DocAndersen
I have been using Dragon Naturally Speaking for more than 15 years. It allows you to speak into your computer and converts that into text. It also allows you to take an MP3 recording, and turn that into text. Today, if you use this tool, it is about 98% effective. You have to train your version of the software to recognize your voice. We all have subtle differences in the way we say words. One of my favorites is the US city, New Orleans. If you speak to someone from that city, they pronounce the name much differently than someone that doesn’t live in New Orleans would. Speech recognition is all about making sure that the system understands what was said.
Alexa and OK Google both operate on this principle, as does Cortana and Siri. Dragon, though, goes one step further in that you can dictate to the computer, and it appears as text. This blog was dictated into a dragon and then well, posted! Dragon released a new product about four years ago called Dragon Go. This allows you to have a dragon on your smartphone. I use that for meetings on occasion. The issue with phones today is that the quality of microphone in iPhones and Android phones have gone down over the past few years. Where they once had hi-gain microphones, they didn’t for a few years. If you have an older smartphone, the microphone isn’t as good.
It works reasonably well for meetings. You do have to tell people before you start recording, though. It isn’t nice to record someone without them knowing it! Oh yeah, and always take the output from the tool and share it with the people in the meeting before sharing it with other people. For example, at times, dragon struggles with highly technical terms. You have to train your copy to understand your writing style The cool thing is when you first set up your desktop or laptop version, it lets you import documents you’ve written so that it can learn your speaking system. There is a time when Alexa and I disagree with what I said. With a dragon that only happens one or two times, then the software learns.
Alexa still mishears me!
My review of Dragon Naturally Speaking
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Question of
Do you have a podcast?
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Yes
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No
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Question of
Do you use other tools to create content for Virily and then paste it into the virily window?
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Yes
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No
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Question of
Do you have a headset for your computer?
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Yes
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No
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First I write in Google’s translator. I copy and paste where I need it.
that is a great way for the translation! i do that as well.
There is a lot of tech available that some of us are clueless of.
I and we are grateful for posts such as this because we need to learn.
i guess I never really stopped teaching – just changed my classroom!
I do watch a lot of podcasts and would love to have one in a future pertaining to running. Every now and then; mostly in the summer I use YouTube and Periscope as a way to share workouts that I do
Nearly a year ago I tried to install an app on my computer that would allow me to do this, but until then I use voice to text on my phone mostly. It helps me get my reviews out quicker
that is good and a great way to save time!
All I do is plug in what area I want to discuss, then I voice text away. With someone like me that writes articles: fitness, sports, fashion, and blog, plus Yelp reviews, it cuts down on the lot of time.
i agree it is a great way to save time!
i think your podcast would be well received. Podbean where I host mine, will let you set one up for free!
Cool. I will look into it right now
i like podbean they do a great job!
please let me know when you are publishing I want to follow
Playing around with it right now, and trying to figure it out. I pop in to other pods just see how people are utilizing them because I wan to do different. I’ll have a lot of open time next month because I am leaving my overnight job to get ready to possibly go back to school starting this summer. Saved a lot of money being a hermit, lol. The overnight 3rd shift lifestyle where it truly alters your life.
i worked 3rfd shift my first two years in college.
I missed so many parties!
it is a different lifestyle. I was coming home to sleep when other people were getting up.
And that is me right now. My last day is March 31st, then I can sleep normal. I do love my days off because I sleep a little extra, and my schedule goes back normal.
have you decided then? Are you going back to school?
Yep! I’m going back. I will be registering mid-April for maybe 1 or 2 summer classes.
Using up my veterans grant before transferring to National Louis University. I love their Applied Behavioral Sciences program
Best of luck going back to school!!!
the world needs more people in your field!
Thanks. It is well needed. I’m going through a transition right now, so I’m carefully not trying to screw things up. Just trying to keep sane with everything going on right now.
my poor wife is stressed out right now. She found out she was confined to home last week. She thought, no driving, I will get done faster.
She is now on her 7th straight 12 hour day.
I worry about her.
It feels weird now that I am down to one job being that I have been working at least 2 jobs since 2017. I feel leaving my last job was the best decision because they were giving me some crazy hours with everything going on. I felt like a slave trying to care for 7 adults with intellectual disabilities. Communication with higher was trash, and I was stuck on shift from 11pm to 2pm, 11pm to 11am instead of 11pm to 9am. Thankfully nobody called off.
i remember being at the bottom, my wife is still there at the hospice. You are doing work that is important.
Thank you for everything you do. I am sorry they didn’t appreciate your contribution~
I would return, but I would not work full time because I did more than what I should have been doing. I have learned that the more you do it still will never be enough.
my wife often says that. You’ve picked a tough profession!
I just downloaded it right now
thanks! let me know if you start yours!
I added it. Followed a few pods. Once I get a feel of others, then I will start putting out my own.
I used dragon 9 years ago when I was fully into creative writing.
it is really great for that, it also works well for the kind of writing I do at work (technical) but I promise you compared to 9 years ago, it is really good now!
True, then I had a lot of issues with accent and such, but being someone who is very slow at typing I depended heavily on it.
i can understand that. It takes time to train the system. Lots and lots of time!
But Dragon did pick up really fast. I have problems with Cortana and hey Google even now.
i had an epic argument with Alexa the other day. I am still trying to figure out how what i said “turn on the living room lights” came back with a discussion of Disco lights and the movie Saturday night fever.
Q: DO YOU HAVE A PODCAST?
No (8 votes) – 100%
Q: DO YOU USE OTHER TOOLS TO CREATE CONTENT FOR VIRILY AND THEN PASTE IT INTO THE VIRILY WINDOW?
Yes (3 votes) – 43%
No (4 votes) – 57%
Q: DO YOU HAVE A HEADSET FOR YOUR COMPUTER?
Yes (4 votes) – 57%
No (3 votes) – 43%
I have tried it sometimes but making corrections discourages me! Good for doing long dictation though.
you probably have to spend 3-4hours training the system. I have done that with every version of the system!
Your way seems best for a better use of time. Awesome information!
it seems to work – it is of course personal choice!
I don’t mind writing on the keyboard. I usually write up all my docs and then just copy and paste where I post them
you probably type as much if not more than I do. I use dragon to cut the time for longer documents.
I haven’t tried it before. I need to look at how it works once in a while.
it is a very interesting technology
My aunt uses some software to convert her speech to text, but it’s not advanced enough for her artistic style. There are hilarious results sometimes.
I bet, I’ve had a few ones that I saw the converted word and had to reread what i said several times to find the right word!
I should try that, would be a lot easier and faster.
i write documents all day long, it saves me a lot of time
I do watch a lot of podcasts and would love to have one in a future pertaining to running. Every now and then; mostly in the summer I use YouTube and Periscope as a way to share workouts that I do.
i think a running podcast done while running, would be so cool!!!!!