quality remote transcribing: handling unclear referents

Here's a GREAT question from a remote transcriber.  Thanks for contributing!!

Q:  What should a remote transcriber do when the speaker uses unclear referents like "here, there, this"? 

A:  Your question about how to handle rephrasing of words like “here, there, this” is an important one, especially for remote transcribers!  Unfortunately, it’s not always possible to know (or even deduce) what those words refer to.  You won’t have that visual information (e.g., hand gesturing, body language) to aid you when you’re remote transcribing.  So, the problem of “unclear referents” is not so much the transcriber's fault, but simply an unfortunate aspect of working remotely.  The important thing is to always be mindful of reader’s perspective, even though you can’t see him or her!

The professors for whom you transcribe will most likely get very little training about how to help you do your job well, and they will continue to say things like, “if you look at this...”, out of habit.  Aside from wearing a lapel microphone, there’s not much in place to remind the professor that they have a “remote” audience.  It is therefore your responsibility to develop strategies to overcome the challenges of the remote transcribing setting.

The best strategy is to pay close attention to what is happening in the classroom at all times, and never let yourself "zone out" or lose track of what the speaker is discussing.  It will be especially important for you to create a work space where no one, such as roommates or kids, can disturb or distract you while you're working.  You need to be able forget where you are, so you can shift all your attention into that classroom, where the reader is. 

Staying attentive will enable you to pick up on little details that clue you in to what is happening in the classroom, to better capture the meaning of all those sounds and words coming through the headphones.  You’re like a detective, using your heightened senses to gather as much significant information as you can.  Sometimes you will be able to hear a professor writing on the board, and based on the context of what they’re saying, you’ll know that you can type [On board.]  You might hear the sound of papers or books being opened, so you know to listen for references to a handout or page number, which you would use in a reader orientation.  Or, a professor may refer to “this slide,” and that likely means they’re showing a PowerPoint or slide presentation.  [On screen] would be appropriate in that case. 

Take caution, however, not to “guess” what a speaker is referring to.  If you aren’t sure about a particular referent, then you should simply to focus on transcribing the speaker's words as accurately as possible, sticking closely to their own word choice and vocabulary (even if they're using words like "this" or "here").  Even those specific words can help the reader make sense of the transcript and match it to what’s going on around them.

Does anyone else have some good strategies to share?  :-)

Kate

Related post: avoid unclear pronouns