Transcribing Podcasts

The podcast has revolutionised the way we communicate content to the public, it has been perfect for; Schools, colleges, universities, businesses, the travel industry, not to mention more common forms of media such as: radio programmes, magazines, political broadcasts, religious organisations, TV commentary and newspapers.

However to be able to search for podcasts over the internet you need written content, search terms and keywords, otherwise your podcast is effectively invisible, unless you spend time and money advertising.

Providing a transcript of the full podcast or excerpts of it will help with getting good search engine results and ultimately drive more people to listen to your content. By providing a full transcript you also ensure that you do not alienate the deaf or those with slightly impaired hearing. If you can’t hear clearly, then your only option is to read. In fact the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and the Communications Act 2003 encourages the provision of full accessible content for all broadcasts.

It is also quicker to read than listen to an audio file, you may find that some of your audience will prefer reading your podcast rather than listening.  By providing options you will not be limiting your audience.

Tips for transcribing podcasts:

  • Use Time Markers – Allow listeners to go to the point they want to hear, or they can read the transcript for that section
  • Transcribe in Intelligent Verbatim Transcription – This ensures a full, accurate transcript, removing all the ‘ums’, ‘ahs’, repetitions and other verbal habits people have. Making it easier to read and actually reduces transcription time and cost

How long does a Podcast take to transcribe?

The professional transcription industry standard allows one hour to transcribe 15 minutes of clearly recorded speech. It therefore takes a minimum of four hours to transcribe a one hour recording but this can be more depending on a number of factors including:

  • How clear the recording is
  • The clarity and speed of the voices
  • The number of people speaking
  • Background noise
  • Accents of speakers

The Benefits of Transcribing your Podcast

  • It allows you to create clickable links – Ensuring that you are always driving your listeners back to your website, which is always good etiquette
  • Reinforce the content – Some people like to have the written text in front of their eyes while listen
  • It is professional
  • Makes your content searchable – Which will drive more visitors to your site
  • Great for search engine optimization (SEO) – The transcribed files will allow you to create title, tags and description of the audio file which will be picked up by search engines whereas audio files do not currently have this ability

If you have a podcast and feel you would benefit from transcription services, then Fingertips Typing can help. Visit Fingertips Typing Services.

Written by: Cerri Killworth, Transcriber for Fingertips Typing Services.

Improving your words per minute

Has anyone asked you, how fast do you type?

But, how do you calculate your words per minute?

The Basics of Words per Minute

Words per Minute, commonly abbreviated to WPM is used as a measurement of typing speed or reading speed. Typically each word is standardised to five characters (keystrokes) including spaces and punctuation typed in one minute, divided by five.

The famous sentence “The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dogs.” contains 46 characters. If it takes you one minute to type this sentence, we can calculate your WPM:

Characters Typed in One Minute / 5 = WPM
46 / 5 = 9.2 WPM

What about accuracy?

It is important to try and maintain 100% accuracy, however realistically this is not always possible, but accuracy can be measured. In the quick brown fox example, if you mistyped one letter you would have still typed 9.2 WPM, but with a 98% accuracy.

Gross WPM vs Net WPM

Net Words per Minute is your WPM x your accuracy percentage, however measuring by NetWords can lead to greater mistakes and inaccuracies. As a transcriber or typist it is much better to slow down and be more accurate as ultimately it will lead you to be faster in the long run as you will not need to go back and fix your mistakes.

Accuracy and speed all boils down to the content

With any piece of work, if you know the subject matter or are familiar with the content then it will be easier for you to type quickly and accurately. Simple vocabulary is easier than typing technical or long words such as “pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis” (which out of interest is a lung disease and the longest word in the English dictionary!), words such as these require more though processing to establish the correct spelling to ensure higher accuracy.

Here is what you should look out for to get the most accurate gauge for your typing speed:

  • Length of Test – 3 and 5 minute tests tend to be the most accurate gauge of overall typing speed, they are long enough to produce a repeatable average speed and accuracy
  • Familiarity of Content – The less familiar you are with the content the better as it will be most accurate, repetition and familiar content is likely to give you an elevated score because simply if you type the same sentence over and over and you will get faster and faster, as you will remember the content and sentence structure.

How do I increase my WPM?

It is like any kind of exam revision, practice, practice, practice!

Find an article that is interesting to you and get typing, start off fast, then slow down to improve your accuracy, you will quickly pick up your speed and accuracy.

Test yourself, there are many typing test sites out there so find one and test yourself with content that you are not familiar with to continue to improve your ability.

If you find yourself with too much to do and too little time, then Fingertips Typing can help. Visit Fingertips Typing Services.

Written by: Cerri Killworth, Transcriber for Fingertips Typing Services.

Spot the difference?

All transcription services are the same…

Wrong… there are significant differences between different types of transcription services available, this blog explores these differences.

Edited Transcriptions

This is where the transcriber can omit parts of the audio file as long as the meaning of the recording does not change. Like verbatim this type of transcription is quite time-consuming because the transcriber must be able to differentiate between what is important and what is not important.

Examples of where this type of transcription is used: Speeches, conferences, seminars, tutorials.

Intelligent Transcription

This is where the transcriber does not need to include emotions, half sentences or mumbled words.  This type of transcription often takes longer as it involves the transcriber having a complete understanding of what the speaker is trying to convey.

Verbatim Transcription

This is probably the most difficult and time consuming of all types of transcription services., this is because it involves transcribing each word, laugh, emotion, background noise or mumbles.

The transcriber must pay very close attention to all of the sounds on the audio file, including understanding emotions or making out mumbled noises.

Examples of where this type of transcription is used: Legal proceedings, movies, films,  and commercials.

Summary

Each type of transcription requires a highly skilled transcriber to be able to decipher and convey the correct message in written format.

Transcription and Confidentiality

Definition of confidentiality

confidentiality
What is confidential data?

Any data that contains personal, sensitive or confidential information. This data might include, but not limited to:

  • Medical record, be that doctor, dentist, hospital, optometrist, any healthcare provider
  • Police records
  • School/education records
  • Government held information, such as driving licence or passport
  • Information held by social services
  • Legal proceedings or information held by a lawyer
  • Property dealings, including lettings or sales
  • Personnel/HR data, including contracts, grievances or disciplinaries

Legislation

DPA 8
8 Principles of the Data Protection Act

The Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland which defines UK law on the processing of data on identifiable living people. It is the main piece of legislation that governs the protection of personal data in the UK. The Data Protection Act (DPA) is designed to protect personal data stored on electronically.

It requires that organisations must ensure the protection of personal information, that might include name, address, date of birth, bank details. There is stronger legal protection for more sensitive information, such as:

  • ethnic background
  • political opinions
  • religious beliefs
  • health
  • sexual health
  • criminal records

Any organisation with access to personal data has a legal responsibility to adhere to DPA.

The individual whose personal data is being held is known as the data subject.

The individual who is identified as being responsible for the security of the personal data is known as the data controller.

The Information Commissioners Office (ICO) is responsible of overseeing and ensuring the DPA is followed.

Fingertips typing Services Limited Ltd is registered under the Data Protection Act acts in accordance with all the regulations set out by the ICO.

Ensuring confidentiality

Files are uploaded onto our web folders server.

Clients have a dedicated folder for their company. They can log in using a user name  and password provided by Fingertips. The client uploads their file into their Dictations To Do folder. There can be sub-folders in this folder, depending on urgency e.g. 4 hour, same day, overnight etc.

The system notifies the director that a new file is ready. Only the director and administrator has access to all folders. The manager will then transfer the file into the file that is specifically for typists. Typists only have access to that specific folder.

Once the transcription is complete, the manager will move it from the Typists folder to the client’s Transcriptions Done folder. The client can easily check the progress or completion of their files.

Clients can also send their files by YouSendIt (now called Hightail) and SendThisFile securely.

There is a strict non-disclosure policy provided by Fingertips Typing, which is adhered to by the typists.

Choosing Fingertips Typing

Fingertips has been established for over a decade, since director, Cathy Bennett, started the business. Our reputation is built on quality and trust – our transcribers are highly trained typists with experience in many different industries.

We’ve prepared this Privacy Statement to make specific reassurances that your information is kept confidential. This document will run through the different kinds of information collected and stored by Fingertips and explain what we will use it for.

Privacy Statement

Your personal details

To register for an account with Fingertips, you are required to supply your company name, your name, address, telephone number, email address and web address if applicable. This information will be used for invoicing purposes, as well as being added to the Fingertips customer database. The telephone number is used to contact the client in the event of unpaid invoices and any other work related reason that may occur.

Fingertips will not pass your personal details on to any third party.

Who can access my information?

The sub-contractors of Fingertips do not have access to the database and therefore to your information. Only the Director of Fingertips has access to the database, and the administrator who updates the database.

Visit our website for more information.

Written by Debbie Rowe, Transcriber for Fingertips Typing

 

Transcription and Typing

First Typewriter

first typewriter

The first typewriter recognised as being “commercially successful” is one invented in 1868 by Christopher Latham Sholes, Carlos Glidden and Samuel W. Soule in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. [1]

The patent was sold for $12,000 to a company called Densmore and Yost, who tried to manufacture the machine. The company made an agreement with E. Remington and Sons to produce the machine.  In 1874,  the Sholes and Glidden Type-Writer went on sale. It had a QWERTY keyboard, and was a blind writer, as the keys struck upwards. It meant that the typist couldn’t see the characters as they were being typed. [2]

Learning to Type

Children these days learn the keyboard very quickly without ever having a typing lesson. Because they navigate the keyboard using one hand or just two fingers, does that make it wrong because they are not using the tried and tested methods?

Learning to type, in the traditional way, is about learning which fingers type which letters, lots of repetition, and then the development of typing by touch or touch typing, by muscle memory. It was believed that this was the most efficient way of typing. Once the individual has mastered touch typing, the development of speed is crucial.

Children today can learn to type by games that teach them whilst having fun. It becomes second nature very quickly as they are using mobile devices with keyboards from a very young age.

Typing speeds used to be the benchmark, along with accuracy, for administrative jobs. The job adverts used to state how many words per minute the individual needed to be able to type in order to be considered for the job. A typing test, at interview, was standard to check speed. Check your typing speed here.

edu_seating
Image courtesy of  ratatype.com/learn

 

Here are some best practice pointers for safe and efficient typing. You can view the web page here for full details.

Posture – sit straight, elbows at right angles, face the screen with head tilted slightly forward

Home keys – ensure you always return your fingers to the home keys between typing bouts

Take a break – ensure you take regular breaks, to rest your eyes and your hands, wrists and shoulders

 

Evolution of the Typewriter

Since the invention of the typewriter, the keyboard, as it has become known, has evolved hugely.

mytype-timeline-full
Click on the Timeline to learn more

The concept of the modern keyboard has also changed, with the invention of mobile technology.

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Typing Then and Now

When I learned to type, it was on the old fashioned manual keyboards, in a cold hut, whilst at sixth form college. Having mastered the basics, I then progressed to an electronic word processor that took on another learning journey. The keyboard was more reactive and faster, the keys required less pressure and what had been manual calculations before for tabs or centering were now a more automated process.

USB typwriter
USB Typewriter?

Typewriters and word processors gave way to computers, with small screens, small memory capacity and large keyboards. As technology progressed, screens got larger and so did the memory, and keyboards became more streamlined.

Eventually, the computers got smaller in physical size, massive in capacity and screen and keyboard condensed into one device. Typing can still be done manually on touchscreen with fingers or a stylus. But you can now dictate to your device and it is clever enough to recognise what it is you want to say.
The documentation produced has also changed. Letters used to be the only

hawking
Stephen Hawking

way to communicate, and these were typewritten or handwritten. Emails became another way to stay in touch, followed by text messaging.

Social media followed, allowing words to reach their recipient in a flash.

Technology exists to allow a user with a disability to type by having their eye movements tracked on a keyboard… Stephen Hawking.

The future is here – you can now buy a virtual keyboard, which a small bluetooth device projects on to a flat surface, offering the user a full keyboard experience. [3]

Virtual Keyboard.jpg
Virtual Keyboard

Whatever next?

Transcription and Typing

Whatever you  need typing, Fingertips Typing Services can help. We have years of experience of typing and transcribing a variety of projects, for example, but not limited to:

  • Interviews/focus groups/seminar/conferences
  • Medical reports
  • Property/lettings/estate agents reports
  • Legal/insurance reports
  • Education/dissertation/theses

Visit the Fingertips Typing website to see how we can help you work effectively, by providing a friendly, professional and personal service.

Written by: Debbie Rowe, typist for Fingertips Typing Services

Resources

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typewriter

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sholes_and_Glidden_typewriter

[3] http://gandtnews4u.blogspot.com/2012/12/cube-laser-virtual-keyboard-future-of_75.html

Voting

Here in the UK, for some parts of the country, there is a vote to be cast on Thursday 5th May.

Voters in 41 police force areas in England & Wales, excluding London, will elect a Police and Crime Commissioner. [1] Turn out in the last PCC elections – in November 2012- was poor, at an average of 15.1%.

To find out more about the elections happening across the UK, visit the following links: [2] Continue reading Voting

May… we help?

Bank Holiday Monday – UK

This weekend sees the May Bank Holiday in the UK, a three day weekend, where historically banks and businesses would close.

Weather

It’s a running joke in the UK that, on the day that we have a day off work due to the bank

Weather Forecast May Bank Holiday
Courtesy of Weather.com

holiday, it rains.

The forecast, for the South East, at least, on Monday 2nd May, says cloudy, but not necessarily any rain.

 

Origins

The May Day holiday is the fourth of eight bank holidays in the UK.

British bank holidays are public holidays and have been recognised since 1871. [1]

The name Bank Holiday comes from the time when banks were shut and so no trading could take place. [1]

The first of May was the bank holiday, however, in modern times, it has moved to the first Monday in May, for convenience for schools and businesses, creating a long weekend.

Traditions

There are many traditions that surround the 1st of May, predominantly to do with the warmer weather and the onset of summer, after a long winter. The earliest celebration can be traced back 2000 years, where  Floralia, festival of Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers, was celebrated. [2]

Much of the May Day celebrations derive from the pagan Anglo-Saxon customs held during “Þrimilci-mōnaþ” as well as old Celtic traditions.

“The Old English name for the month of May means Month of Three Milkings.”

May Pole

In the past, people would cut down young trees and put them in the ground on the village green, tie ribbons to the top, and dance around to mark the arrival of the warm weather.

The dancers would weave in and out of each other, in opposite directions, effectively causing a plait-like effect with the ribbons. Maypoles were popular all over the country, and school children would practice for weeks before May Day to ensure they were able to remember the dance on the day.

May Queen

May Queens were, and still are,  human representations of the Roman goddess, Flora. A May Queen might be chosen from a group of young women, aged 13 and above, who had either performed a dance or similar, and would lead the procession.

Another tradition associated with the idea of choosing a May Queen, is the May Lifiting. On the first of May, in the old days, the young men of the village would choose the prettiest girl in the village and carry her around on their shoulders. On the second of May, the girl would choose a boy.

Morris Dancing

Morris dancing may have originated from several different places. The name Morris may be traced, possibly, back to a form of dancing that arrived in England with the arrival of the Moors from North Africa. Alternatively, the name of the dance may be so called because the dancers looked  Moor-ish, with their darker complexions. The dancers sometimes painted their faces black. [1]

Across England, the Morris dancers can be identified by their clothes. They are often dressed in white with coloured baldrics (coloured belts) across their chests. [1]

The formation of the Morris dance consists of either six or eight men, in two lines facing each other or in a circle. Part of their costume is white hankies or sticks, that they wave or shake. Some Morris dancers have bells tied to their knees to add to the music and their calls. [1]

1st May round the World

1297985112_industrial-workers-of-the-world.jpg

Around the world, the 1st of May is widely associated with commemorating the advancing of labour movements. It is known as Labour Day or International Worker’s Day.

In the US, in 1884, the American Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions demanded an eight-hour workday, to come in effect as of 1 May 1886. This resulted in the general strike and the Haymarket Riot of 1886, but eventually also in the official sanction of the eight-hour workday. [3] Labour Day, despite the auspicious date, is actually celebrated on the first Monday of September.

Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands also celebrate Labour Day on different dates; though that has to do with how the holiday originated in those countries. [3]

May we help?

Fingertips Typing Services can help with your labours, even if you have to work on any of the UK bank holidays. Visit us to find out more.

 

Written by: Debbie Rowe – Typist for Fingertips Typing

Resources

[1] http://resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/bankholidays.html

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_Day#Great_Britain

[3] http://www.officeholidays.com/countries/global/may_day.php

 

 

Transcription and Subtitles

Subtitles

There are lots of reasons why a television programme or film that you are watching has subtitles.

It might be a World film or foreign language film that has been translated and subtitled. It might be a mainstream programme that is subtitled for the hearing impaired and even a specialist programme, where participants speak in heavily accented or dialectal English.

YouTube, the world’s most popular video-sharing website where almost 5 billion videos are watched on YouTube every single day [1], offers an auto-captioning service. The captions are created by generated by machine-learning algorithms, and so the accuracy and the quality of the captions vary. [2]

“Automatic captions are available in English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.”

Subtitle Fail

There are obviously going to be times when subtitles fail, due to human error or lack of sophisticated algorithms.

Human error – whether that be spelling, unfamiliarity with the subject, mishearing or lack of concentration – can lead to a subtitle fail. This is especially amusing when subtitles are used to capture a sound, an action or an emotion, where dialogue is not involved. [3]

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Other fails happen where the subtitles don’t match what is happening on the screen. This occurs when the typist is not checking that the subtitles matches the action.

Famous characters or franchises can suffer at the hands of subtitling when then typist is unfamiliar with the person, character, plot, subject or series.

sergei lavrov
Talking about Sergei Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Russia [5]
hedwig
Harry Potter’s owl, Hedwig [4]
benedict
Benedict Cumberbatch, also known as Sherlock Holmes [6]
 Here is a selection of screen shots from movie subtitle fails.

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 Sensible Subtitles

Fingertips Typing Services uses a workforce of experienced and accurate typists to offer a subtitling service for a wide variety of media:

We have worked on subtitling projects for a variety of media and production companies, who commission television shows, films and projects.

 

Visit Fingertips Typing Services today to see how we help you subtitle your media project.

Written by: Debbie Rowe, Typist for Fingertips Typing

 

Resources

[1] http://fortunelords.com/27-mind-blowing-youtube-facts-figures-and-statistics-backed-by-data/

[2] https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6373554

[3] http://distractify.com/entertainment/2015/07/21/subtitle-fails-1259459194

[4] http://www.buzzfeed.com/lukelewis/subtitles-that-are-no-help-whatsoever#.gheBbO1Oz

[5] https://twitter.com/HuffPostUK/status/441878583586213888/photo/1

[6]  https://twitter.com/farmfeatures/status/446377082395066368/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

[7] http://whatculture.com/film/25-hilarious-movie-subtitle-errors?page=4

[8] https://brickwall.uk.com/

[9] http://thinktmb.com/

[10] https://www.linkedin.com/in/lulu-belliveau-0b268514

[11] http://www.storynamics.com/

 

Transcription and Awareness of Individual’s Needs

Awareness of Other’s Needs

Last week, 4th to 8th April, was World Autism Awareness Week in the UK. [1] Next week, from 18th to 24th April, is Parkinson’s Awareness Week. [2] 25th April to 1st  May is Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Week. [3]

With social media continuing to grow in importance, more and more of us are becoming aware of things that we may have known little or nothing about previously. With traditional radio, television and print advertising being very strongly challenged by online advertising, there seems to be no reason not to be aware, thanks to sites like www.awarenessdays.co.uk [3]

Awareness

As the image [4] above states, the definition of awareness spans a wide spectrum and can cover the knowledge or perception of a situation or fact all the way through to concern about and well-informed interest in a particular situation or development.

There are many different needs that individual’s have, here is a spotlight on just three of those.

Family Life with Autism

autism.png
Courtesy of Sparkle, Sheffield

Extreme Juggler, mother of three, spoke to  me about the reality of family life as a full-time teacher, wife and Autism Mum. Her youngest son was diagnosed with “classic autism” in April 2012.  He is currently described as  “non-verbal”. In August of the same year, her eldest was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, a high-functioning form of the autistic spectrum condition, and in October 2013, it was suggested that her middle son could also be “somewhere on the spectrum.”  Aren’t we all?

Classing herself as perpetual worrier and a frequent warrior – as so often parents of children waiting to be diagnosed or waiting for referral for services are – Extreme Juggler says,

“Managing a career would be a total nightmare if it wasn’t for my husband and my parents.”

“I have no promotion prospects anymore and struggle to keep on top of work. My peers are all deputy heads and headteachers these days. That will never happen for me now and I have to force myself to remember that quality of life is more important than ambition and money. I still have to pay a mortgage but would give work up tomorrow if I could.”

“I resent not having enough time for my boys when other people’s kids get the best of me.”

Extreme Juggler continues, “The main thing about autism is that each person on the spectrum is different from the next, so even in my household I have the academic, the struggling dyslexic and the frustrated non-verbal child. After diagnosis help is often disjointed and needs a bolshy keyboard warrior to fight for access to services! My husband and I go to a parent support group together once a month. That is our social life. We have met loads of parents just like us. If we want to go out, we go out separately. I see a school friend once every 6-12 weeks for dinner and drink. Lots of it!”

Spotlight on Parkinson’s

MJFF_WIP_MAR5_2
Courtesy of The Michael J. Fox Foundation

One person in every 500 has Parkinson’s. That’s about 127,000 people in the UK. Symptoms and how quickly they progress are different for everyone. Drugs and treatments are available to manage many of the symptoms. [2]

Parkinson’s is a progressive neurological condition.People with Parkinson’s don’t have enough of a chemical called dopamine because some nerve cells in their brain have died. [2]

There’s currently no cure for Parkinson’s and we don’t yet know why people get the condition.

Without dopamine people can find that their movements become slower so it takes longer to do things. The loss of nerve cells in the brain causes the symptoms of Parkinson’s to appear.

The symptoms most often associated with Parkinson’s are related to motor movements. There are also other symptoms such as pain and depression, which are non-motor symptoms. Main symptoms are tremor, slowness of movement and rigidity. Other physical symptoms include falls and dizziness, eye problems, bladder and bowel problems. There are also mental health symptoms such as anxiety, dementia and memory problems. [2]

The actor, Michael J. Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1992, when he was just 29 years old. [9] He created the Michael J. Fox Foundation to help advance every promising research path to curing Parkinson’s disease, including embryonic stem cell studies. [9]

Living and Working with MS

Almirall-Infographic.jpg
Courtesy of Almirall and LifeandMS.com

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurological condition which affects around 100,000 people in the UK, about one in every 600. Most people are diagnosed between the ages of 20-40, but it can affect younger and older people too. Roughly three times as many women have MS as men. [11] It is the most common condition of the central nervous system affecting young adults.[10]

MS is a lifelong condition. It is not fatal and most people with MS live about as long as everyone else. It is not infectious or contagious so it can’t be passed on to other people like chicken pox or athlete’s foot.

MS is complex, and has many symptoms. Most people won’t experience them all, certainly not at the same time. Symptoms might include fatigue, vision problems and difficulties with walking, but MS is different for everyone. [10]

An individual with MS is under no legal obligation to tell their employer about their MS, unless:

  • they work in the armed forces
  • their MS may affect health and safety in the workplace
  • they drive for a job [11]

An employer, when told about their employee having MS, should ask if they consider themselves to have a disability under the Equality Act and Disability Discrimination Act. Regardless of whether an individual considers themselves disabled, they should answer yes.

If an individual with MS needs support at work, the employer can provide time off for appointments or make reasonable adjustments, such as:

  • more breaks
  • somewhere to rest for short periods during the working day
  • a chair or stool to sit on
  • flexible or reduced working hours
  • working from home [11]

Talking to the employer means that support can be provided as necessary.

Transcription and Awareness of Individual’s Needs

You may be an employer with an employee who has Parkinson’s or MS. You may be a parent with a school-age children on the autistic spectrum and a career to juggle. You may be a student, a writer, a business person, or an entrepreneur with individual needs, who might benefit with the support of a transcription service provider.

Contact Fingertips Typing Services for information on how we can  help, from typing up notes to transcribing dictation or audio recordings.

Resources

[1] http://www.autism.org.uk/
[2] http://www.parkinsons.org.uk/
[3] https://www.mstrust.org.uk
[4] https://www.awarenessdays.co.uk/

[5] https://www.google.co.uk/?ion=1&espv=2#q=awareness
[6] http://www.sparklesheffield.co.uk
[7] https://www.extremejuggling.com
[8] https://www.michaeljfox.org/
[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_J._Fox
[10] http://www.lifeandms.com/
[11] https://www.mssociety.org.uk/what-is-ms

 

 

Transcription and the Race to the Finish

Grand National

The Grand National horse race is happening this Saturday at Aintree Racecourse. [1]

A National Hunt race, the Grand National is held on an annual basis at the racecourse in Liverpool, England, and was first run in 1839. This year, 40 horses are due to race over the 4 miles and 3 1/2 furlong course, with 30 jumps. Often a contentious race, the most famous jumps include Becher’s Brook, The Chair and Canal Turn.

  • This will be the 169th edition of the race
  • Britain will bet £500m on race day
  • 600m worldwide TV viewers
  • £1 million prize money on offer
  • 150,000  spectators who visit Aintree over the three-day Festival
  • Just five horses have won at odds of 100/1 – Mon Mome (2009), Foinavon (1967), Caughoo (1947), Gregalach (1929) and Tipperary Tim (1928) [2]

Boat Race

rowing

On Easter Sunday, the annual Boat Race took place along four-and-a-quarter mile course, on the Thames, from Putney to Mortlake. [3] The race between the men’s rowing crews of Oxford and Cambridge have raced one another for bragging rights since 1829. It then became an annual contest in 1845.

All the rowers and coxes must be full-time students at the two universities, as well as serious athletes.  Although the rowers must be male or female for their respective Boat Races, the coxes can be either gender. [3] The men’s race doesn’t last very long; the record, set by Cambridge in 1998, is 16min 19sec. [4]

F1 Motor Racing

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Formula One cars are the fastest road course racing cars in the world, owing to very high cornering speeds achieved through the generation of large amounts of aerodynamic downforce. Formula One cars race at speeds of up to 360 km/h (220 mph). [5]

The Formula One series originated with the European Grand Prix Motor Racing of the Twenties and Thirties. The formula is a set of rules which all participants’ cars must meet. Formula One was a new formula agreed upon after World War II during 1946, with the first non-championship races being held that year.

Currently, Formula One has 11 teams, each with two cars that can qualify for each race. Each team has two drivers under contract, and at least one test/reserve/third driver, sometimes two. There are 21 races from March to November. Because the drivers are paid by their team, there is no direct prize money to the winning driver, but the F1 Driver Champion and F1 Constructor’s Champion titles are extremely prestigious, none the less.

Your Race to the Finish

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Everyone has their own race to the finish, their own deadlines. In our day to day lives, both business and personal, we are often short on time and shifting priorities make it difficult to get everything done that we need to.

If you find yourself with too much to do and too little time, then Fingertips Typing can help. Visit Fingertips Typing Services.

Written by: Debbie Rowe, Transcriber for Fingertips Typing Services.

Resources:

Main picture credit:Ted Azriel http://fineartamerica.com/featured/race-to-the-finish-line-ted-azriel.html

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_National
[2] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/racing/2016/04/07/grand-national-2016-full-horses-list-and-runners-guide/
[3] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/rowing/2016/03/24/boat-race-2016-all-you-need-to-know-about-the-oxford-and-cambrid/
[4] http://www.timeout.com/london/things-to-do/the-boat-race-everything-you-need-to-know
[5] https://www.formula1.com/