Link with Marlis Enders’s Voice to text task.

https://blogs.ubc.ca/meetec540/2021/09/26/task-3-voice-to-text-task/

I found many similarities between Marlis’ task analysis and my own. She used a similar technology, the google assistant on her phone, although I used Google docs on my laptop and she used MS word on her phone. I do wonder if this is partly why her dictation was more accurate since phones’ microphones are likely more powerful than a laptop’s. She acknowledges how structured the written English language is, and how speaking can be so much more fluid, random and less planned than written forms. Her experience is certainly different from my own as I am not used to voice to text, so was not prepared or in the habit of speaking “comma”, “period” etc as I use the tool. It makes me think of what other tools I could be using better, but because I am not in the habit of using them, I might not be able to reap the full benefit. My dictation would need significant editing, which begs the question of if it is even worthwhile using the tool.  

I find it interesting that her tool kept in the pause words like “oh” and “um”, whereas I was surprised that my tool automatically removed them.  I do wonder about the tool’s programming, and what words or sounds it is programmed to avoid?  How would this change with different languages or dialects?  Would it be much more challenging to use this tool if you had an accent that was different from the programmer?  

We both agree about the difference between oral storytelling and written forms of those stories. We are relying on the reader so much more in written form, so create their own images, emphasis etc, as opposed to oral storytelling where the teller can add so much more richness to the story through inflection, timing, facial expressions etc. Allowing the storyteller to adjust the story based on the non-verbal reactions of the audience is something that isn’t present in written storytelling. 

From looking at Marlis’ blog, I feel that she is very comfortable using digital text in this form.  Her use of italics instead of quotation marks as an example shows a comfort with different digital formatting options, whereas mine was often simply transferred from a manual form. The ease of navigating her blog, by getting to know her on the “about me” page, and the menus she’s chosen to use tell me that she’s aware of how the concentration of text on a page and in navigation can impact the user’s experience.