So I was so fed up with the common tunnel syndrome article from my last big project that I went out on board Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9. Now I am a hell of a challenge for any dictation system because as any of you have met me and spoke been no I mumble my words, and of course I have a funny British accent that doesn’t match the mutual trans-Atlantic term to Dragon NaturallySpeaking was trained in.The first two paragraphs here the first first two things I have written for the tutorial. It’s a little disconcerting because learned you have to still speak slowly and much more clearly than you usually would and the mother trendy headset digs into my skills with it more than I would like. In addition the words and I in a yellow box at the top of the screen and although I guess you can wait some time while you’re dictating a way for it to continue to think, it’s a little disconcerting to accumulate into it and saying nothing appearing on the screen. In fact some 10 years ago we tried out an e-mail program that IFTF that was supposed to be the greatest new thing but when you typed on the screen nothing appeared for several seconds. This is a little bit like that but as I continue to talk it does seem to be doing a little data, or maybe I am doing a little better for it. Now I’m going to leave those two paragraphs, corporate and below and correct them
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While doing this I discovered that you cannot copy and paste a huge section 🙂 I’ve spent some time fixing the next section so you can see what it should have been.So I was so fed up with the carpal tunnel syndrome from my last big project that I went out and bought Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9. Now I am a hell of a challenge for any dictation system because as any of you who have met me or spoken to me know, I mumble my words, and of course I have a funny British accent that doesn’t match the neutral trans-Atlantic tone Dragon NaturallySpeaking was trained in.The first two paragraphs here the first first two things I have written after the tutorial. It’s a little disconcerting because you have to still speak slowly and much more clearly than you usually would and the rather trendy headset digs into my skull with more force than I would like. In addition the words appear in a yellow box at the top of the screen and although I guess you can wait some time while you’re dictating away for it to continue to think, it’s a little disconcerting to dissemble into it and have nothing appear on the screen. In fact some 10 years ago we tried out an e-mail program at IFTF that was supposed to be the greatest new thing but when you typed on the screen nothing appeared for several seconds. This is a little bit like that but as I continue to talk it does seem to be doing a little better, or maybe I am doing a little better for it. Now I’m going to leave those two paragraphs, copy them below and correct them
——Well, it look longer to correct what I just said that to say it in the first place. On the other hand, I guess the words that it cannot get the first time are going to be the ones it is going to continue to have trouble getting when you try to correct it. It’s a little difficult because the manual says that you when you try to use the voice command for "select", it will actually training the software to recognize your voice and you want to try to recognize the words it has the most problem understanding. On the other hand is a damn sight quicker to just use the mouse to select those words.Anyway it’s still a gazillion miles away from the 95% accuracy that talks about in its publicity, but it’s pretty damn clever nonetheless. Given that the reason I bought it, was because my wrists were hosting not because I type slowly, it’s probably a good thing that I start trying to use it, at least when I’m writing lengthy pieces that require a lot of correction — and even as I keep talking now, it seems to be getting better.
The weirdest thing off all, and I suspect many of you had the same thing going on, is that I don’t consciously verbalize what I write when I’m typing. None of your wisecracks please about the fact that I may not read what I have typed after I have typed it, although that may be true from time to time. In some ways it’s like the old joke about the English majors in college, we used to say that if you look very closely you can see their lips moving. While I guess I’m one of them now.
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I think the best, most engaging writers dictate their work. Dictation forces them into a style more formal than simple conversation, but since they actually hear what they are writing, it comes out with a mellifluity unmatched by the word-processing writer. The crack about the English majors is spot-on because this is the way many classical authors wrote, and their prose is meant more to be heard than read. It just works better when readers try to get the way it sounds in addition to what it means. Sometimes getting the way it sounds helps to get the meaning too. About the only way I can read GK Chesterton, for example, is to read slowly, moving my lips. Doing this, he’s wonderful. Not doing it he’s confusing.
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