I used the Chrome’s Speechnotes’ Voice Typing Extension for this assignment. This is the story of me as I reflect on going back to working in-person after a year and a half of remote work:

Hello are you listening I went back and forth hello I knew I went back and forth quite a lot of thinking about what to talk about for this assignment I don’t seem to have a lot of interesting stories that I can remember this moment for some reason so I’m just going to talk about my experience going back to work for the first time since the pandemic started I have become quite a recluse and during the time almost to her meant so I was quite I’m not sure how I felt going into work I felt nervous but also excited excited to get out of the house finally see my co-workers and colleagues and me and my own little space so anyway I going back to first of all it is very difficult to wake up in the morning cuz I had gotten just so used to rolling out of bed and just having breakfast and just turning on my laptop and starting work I’m have quite a long commute so actually had to set my alarm clock for quite early in the morning I had set aside clothes iron the clothes to pack a little lunch box for and think about the fact that maybe I wouldn’t have a lot of food service food options going in a bit paranoid at the moment so I even packed cells my water bottle I filled an extra water bottle because I knew that some of the water filling stations had been closed so I took that I filled a p for myself and I’m in a thermos I had all of these extra Essentials pack my backpack as if I was going on some trip so that was quite comical I had to use my bus it was quite nerve-wracking to get on the bus and very rarely take the Busby’s days that either drive or just walked to all the places near me and it’s sad to say that the morning rush-hour is badly the government really needs to think about if everybody starts to go back to work at the same time it’s just going to be quite a packed commute which didn’t make me feel very very safe to be honest and it’s not a situation where you can even tell people to social distance cuz there’s no space to social distance so I had to get over that when I finally got into work it was actually quite nice A little Eerie because there was nobody nobody around because we all have like different schedules so yeah the app it was all the actual work and going back to work with my boring if anything I had hiked it all up for nothing really quite uneventful now that I’m telling this out what I’m saying it out loud yeah so maybe it is a mental hurdle that I need to get over that we all perhaps me to get over in facing the reality which is that we will have to socialize in like being a dance space together so yeah that is my uneventful story of getting back to work thank you

I have used this function in the past to send text messages or to search for directions for navigation purposes when my hands are physically tied up. In both these instances, the dictation tends to be brief and concise, and I intentionally enunciate my words.

How does the text deviate from conventions of written English?

The text deviates from conventions of written English in that the application doesn’t pick up on punctuation. This resulted in a story that is a massive run-on sentence, with no identifiable beginning or end. As such, the tone of voice or emotion is not indicative. Written English is also visually discernible because of the spacing the punctuation and paragraphs add, which makes it easier to guide oneself through a text.

The application did have the option for punctuation to be added into the speech had I paused at each step to add say “coma” and “full-stop” but that is challenging to do for an unscripted story. Moreover, that would be quite distracting if one were engaged in a stream of consciousness.

What is “wrong” in the text? What is “right”?

Besides the lack of overall punctuation, some words are randomly capitalized and repeated.  The software didn’t do well in capturing some of the words I used, using them incorrectly or omitting them altogether, although this may have been because I was either speaking quickly or not enunciating all my words.

Even though punctuation was not picked up, the application did add apostrophes – for example, “I’m”. My speech was also littered with pauses and countless “umms” and “uhs” which fortunately did not become part of the transcription.

What are the most common “mistakes” in the text and why do you consider them “mistakes”?

The absence of punctuation is prevalent throughout the text, making it seem disorganized and difficult to follow. Still, I was rambling in my story and going on tangents so I will be forgiving towards these errors.

The omission of some words in sentences make it difficult to understand what was said.

What if you had “scripted” the story? What difference might that have made?

I’m glad I chose a topic that is recent and fresh in my memory. Any other “story” would be inadvertently rehearsed because it would have been repeated to friends, family or colleagues and recalled thoughtfully.

A scripted story would be more organized, cohesive and polished. The tangents, rambling and repetitive ideas would be discarded so the number of words would be significantly reduced, resulting in texts that are meaningful and relevant to the story. The scripted story would then resemble written text in a way because the writing would have been reinforced the medium of speech, as Ong, W. (n.d.) observes in his lecture.

Most of all, a scripted story would be interesting with a specific focus, whereas the unscripted one feels like many thoughts lumped together in a conversation.

In what ways does oral storytelling differ from written storytelling?

Oral storytelling is not bound by the rules or standards of written storytelling – it can be aimless and non-nonsensical and there is less expectation for it to be edited. The can storyteller can use tone, expressions and gestures to build an experience for the audience. Moreover, the reactions of the listeners and recipients can enhance or refine the way the story is told, making each oral storytelling experience unique.

Written stories on the other hand, rely on the precision of words and the rules of grammar to construct an experience that cannot be revised for its readers. As Gnanadesikan (2011) so thoughtfully notes, this lets written stories to be “pristinely preserved” therefore allows “the past to speak directly to the future” (p.1).

References:

Gnanadesikan, A. E. (2011). The writing revolution: Cuneiform to the internet (Vol. 25). John Wiley & Sons.

Ong, W. (n.d.). Oral Cultures and Early Writing [Video]. Youtube.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvF30zFImuo&ab_channel=AbeAboud