to favor readability over 100 percent accuracy by following the rules above.

Posted by bjs

Grail around the temples

I think a lot of Turkers spend a great deal of time searching for some illusory object that has long disappeared in the mist of time. That's probably even more noticeable at those electron parties where the few remaining "grizzled turkers" virtually flock to exchange war stories, those old enough to remember the good old days where HITs paid on average a hundred bucks each and showed up by the millions. Or at least that's what you'd believe listening to some. There is no doubt that the early days of this beta run were fat and turbulent. Contemporary levels may be healthier, though, because lack of sleep will eventually catch up with you.

Ask Spamgirl, whom I believe has not had a wink in about 10 months. How else could she win so many Great answer prizes? At least Nurker and Niko sleep a few hours every months or so. Honnit soit qui mal y pense - APART, if I must add. Sheesh... The only thing they share are their MTurk addiction and the first letter of their handles... This is no problem for me, though, because with age comes a great release from the need to catch some zzzzzs. If memory serves - and that too serves less and less with age - I tried sleeping back in 1977, and didn't like it much.

So the Grail, then, that elusive beast that we all seek. For a while it was the Great Answer sweepstake: I must equate it to a lottery, because you've got to have some real luck to be there when one pops up. In theory, all you would need is really, really good timing, or perhaps a good relationship with Numbers, who could design for you a customized heavy duty warning-and-search-engine script if he was so inclined. Answer 20 questions a week in five minutes or less each and make more money than the rest of us poor slobs gathering dollars a penny at a time for hours on end.

Then there is Casting Words. Some unwashed masses tried, for a time, to make that their Grail, and they did penetrate Nathan's defensive grid a few times, and got paid for NOT working at all. I think it was in everyone's best interest to see this technical loophole closed fast, and so it was. A few other things came and went, but we're still far from the early days of picture picking and hauling bags of money to the virtual ATM.

Are there to be any more Grails on MTurk? I believe so. New Requesters have come to play - or come back, as the case may be - and was log as we provide value to their business model, they will still come. The name of the game is simple: If they can make money with your labor, then you will make money. While some are happy to offer a few cents only for long jobs, it's a market like any other market, and you pay for what you get. If I will no longer pick penny HITs that last 20 minutes, others will. As long as the job is simple, and well explained, the result will be good.

However, other requesters make me feel appreciated by offering good pay for more complex jobs, and when those jobs fall within my field of expertise, the financial return on my time is far greater. So no, I don't expect to make a living on MTurk. However, it's sure is a convenient way to earn a few bucks and buy a few of those fine luxuries you would otherwise have to go without!

Posted by MTEQC.COM

Pitch shifting for Linux transcribers.

Pitch shifting a podcast to slow it down while keeping voices in an audible range is something that is embedded in certain applications for Windows users. If you are a Linux user, though, how do you go about it?

Well, there are multiple options, but I've found the best is to use libasound LADSPA plugins -- a set of sound tools used by people who do pro audio recording under Linux. Using a LADSPA plugins you can play a sound pitch-shifted with whatever player -- even video players -- you use for transcription, as long as it has a libasound (a.k.a. "alsa") output driver.

For example, the alsaplayer application has a speed control and also has a daemon mode that can be tied to various input devices like foot pedals, so combined with LADSPA plugins, it's all you really need. Setup is very simple on any modern Linux system (where libasound is usually already installed by default.)

First you need to find and install the LADSPA plugins. The ones you need are "Tom's Audio Processing LADSPA plugins" -- look for a "tap-plugins" package with your package manager, or you can go to tap-plugins.sourceforge.net to find packages for other distributions.

Once you have those installed, all you need to do is place the following text in your ~/.asoundrc file:

pcm.transcribe { type ladspa slave.pcm "plughw:0,0"; path "/usr/lib/ladspa"; plugins [ { label tap_pitch input { controls [12 100 -90 0] } }]}


You may have to change the path "/usr/lib/ladspa" if your distribution puts the plugins someplace weird.

Now just run alsaplayer with an extra command switch: alsaplayer -dplug:transcribe ...and anything you play with that alsaplayer will sound like Alvin and The Chipmunks. The plugin even allows you to mix in some of the original audio -- just change that -90 to a number closer to zero, and you'll hear a mix of the pitch-shifted audio with the original audio. This can help consonants sound a bit better.

Documentation for the other controls can be found here: tap-plugins.sourceforge.net/ladspa/pitch.html I don't know how many turkers use Linux, but if there is enough interest, I can show you how to use external controls like joysticks as footpedals to control alsaplayer in a future post.

Posted by skids

From Mastery to Transcendence

Transcription can be tough. I mean, let’s not mince words here. You can spend an entire Friday night alone, sweating it out in a sweltering condominium, struggling to keep up with a voice that is always just ahead of your fingers. All for five or six dollars, which breaks down to…what? Two dollars an hour? Three, if you’re super-fast?

But karate can be tough, too. As can sitting zazen, or practicing the same figures over and over again on the ice. Any physical skill takes repetition to achieve mastery. And beyond mastery, there is the hope of something else.

I feel a little silly calling it “something else,” but it’s very mysterious. I supposed it doesn’t matter what I call it: “inner peace,” “enlightenment,” “a trance-state,” or – what the heck – “the Great Spiritual Penguin-Feed”. I don’t really know what to call it. But there comes a time in almost every transcription where the effort falls away and it’s no longer work.

I suppose that’s why I do it: for the experience of being in the zone. No matter what else is going on in my life, or around me, all my small griefs and petty worries disappear when I get into the rhythm of the keyboard. First, it’s effort, then skill, then mastery. And finally: this state of feeling calm and centered that makes it all very much worthwhile.

Posted by Opal Goodhope

Learn From Your Mistakes

If you're like me, the thought of receiving a grade for your work can be scary. I still shudder at the memory of receiving papers back in grade school with red editing marks all over the place. However, you owe it to yourself (and to the Turkers who will edit your work) to check in at the turkers.castingwords.com site and review the feedback that your Turking peers have provided. Armed with your Worker ID at the site, you'll have access to the status of your CastingWords' HITs as well as the feedback generated by the "grading" HITs completed by your fellow Turkers.

Yes, some of the graders can be unnecessarily harsh. Don't take the criticism personally. Look for trends that will help you correct things that you may not even realize you're doing. For example, I didn't realize that the rules for labeling speaker names had changed until I read the comments pointing out my error. If you're still in doubt after reviewing the comments, double-check the style guide or post a question at Turker Nation. Don't worry. We're all human and with the Mechanical Turk's "artificial artificial intelligence," mistakes will happen. The key is learning from your mistakes and the only way to do that is to swallow your pride and read your feedback.

Posted by qs933

Common Errors

Most of us are familiar with the its - it's and there - their errors but here are some less common ones that I've run into.

First, there's effect - affect. The hint that helped me most on this one is to remember that effect is almost always a noun and affect is almost always a verb.

Then there's punctuation of quotes. I often see transcript errors in that area. At the beginning of the quote, preceding the quote sign, there should be a comma. The first letter after the quote sign should be capitalized. The punctuation (usually a period or comma) at the end of the quote should be before the last quote sign. That has always looked funny to me but that's the way it is.

The word Internet is used in many transcripts. Should it be capitalized? I don't know. Many stylebooks and dictionaries say that the words "Internet" and "Web" (when referring to the World Wide Web) should always be capitalized because they're proper nouns. There is only one Internet and only one World Wide Web. But language referring to the Web is evolving and some people don't bother to capitalize internet or web thinking that they've become such common words that they should be in lower case. I think the important thing is to be consistent within one document. If you capitalize it at the start, make sure it's capitalized at the end.

How about words like email and website and so on? Should they be one word, two words, or hyphenated? Again, technical language is evolving. I like using one word for the sake of economy. I think the important thing here, too, is consistency.

Posted by bjs