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[LesleyT]

I thought I'd posted this but it was eaten by the internets. 

I was wondering about using the XO for real time transcriptions for deaf and hoh kids.  In a country where real time captioning, transcription,  or sign interpertres might be rare, a few users and an XO could do some awesome things, like real time captioning.  A student could transcribe a lecture as it was happening over the XO.  The deaf/HOH student could type responses and questions directly to the teacher.   

I'd love to see good speech to text system one day develop, where the live transcriptionst (or another student) simply edits the ineviatble mistakes that speech text makes.

[Gabey8]

I actually did this type of transcription once, a few AADB (American Association of the Deaf-Blind) conventions ago. That was the last year that they had PCs hooked up to large-screen TVs for low-vision (and possibly non-signing) delegates. Since the 2003 convention, they've been using trained real-time captioners for events, which works out great.

Anyway, when the hardware was PCs hooked up to the large-screen TV, there was one particular workshop that we had three transcribers for. I had a watch with a countdown timer that could be set to restart automatically (if it counted down ten minutes, it would immediately go back to 10 minutes and start counting down again). We used that timer to keep track, and even though there were three of us rotating, fatigue set in bigtime. We started with ten-minute shifts but as the workshop progressed, the shifts had to be trimmed gradually (to 8 minutes, to 6, to 4). Even then, by the time that workshop was over we were all about ready to keel over. My hands hurt for the next three days. (Note to self: do  hand-stretching warmups prior to embarking on another type-o-thon.)

I think that an XO could definitely be used as a transcribing device, with or without a regular-sized keyboard attached to it. But depending on the actual event being transcribed, it might be wise to bring in more than one typist and if necessary, schedule breaks so the transcriber(s) won't end up with carpal tunnel syndrome symptoms. Our workshop was a case where there was a lot of talking going on and very little pause in the action. Not every event will be a constant stream of talk, but some might be, and the best bet would be to consider that in advance of the event and plan accordingly.

[LesleyT]

Yeah, that's a big disadvantage of transcription.

Some places hire braillists who use the small BAT keyboards (is that what you call them?) and they already know chords and shortcuts. 

The typewell system that we use in our university has a "meaning to meaning" transcription system, not every word.  I don't like that idea too much either.   It also has a really sophisticated system of abbrevations and macros. 

I'm thinking of a deaf student who wouldn't be able to go to school in a developing nation.  (In fact, I have a deaf friend who didn't go to school until she was a teenager.  In the US.  She is considered developmentally disabled and works at a workshop, but who knows how much is organic and how much is because she had no language until she learned sign as a teenager.)

I think a software developer could work on a kid-friendly system of macros, or a system of teaching a child how to program his/her own macros to be sufficient for an elementary school lesson.

I agree that a lecture on an adult level would be an entirely different ball game.  And painful one.