Transcription Services
Transcription Services
A transcription service is a business which converts speech (live or recorded) into a written or electronic text document. Transcription services are often provided for business, legal, or medical purposes. The most common type of transcription is from a spoken-language source into text such as a computer file suitable for printing as a document such as a report. Common examples are the proceedings of a court hearing such as a criminal trial (by a court reporter) or a physician’s recorded voice notes (medical transcription). Some transcription businesses send staffs to events, speeches, or seminars, who then convert the spoken content into text. Some companies also accept recorded speech, either on cassette, CD, VHS, or as sound files. For a transcription service, various individuals and organizations have different rates and methods of pricing. That can be per line, per word, per minute, or per hour, which differs from individual to individual and industry to industry. Transcription companies primarily serve private law firms, local, state and federal government agencies and courts, trade associations, meeting planners and nonprofits.
What is transcription used for?
Especially with the advent of online merchandising, transcription has become more important in ensuring the maximum visibility and availability of information for companies who promote and sell their products in this venue. By presenting text versions of the audio and video content on their corporate websites, companies can enjoy higher search engine rankings and achieve increased traffic as a result. Transcription services also provide the closed captioning for television programming and video recordings. Business meetings and scientific proceedings also require transcription in order to be recorded properly and, in some cases, published for public dissemination. In most cases transcripts are rendered into a machine-readable form for use on computing systems; this can allow searches of the transcribed material and provide even more utility in business, scientific and online uses.
The Benefits of Transcription
In most cases, companies can locate and use information more readily in transcript form than in audio or video formats. Additionally, excerpts of transcripts can be quoted or pasted into other documents, making them much more useful in preparing annual reports and promotional materials or for inclusion in blogs and reviews. Finally, transcription services can provide valuable archival copies of video and audio materials that may last beyond the useful life of the technology used to record these materials. What is transcription? It is a way to make information more available by transferring it into text formats that can be used in a variety of ways to allow more convenient indexing, more accessibility for use in computer applications and more durable archival storage of the material in an efficient and cost-effective way.