The State of Content Writing

Transcription is my first love, no doubt about it, but as I dip my toes into content writing part of my motivation for doing so is the sad state of the written word becoming widespread across the internet. Don’t get me wrong, I would like to make a few extra bucks, but when I see some of the content out there I shake my head and think to myself, “I could’ve written better content when I was ten years old.” Why in the world wouldn’t I want to put my skills to work when quality writers are obviously needed. I mean, I’m not going to point fingers, but I am reading journalists for major, top-tier publications who need to go back to English and Grammar 101. I’m sure you have too. Even some of the headlines are nonsensical. If you can’t even write a good headline should you even remotely call yourself a writer? How in the world did they secure their writing jobs, and even more importantly how is their stuff getting past editors?

Now, I have no idea what goes on behind the editing desks in this brave, new, weird world of journalism and content writing. I suspect a lot things are being written by A.I., but good grief, at least do a cursory scan of the finished product!

Supposedly, the competition is fierce in the content writing world. I’m still figuring out how to get my foot into the door without paying some “service” to send me leads (the advice I’m getting is that I have to do a lot, and I mean a lot, of “cold calling/e-mailing”) but if the competition is so fierce why is the output quality so poor? Cream is supposed to rise to the top, right? It appears there is some level of apathy out there, but that’s just my theory.

I get top pay for my transcription skills, but I’ve had to earn it. I have over 30 years experience with lots of different types of transcription. It’s still not easy to get references as people tend to want to go to the cheap online sources, but excellent work has gotten me work from some high-profile clients. Once they see the high-quality of what I do they are recurring customers.

Right now, I have more questions than answers. I feel I have a lot to offer to the writing world given the state of it, so I’ll just keep plugging away at it.

Artificial Intelligence and the Transcription Industry

With the rise of AI (Artificial Intelligence) we ask ourselves as transcriptionists, “Is this the technology that finally makes my career obsolete?” It’s a very legitimate question. Since I began transcribing in the Fall of 1990 I have continually heard, “One day soon technology will make your job obsolete.” I’ve always taken those assertions with a healthy dose of skepticism, and maybe some degree of denial, because who wants to believe their chosen field will become obsolete? In fairly recent history there are communication professions that are now unheard of such as telegraph operators, telephone operators, and with the exception of court reporters stenographers are now mostly passé. The old-time in-office typing pool with its cloud of cigarette smoke is now individuals scattered across the globe typing from the comfort of their own homes.

I went into medical transcription typing on an IBM Selectric typewriter (you could type a whole line appearing on a small screen that gave you a chance to edit the line before hitting “return” and then the machine printed the line). The trend to the electronic medical record was in it’s infancy, and the more rural hospitals, including the one where I worked, had not gone there yet. The month before I left that job they began the process of converting to computers for transcription. My next job was completely done on computer though we still printed the reports on paper. I had classes in computer technology in college and was young, so no biggie for me. Some of my older colleagues had a bigger adjustment, but they eventually caught on.

In the late nineties when I worked for a transcription company from home I transcribed via Dictaphone technology with a Dictaphone attached to a second line in my home. I dialed into the host computer and transcribed dictated reports into M.S. Word with my headset attached to the Dictaphone via a live phone connection. Once or twice a day (or more often if I had “stat” jobs) I would connect to the internet via dial-up and transfer the Word Docs back to the transcription company for whom I was working. I got my job lists once or twice per day via fax. Just typing that makes me feel about 90 years old, but that was only about 25 years ago. Hard to believe.

Technology is advancing more quickly than ever. That much is true. Voice recognition and AI are starting to cut into the jobs of transcriptionists, but only minimally at this point. I am just beginning to play with ChatGPT and other AI interfaces so I’m by no means an expert, but what I am experiencing though very impressive, doesn’t give me too much pause regarding the future need for live humans in transcription especially for more specialized transcripts for video production purposes shot with embedded time code–though optimization of that may be near on the horizon. Also, AI has a harder time with multiple speakers. While better than it used to be, differentiation between speakers is still a challenge for AI especially if there are more than two speakers.

And here’s the thing that I have kept emphasizing to people for nearly 30 years regarding speech recognition, and I stand by it now; dialect is a VERY complicated thing.

I grew up in Appalachia (yes, proud hillbilly here), and the dialect of Southern English I spoke in my hometown was definitely different than the dialect spoken by my cousins in the next town. This has been watered down somewhat by the internet age making the world smaller, but dialect can still differ, especially in more remote areas of the world, from town to town and in some cases community to community!

This is part of the reason you see ads everywhere about becoming a voice coach to teach AI. AI is still very much a work in progress when it comes to speech recognition. Where AI shines the most is word to voice translation. This is going to benefit the audiobook industry almost immediately as I believe authors/voiceover artists will no longer have to read whole books in cramped studios, although I don’t believe AI will completely take over the voiceover industry. I’m rooting for my friends who do voiceover. We still need warm “real” voices too.

I still assert that we will always need a real human to edit and QA any AI-generated transcript, especially for important documents like medical records and legal documents. There are some industries where perfect transcription is not as important, but it would be a shame for the standard of documentation to be acceptable of AI mistakes, bad grammar, and bad punctuation.

As I’ve always done I plan on embracing new technologies to enhance my own skills. If AI can help me produce transcripts faster and make me more money I’m on board. If one day AI takes my job so be it, but I’m not packing up my transcription pedal just yet.

Well, It’s Been a Very Long Time

It has been nearly 13 years since I updated this blog. To say a lot has happened in the last 13 years is an understatement, and a lot should happen in 13 years shouldn’t it? I’ve been through a divorce, remarriage, and in 2022 I became a widow. I won’t go into detail about all of that as it would be a novel, but needless to say, I’m glad I’m still here and have my sanity intact. Faith in Jesus, laughter, and my late grandmother’s life lessons on resiliency and stoicism have gotten me through the last several years. There has been crushing pain as well as joy beyond my wildest imagination. I have lived a whole lifetime (and then some) in the last 13 years, and I’ve gained a tremendous amount of wisdom as well as street smarts.

I may write about these experiences along the way, but as this blog is more specifically about my calling as a scribe I want to stick fairly close to the subject. I’m leaving up all my past posts even though some of the personal content is bittersweet to read now but is still relevant to the purpose of this blog.

In the last year I have retired from full-time employment. My wonderful late husband provided for me well, and near the end of his illness/life we jointly decided that I would mostly retire alongside of him no matter the outcome of his health battle. Unfortunately, he passed away just six days after my retirement. He left me in a financial place in that as long as I don’t go crazy spending money I should be able to enjoy a comfortable retirement until the end of my lifetime.

So, here’s where I get back to the subject. I’m still a scribe! I still do freelance transcription for my former employer and a handful of other clients. Transcription, as well as writing, is still in my blood, and at this point I imagine it will be there the rest of my life.

I still love the flow of transcription. There is something about it that calms me and occupies my busy brain and focuses it like nothing else. The same goes for writing. Many people have encouraged me to step up and write, and in the last few months the appeal of writing has gained new traction for me to the point that I’m dipping my toes into the content writing pool.

While I have written and journaled for years I have never attempted to put myself out there in the writing world other than occasional (very occasional) blogging. Part of the reason for coming back to this blog is for practice and to remind myself how much I love to write. I feel I’m pretty good at writing even though I know I have a lot learn.

So, stay tuned for more content. In the next few weeks I’m going to dive into the state of transcription today, and how in the burgeoning age of artificial intelligence human-initiated writing/transcription is still important.

More to come!

Goodbye Ember. Have an Awesome Life!

(This was a post I meant to share in late September about a kitten who graced our lives for two whole weeks.   I did the draft and forgot all about it, but thought I would share it now even though it’s November.  The good news is that from latest reports Ember is thriving in her new home.)

September 25, 2010

Yesterday we said a bittersweet goodbye to Ember (blog post and pictures here).   She left to go to her forever home last night.  I have to admit it was harder to let her go than I thought it would be.  Her little life had added a whole new dimension to our lives in just over two weeks.

Why didn’t went keep her?  There were several reasons the first of which is we already have five, and we’re just at a limit with space to allow all the cats to live comfortably together.  Secondly, she is a female.  Not that we’re prejudice against girls it’s because we have one female who just does not tolerate other females well at all.  Last year, when we added Ruby to the mix it pushed Ginger over the edge.  She now lives most of her life in our bedroom.  She needs her own territory in which she is the only female.  She has the run of the house when the other cats go to their room at night, but all heck breaks loose when we try to mix her with the other females.  It’s quite scary really.  Thirdly, financially we’re pushing our limits with five.

Also, it was important to let this little one go because  Eddie and I need to learn how to let go, or we may eventually become the subjects you hear about on the news or the show, Animal Hoarders.

No, no,   not really, but we have to learn to let go and realize that we can’t keep them all.

I really wish I could be an animal rescuer.  I believe my husband is more cut out for that than I am.  He’s always been a rescuer and was even on our small town Rescue Squad in his late teens and early adulthood.  He’s amazing.  I don’t know how anyone does it.  My initial response to an emergency is paralyzation .  Then, I want to run from the situation.  So, you better hope I’m not the first person on the scene if you ever have an emergency.

No, I’d help…but I’d have to fight every instinct not freeze or run away.

Last night was a prime example of how I can’t be a rescuer and have to let go of precious animals on a regular basis.  I was fine until about 10 minutes after she left.  I started cooking dinner, and the tears started flowing and wouldn’t stop.  After dinner I knew I had to clean out Ember’s living space (our guest bath) or I’d be tempted to lock the door and never go in there again.  I bawled while I dumped and cleaned her litter box (her little poops and pees, but she’s gone.  WAAAAH!)  I washed her tiny little food and water bowls….WAAAAH!   It was not pretty.  You would have thought I had just handed over my first born and not a kitten I had only known a little over two weeks.  Part of my over-reaction may have due to the fact  I had a totally rotten day yesterday, and letting Ember go was the cherry on top of that crap Sundae, but it was difficult…much more difficult than I thought it would be.

Today was somewhat better.  I scrubbed and mopped the bathroom, and it looks like she was never there, but there has been a malaise with me all day long.  The new owner reported that she is doing great.  We will be making a visit to see her in her new home soon.

I know she’s going to have an awesome life, but I’m sad that it’s not going to be with us.

What to Do…What to Do?

No, I am not dead.  Present circumstances have reminded me that I am very much alive.  I’m considering what to do with this blog…whether to continue it, discontinue it, or combine it with another blog I have that delves more into my personal life.   This blog is called “The Scribe’s Pen” and while I’ve always talked about more than just transcription I’ve neglected this blog because transcription has been relegated to the back burner of my job description.  Do I miss it?  Yes, some days I do.  Got the chance to transcribe about 15 minutes worth of footage yesterday, and it actually felt good.  But honestly, most days I don’t miss it.   While transcription put food on the table for many years I am disheartened by the fact that I spent many years homing a skill that has become heavily outsourced.  While there are still many domestic transcriptionists they are finding it very difficult to make a living due to outsourcing and the subsequent cheapening of what we do.   The average salary for a transcriptionist is actually less than it was ten years ago.  Without delving into all the whys and hows (technology is the biggie) we’re quickly becoming what phone operators became late in the 20th century…slowly obsolete.

For many years I took comfort in the fact that I had a specialized skill in which there was great demand.  I knew I could always find a job.  Yes, I could probably find a transcription job pretty quickly still, but it would pay no where near what it used to pay unless I want to pound the keyboard 12 to 15 hours a day.  I know I  would burn out very quickly at that rate.

I am very thankful that I’ve been given the opportunity to hone my administrative assistant skills, but fancy title aside, I’m just a secretary, and those are a dime a dozen too.

So, I move forward into a very uncertain future as even the job I have now seems temporary due to the economy and the fact I work for a non-profit.   There are definitely days my faith is shaky (like today).  I rest in the fact that God has taken care of me and my family so far, and I have to trust that he’ll continue to do so.

Blogging From My New Phone

This is just basically a test post using the WordPress Application on my new Android phone. I’m pretty blown away by the advancement in cell phone technology in recent years. The good thing for the reader is that any blog post from the phone will be pretty pithy. It will allow me to share thoughts on things as they come to mind instead of waiting until I can get to a computer…because by then I’ve usually forgotten what I was going to say in the first place.

Mobily Yours….

New Video from Remedy Drive-Rescue

Here’s a new video from BGEA (via ransom.tv)  It’s Remedy Drive “Rescue”.  My favorite part of this video is the “guitar cam”.  This is a new little camera we’ve been attaching to everything.  We even attached it to a baseball and pitched it to Albert Pujols on a recent shoot we did with him.  Fun!

Everything is Beachy!

Since I’ve been a slacker and haven’t updated this blog since February I figured I take some of my downtime while on vacation and catch you up a bit.

We are on our yearly vacation to the beach with my parents.  We are at Holden Beach, North Carolina which is a sentimental favorite in our family.  It’s a very low-key, family-style beach.  So, if you’re into excitement and a night life, Myrtle Beach…about 45 minutes south of here…might be more your style.  If you like the laid-back approach to vacation then Holden Beach might be a good fit for you.

We came down on Friday as Eddie was scheduled to teach at Baptist Librarian’s Conference at Caswell Baptist Assembly at Fort Caswell.  He taught an assortment of technology-related sessions and did a great job.  He really enjoyed it too.  He may be asked to come back and teach a general session next year.

Fort Caswell was built in the mid 19th century but never saw any real battles.  At the tail end of the Civil War Fort Fisher….which is several miles North…was taken by the Union Army.  The Confederate Army then sent orders to Fort Caswell to abandon the Fort, but first they were told to destroy as much of the fort as possible so the Union Army wouldn’t be able to utilize it.  Well, the soldiers that manned the fort weren’t the sharpest crayons in the box and threw all their ammunition and gunpowder into the midsection of the fort and ignited the whole mess.  This resulted in an explosion that did considerable damage to the fort but also killed several of the soldiers and blew out all the nearby windows in homes up to five miles away.

After the Civil War the fort changed hands between government ownership and private ownership until shortly after World War II when the Baptist Association bought all the land and  structures on the property for $86,000.  That was quite a steal since a hundred years earlier it cost over $400,000 to construct the initial fort structure.

Camp Caswell is now a wildly popular destination for many Southern Baptists.  In fact how I grew up as a Southern Baptist kid in North Carolina and never went to Caswell until this week is some sort of anomaly.  Most SB kids went to “Camp Caswell” at some point in their childhood.

We are now at Holden Beach for the rest of the week.  So far the weather has been a bit stormy and windy.  Yesterday morning the storms that produced the deadly tornadoes in Mississippi rolled through here, and it felt like a hurricane here.  The storm passed, but it has remained very windy.  Still, a windy day at the beach beats a day in the office anytime.

There has been lots going on in my life in the last few months both with work an in my personal life.  Four weeks ago last Saturday Eddie had to undergo emergency gallbladder surgery to remove a gangrenous gallbladder.  His recovery has been slow but steady, and we’re so thankful that he is regaining his health.

Last week we also celebrated the grand re-opening of the Billy Graham Library.  I had the awesome privilege to serve at the re-opening dinner and got to see Dr. Graham in person one more time.  If you’ve never been to the Library I highly recommend that you come by.  Even if you have been there before there are lots of new things to see including a beautiful new mural created by the famed artist Thomas Kinkade.  (you  can see the image of  “The Cross” on the Thomas Kinkade website).

That’s all for now.  I’m going to enjoy the rest of my vacation!

New Video from B.G.E.A./Ransom.tv

Here’s a new video  we shot back in January.  Grab a tissue or a hanky and take a peak

Are Transcriptionists Passe?

The only constant is change…which is true.  Some things change more slowly than others even in the face of rapidly changing technology.  The transcriptionist’s/scribe’s job has remained relatively unchanged for thousands of years…

From Wikipedia:

A scribe is a person who writes books or documents by hand as a profession and helps the city keep tracks of its records.The profession, previously found in all literate cultures in some form, lost most of its importance and status with the advent of printing. The work could involve copying books, including sacred texts, or secretarial and administrative duties such as taking of dictation and the keeping of business, judicial and historical records for kings, nobility, temples and cities. Later the profession developed into public servants, journalists, accountants, typists, and lawyers.

I’ll pause here and say I disagree with some of that definition.  I don’t believe the invention of the printing press made the profession of transcription lose any importance.  I believe it made it more important because the printing press doesn’t magically produce accurate info all by itself.

I guess what is at the root of this post is that I have taken recent comments made to me concerning my profession personally.  I have been told that since there are so many ways a person can convey their thoughts, work, etc. that transcriptionists have become obsolete or passe because “Everybody types…”

True,  almost everybody types. I believe I’m safe in saying that compared to 20 years ago a much larger percentage of the world’s population has  at least adequate keyboarding skills, but that does not mean that everyone is proficient in producing accurate records.

Don’t even get me started on grammar skills.  I’ve never professed to be flawless in my grammar, but I see people posting/writing/blogging things on the internet that if I didn’t know better I would think they were being written by cavemen (no offense to cavemen).  While I occasionally utilize “text speech” (BFF, LOL, JMO…etc.) it’s only for say….text messaging or “tweeting”.  Almost on a daily basis I get e-mails from professional colleagues (mostly 10 or more years younger than I) who speak in a vague…sometimes indiscernible text speech.  They then get irritated when I send them a reply of  “huh?” and treat me like Aunt Bea because I ask them for more detail.  It gives me great pause when I think that these darn whippersnappers are going to be recording our medical/government records and other important information within the next few years.  If we think the “pants on the ground” are a problem think about these kids programming nuclear code while trying to simultaneously hike up their pants.

I know I sound like an old school marm wielding her ruler while shouting “grammar, GRAMMAR!” but I’m more than a little concerned about the backseat proper speech is taking in our society.

Back to my main point…I still don’t believe scribes/transcriptionists are anywhere close to being obsolete.  Shortly after I started my career as a medical transcriptionist in the early 90’s I was told that I would be replaced by voice recognition within a few short years.  Fast forward nearly 20 years…while there are some entities using voice recognition the majority of medical transcription is still being performed by trained medical transcriptionists.  Even if voice recognition is utilized it is almost always QA’d by a trained language specialist.  So, voice recognition is far from a perfect way to produce an accurate record.  If voice recognition were so wonderful then we’d be bypassing the human editor.

In the last six years I have been in media transcription for a production house that is still heavily reliant on the written transcript to aid in editing footage into a finished product.   I have been told by some folks that transcription is  a luxury.   My experience has been that it’s just like having a cell phone.  Once you’re used to this “luxury” it’s hard to do without it.  While my particular position has evolved into more of a “transcription coordinator” (coordination the work assignment to freelance transcriptionists)  the demand for transcripts has not become less, in some cases it has become more.

Example, recently we had two crews on the ground in Haiti (after the earthquake) that shot anywhere from 50 to 75 hours worth of footage.  When this footage came back what was the first thing they wanted?  Transcripts!   The producer and editot did not want to sit in an edit suite hours on end spinning through hours and hours of footage.   Transcripts would cut the editing process down significantly.

So, if you’re thinking about becoming a transcriptionist or if you are already a transcriptionist and are job scared I’d say put your worries to rest.  I’m not saying that the industry has not suffered some in the last several years…most specifically due to off-shoring of work…but after the dust has settled and more work comes back into the U.S. (and I believe it will because the off-shored product tends to be terrible) I believe opportunities and wages will increase.

Transcription is one of the oldest professions, and I believe it will exist for many years to come.