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#106690 - 08/08/08 08:29 AM
Editing skills question
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TCM11
New Member
Registered: 11/29/04
Posts: 24
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I am considering trying to learn editing,but I think my fears are holding me back. I am hearing all negative things about editing. Is it the future for MTs? if so, I want to become good at it. Are there any successful editors that can give a few pointers? How different is it from transcribing and if I really study it, short cuts, etc, can I master this new wave of the future and make good money. I have been offered 3 cpl for editing. How can I turn this into a positive, master it and triple my rates. I simply want to know how many are successful at it. Can it be a positive change.
Thanks
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#106694 - 08/08/08 09:42 AM
Re: Editing skills question
[Re: TCM11]
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Donna2
Member
Registered: 12/31/69
Posts: 6152
Loc: Sunny FL
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One has to assume if you have transcription experience, you have been editing your own work. As long as you don't enter deeper into the scope of your transcription experience (in terms of terminology and basic knowledge), editing should not be a problem for you.
_________________________
Donna
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#106765 - 08/08/08 04:07 PM
Re: Editing skills question
[Re: Donna2]
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viola33
Member
Registered: 12/06/06
Posts: 900
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It is a slightly different process, and yes, keyboard shorts are crucial. Also, from what I have heard/seen, the platform makes a HUGE difference in editing. I am using what is, from everything I have heard and my own (limited) experience, a very good one. It works very well. However, my rate per edited line is a little better than half my rate per transcribed line, and comparing with others I know who have done/are doing editing, from my production, and from ads I have seen, 3 cpl is not enough.
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#106853 - 08/08/08 09:17 PM
Re: Editing skills question
[Re: viola33]
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Jay_Vance_CMT
Member
Registered: 12/08/01
Posts: 1394
Loc: Columbia, MO
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Agree with viola33, keeping your hands on the keyboard is crucial, and the editing platform definitely makes a difference. There are editors who are making good money as editors and love it, and others who are going broke and hate it. Just so many variables that can impact the bottom line. In my experience and observation, though, attitude and a willingness to adapt are the most important factors.
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#106881 - 08/08/08 10:24 PM
Re: Editing skills question
[Re: Jay_Vance_CMT]
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kymandie
Member
Registered: 05/15/01
Posts: 518
Loc: Oregon
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In addition to the above, it depends on what recognition percentage (I'm sorry, I don't know the exact term for that) the company uses for a recognition cutoff. For instance, do they send out work that is about 80% recognized by SR or 60%? For me, that made a difference.
Mandie
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#106935 - 08/09/08 11:14 AM
Re: Editing skills question
[Re: Jay_Vance_CMT]
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Glory1863
Member
Registered: 03/27/08
Posts: 366
Loc: Beyond Antares
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Just for fun, let's say there is a platform out there that consistently recognizes all dictators/all clients so well that the transcriptionist/editor can reliably make $15/hour at 0.03 per line (500 lines per hour) or even $20/hour (667 lines per hour). How long do you suppose it will be until the clients say, "Don't bother sending it to the transcriptionist/editor. Just send it direct. It's not perfect (neither is the transcription/editing), but it's good enough and cheaper."?
I can understand one platform being intrinsically better than another (Coke vs Pepsi, Big Mac vs Whopper, boxers vs briefs - see I get that). I still don't understand why the same magic machine works really well at one client (happy editors) and works horribly at another (unhappy editors) even with a relatively equal mix of what human ears consider to be good and bad dictators. We're told that it is cheaper for the client if the work goes through the magic machine. If this is true, why wouldn't all clients send all work, good and bad, through it? What is the incentive for some clients to send out 80% recognized work (happy editors) and others to send out 50% recognized work (unhappy editors)? There's got to be some kind of secondary pricing or something else going on. I just don't get this!
I've been doing this work for a long time. I've seen a lot of changes. I'm all for anything that makes me more productive and my life easier (i.e., anything new and improved that really is new and improved like the computer fixing it so I don't have to correct an original and six carbons every time I make a typo). In my experience so far, that is not what voice recognition does. Sorry, Jay, but I'm incapable of having a good attitude about something that is costing me money instead of helping me earn more. I keep asking about that consistently good platform, because I'd change to it if I knew what it was (although the job might not last long - see above), but there doesn't seem to be one. I have a bad attitude about being told that the same skills and knowledge are worth less when fixing a magic machine mess than they are when straight typing the same report. I have a bad attitude when I feel I've been lied to about a product (and just to be clear, I'm not referring to you).
Yeah, yeah, I know, I need an attitude adjustment, but it's only 10 a.m. and I have to go to work.
_________________________
The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. Abraham Lincoln
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#107167 - 08/11/08 06:34 PM
Re: Editing skills question
[Re: Glory1863]
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Jay_Vance_CMT
Member
Registered: 12/08/01
Posts: 1394
Loc: Columbia, MO
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Glory, I don't blame you in the least for your frustration. You're absolutely right, there are a lot of unfulfilled promises floating around in connection with SRT.
As to your questions, a big reason some clients would set the recognition threshold low would be to get more dictators onto SR instead of straight transcription in order to take advantage of the lower line rate being paid. The problem, of course, is that there will ALWAYS be a MINIMUM percentage (at least 20%-25%, from what I hear) of dictators who for one reason or another simply won't be compatible with SR with any reasonable degree of accuracy. The SR engine will never learn to understand those dictators, period. That means those dictators should never be put onto SR because the resulting draft will be so bad that it will take longer to edit it than it would to transcribe it from scratch. But even if it takes longer to edit than it would to transcribe, if the line rate for editing is only half the line rate for transcription....
The other reason for setting a lower accuracy threshold is to speed up the recognition process. The higher the accuracy threshold, the longer it takes for the engine to process the voice files and deliver a draft ready for editing. Of course, reducing TAT is one of the big selling points for SRT, so there would be some incentive to sacrifice accuracy for the sake of TAT.
Bottom line, it's to the client's financial advantage to set the threshold low, even if it means more work for the MT. Clearly the happiness of the MT is far down on the list of priorities!
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#107246 - 08/12/08 03:23 PM
Re: Editing skills question
[Re: Jay_Vance_CMT]
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FarAwayDeb
Member
Registered: 03/15/02
Posts: 2916
Loc: just south of Rochester, NY
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The problem, of course, is that there will ALWAYS be a MINIMUM percentage (at least 20%-25%, from what I hear) of dictators who for one reason or another simply won't be compatible with SR with any reasonable degree of accuracy. The SR engine will never learn to understand those dictators, period. That means those dictators should never be put onto SR because the resulting draft will be so bad that it will take longer to edit it than it would to transcribe it from scratch. But even if it takes longer to edit than it would to transcribe, if the line rate for editing is only half the line rate for transcription.... ... Bottom line, it's to the client's financial advantage to set the threshold low, even if it means more work for the MT. Clearly the happiness of the MT is far down on the list of priorities!
That's it in a nutshell. Some MTs are still going to have to basically transcribe some reports from scratch and spend ridiculous amounts of time trying to "edit" others, and yet do it for half the rate per line. Nobody is going to convince me that the MT field isn't in deep trouble here.
_________________________
Good grammar ain't easy.
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#107249 - 08/12/08 04:05 PM
Re: Editing skills question
[Re: FarAwayDeb]
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Badfinger
Member
Registered: 11/07/07
Posts: 507
Loc: Grand Prairie, TX
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From my own experience, I hated editing. I would much rather transcribe than edit, at least with MedQuist's version of editing as of October 2007 (that's when I quit). SR is wonderful if the dictator knows what he/she is doing. Unfortunately, the SR at MQ wasn't smart enough to differentiate between background noise and the doc's actual dictation. I was having to edit out background conversations, etc., and that to me was not worth the cut in pay for doing ME instead of MT. Also, I really hated it when I'd get these PAs that would dictate these freakin' novels and halfway say, "oh, could you please go back to where I said blah, blah, blah and add this. . . .?" And of course, MQ's SR program would transcribe all the dictator's instructions which was a real pain because not only do you have to delete all that but you have to go back and copy/paste a bunch of crap that wouldn't have been necessary had the dictator came to the phone prepared. Now, that's not a big deal if that's only happening once per report, but these PAs would do it several times with just about every report. And the SR program I used couldn't tell the difference between to, two, too, and other words that are similar to each other. I actually lost money doing editing. It was not my cup of tea at all. And 3 cpl is a rip-off in my opinion, not to mention insulting. That's using MQ's SR program. There could be a lot of other programs that are better. I'm just giving examples of my own nightmare. And one more thing, when I did ME work, I was using my right hand a whole lot more than my left and as a result, my carpal tunnel was aggravated in my right hand because of overuse, I guess. I ended up having to sleep with a brace on my right hand to bed. That's something to think about. I'd keep my right thumb on the CTRL button with my right ring finger working the arrow to skip over words and doing that all day long takes its toll, at least it did in my case. Needless to say, I don't do ME any more.
_________________________
I've got something to say . . . . it's better to burn out than fade away.
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#109724 - 08/30/08 10:46 AM
Re: Editing skills question
[Re: Badfinger]
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sublimelyt
New Member
Registered: 08/30/08
Posts: 3
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I am currently doing speech recognition editing using EScription software. Most of the docs are English speaking, not many ESL. I get paid 4.25 cpl and can average as much as 500 lines per hour although the usual is about 350-400 which averages out to about $17 an hour.
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#109917 - 08/30/08 07:55 PM
Re: Editing skills question
[Re: sublimelyt]
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Jay_Vance_CMT
Member
Registered: 12/08/01
Posts: 1394
Loc: Columbia, MO
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I am currently doing speech recognition editing using EScription software. Most of the docs are English speaking, not many ESL. I get paid 4.25 cpl and can average as much as 500 lines per hour although the usual is about 350-400 which averages out to about $17 an hour.
Would you mind sharing a few tips that you feel help you maintain that level of productivity? How was the transition from keyboarding to editing for you? Also, did you get much training on the platform, in particular productivity training? Thanks!
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