Have you given more thought to transcriptions? Some of us with limited programming skills might feel inclined to contribute to the community by spending time transcribing podcasts. Have you considered a wiki or a book for each podcast?

Hey Jon,

I remember hearing them talking about someone doing podcast transcriptions a while back. But I haven't heard, or seen anything since then.

But your post made me wonder about that. I'd like to try it to see how long it would take and how hard it is. The GeeksandGod podcast has really helped me in many areas...Especially just hearing friendly voices in a foreign country. But I'd sure like to try typing up some transcriptions as a way of saying thank you.

Let me know what you think. I'm going to be having some SERIOUS free time, so I figured I'd give it a try.

Shane

If you want to start a google doc and share it (wiki style) in the comments that would be a great start. If there are those interested we can add something in to the site. Basically, I'll add it to my list of things to do. :)

I like the Gdoc idea although I have never used it. I am assuming this would prevent duplication of efforts. I too would like to contribute as a "Thanks". I was using Express Dictate for a period of time for something else but wondered if anyone had another type of open source program that allows you to play .mp3 and type in the same window.

Jon

Hey Jon,

Well, I'm into about 2 minutes and 30 seconds of the "Why Church Tech Projects Fail" podcast. I now understand why no one has typed up a bunch of transcripts. ha ha. It does tend a take a while. So I'm gonna keep working on it to see how far I can get :-o

I've just started Episode 102 (GeeksandGod Insider).

I have it as a google doc, so if anyoen want sto collaborate on it, let me know.

Not sure I'll be able to help build missionary websites so I thought about the transcriptions again ;-) Has there been any progress? Where can I find a work in progress or should I just start my own? Anyone familiar with googledocs that could tell me how or where I would find or start one?

J

Hello JStieglitz,

I actually haven't gotten any further on "Why church tech projects fail".

All my time has been spend working on a new website.

I first starting using Express Scribe. It supports the use of a foot pedal to stop/start audio, which would be great. Well, I don't have one, but it's nice to know there is one. I liked how you didn't need to open up anything else to type. But some of the recent Geeks & God episodes are not playing correctly. There is just the initial "SCREETCH", then silence. But other mp3 podcasts play ok. I'll have to look more into that one. It's gotta be something simple... Another good reason to get a new Macbook!

So I tried transcribing using Quicktime.. MUCH more cumbersome and annoying trying to do it that way.

I've heard of "Cloud computing" and Google apps, but I never put much thought into it.

But I'll keep you up to date on what I'm doing as far as transcribing stuff.

I think this is a great idea I'd like to see further. I'm thinking the best way to do this is create a wiki-style content type on this site (accessible to logged in users) and add a node-reference to our episodes.

Whatta ya say MF...That seems like it should be a really simple and effective setup. It would allow people to add content directly to the show, and allow folks to see what's done and what's not yet.

I reckon a new content type would be a great way to progress on this. Having podcast transcripts, i imagine, could do wonders far search engine rankings, so one they're finished, perhaps they can be sent for review or to be 'published' for non logged in users. Personally these would be very helpful to find things I remember hearing you guys say but have no idea which podcast it was in.

Great...yeah, this is something I now know how I'll do it (technically) but I just need to make it happen. I'll try and get this up in the next week or so.

Perhaps something you can think about when creating these node types is a time field which can be used to enter the time of the podcast where the transription is up to (eg: 5m15s). This will allow people to quickly navigate to that time in the podcast to continue adding to the transciption.

Also maybe it would be an idea to somehow add some special formatting/css/input filter or whichever method that would allow us to type 'MF:' or 'RF:' at the start of each of you talking, and have it formatted to bold a different colour to better show the change in speaker. Or at least have a standard way of referencing who's talking (Matt? Matt Farina? MF?)

Well, that was a little easier than I thought it would be. Paul has some great ideas in the previous comment, but at this point it's going beyond what I have time for right this second. I can see these as something we could add in the future.

Anyway, you can now add/change transcriptions on each episode. Look down next to "download mp3" links, and see the transcribe link. If there's no transcription, it will say "help transcribe this episode"...otherwise, it will say "episode transcription" which can be viewed, then edited.

Try it out, add what you have so far, and let me know how this basic setup works (at least for now...I'd like to add some of these formatting things later)

I would need it to be in mp3 format. Currently I cant even download the podcasts in mp3. When I click on the download mp3 link all i get is the intro to the podcast and then it stops. I figured it was just me the fist couple of times but now i figure it is either a bug or i am supposed to head on over to itunes. Still not sure how to get the mp3. Maybe it is just the older episodes? Seems like I remember RF and MF mentioning it.

Also maybe you could use Automatic Nodetitles to handle the names of the nodes when you get round to it.
Looking great though! Great work setting it up so quickly! Looking forward to being able to help out in this way!

Yeah, automatic node titles was on my list....but didn't get there yet.

Jon, as far as MP3s, yeah, we're battling a bug I don't quite understand. The MP3s work through the feed, but not on the site...still trying to work this out.