Hi there,
Just for a change I thought I would write about some new gadget or technology that I've been using lately. In my line of work it is necessary to regularly write notes about meetings I've had with customers and our business partners, plus general sales reports. I certainly have no real problem with generating typed notes, as I can type quite quickly, probably quicker than I can type. I do find however that sometimes it is easier to keep putting off sitting down and typing these reports, especially when I need to think through the words that I want to use first. It is one thing to quickly make bullet point notes in my notebook with my pen during a meeting, but it is then another to take these turn them into a cohesive and easy to read report.
In the past I've tried different ways to get around this problem. I tried using a small recorder to record the meetings I attended and then turn them into notes later. I found however that I would never get around to listening to the recordings and then typing them into a final report. A few years ago I also tried some voice recognition software but found at the time that my laptop was barely capable of running the progam and the accuracy was woeful. Then I tried using a LiveScribe digital pen. This worked in the sense that it gave me my notes in a digital form and I could even record the meetings and then later hear the audio that matched the text that I wrote down in the notepad. Also later, LiveScribe released software that enabled my hand written notes to be turned into typed notes. Again however unless I really wrote slowly and took care with what I was writing, the accuracy was pathetic. Anyone who has been in a meeting and needs to capture information that is being said very quickly knows that your writing tends to suffer as you quickly scribble it down.
Two weeks ago however, I decided to try voice recognition software again. My laptop now is much more powerful than when I used it last time, and also I had heard that the more recent versions were better with their accuracy when it came to interpreting non-United States accents. While I would not describe my accent as a broad Australian accent, I clearly say some words in an Australian way and I imagine this would be difficult for software that is not expecting it.
So I went out and bought Dragon Naturally Speaking version 11, Premium edition. Apart from the software CD and a quick install and user guide card, it also came with a basic wired headset. For the last two weeks I have been using the software to dictate my meeting notes, and also in some cases to reply to e-mails.
How well has it worked? Well so far, so good. Does it interpret my speech 100% accurately all of the time? No, of course not. It does however get what I'm saying correct remarkably most of the time. Yes, it gets caught on unusual company names, and it also does not get right the first time some of the product names that I deal with with my job. For general sentences however, it gets it right almost all the time. When I am not using industry related words or unusual business partner company names, it seems to get the sentences completely correct. I've also found that if I take the time to correct mistakes when I do use more unusual words or industry related jargon, it then gets it right most of the time when I next use those same terms.
Have I found the perfect way to record my meeting notes? I'm not sure yet, but this is certainly easier than sitting down and typing up my meetings after the event. I now find I can simply open my notebook, look through my bullet points and make up a sentence for each one and then read it out aloud. I then simply tidy up a few things and send out the meeting report. I am certainly now turning around my meeting reports much more quickly, and I also find using the headset and voice dictation a nice break sometimes when I'm travelling overseas. It's one thing to sit in front of a laptop for several hours and reply to e-mails, but clearly it is not as good ergonomically as sitting in your office with a proper screen and keyboard, so being able to sit back with the headset, think through my reply and then dictate it using my voices is a nice break from hunching over the laptop and its small keyboard and a mouse.
Let's see how it goes over the next one or two months and perhaps I will come back and comment further on this voice dictation software. Up to this point however I'm very happy with how well Dragon NaturallySpeaking is working. Just to prove the point this entire post has been voice dictated and across all of the text that you see here I think had to correct something like five words.
Not too bad really.
Later.
Den
Well...
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