Week 11-12

I have completed my capstone!  I went ahead and just worked really hard these last two weeks to take care of everything that I had left.  I created three video tutorials with guides for training new interns.  The Stark Center seems really pleased with them and I think that they will be using them in the future.  I've written up my evaluations of the project and made some suggestions about how the transcription process could be smoother.  I also did research on grants that are available for the project.

I have been gathering statistics on how long it takes for the interns to transcribe during the summer.  The interns were responsible for keeping a time sheet of their transcription progress.  I know that there are some gaps in the statistics but I've been able to give the Stark Center some ranges for transcription time.  They will use this for figuring out just how long to expect the transcription process to take and justifying costs if they want to write a grant.

I presented my final report to the Stark Center this morning.  The interns ended up not getting as much transcribed as the Stark Center had hoped.  But I think in the future the process will be able to go a little bit quicker since the technology future interns will be using is already on the computers and they will be able to get started a little bit earlier in the semester than we were able to.

The purpose of this summer project was to just come up with a transcription plan, test it, and then make improvements if necessary.  In that regard, we were able to do just that.  Following the meeting, they asked me to research some possibilities of outsourcing the transcription process.  I found an Austin company that will do it for a pretty reasonable price.  They were very happy with the work that I've done and Cindy is one of my professional references for jobs so I feel very good overall about the experience!

Week 9-10

It is hard to believe that I only have a month left with the capstone!  I have already started working on the capstone poster and the end is finally in sight.

I put together a rough outline of what I want to accomplish in the following weeks: 

July 18-22:  Create scripts for tutorials

July 25-29:  Film tutorials

Aug 1-5:      Edit tutorials and create text-based tutorials

Aug 8-12:    Analyze statistics/capstone poster creation/write up evaluation of project

Aug 15-16:  Evaluations of Students/Present training materials 

It is looking like I'll have three main tutorials.  One dealing with the presentation software, another about the transcription software, and a third covering transcription standards and resources that the transcribers should use.  I'll have to create one or two text based tutorials to go along with the video tutorials. I'm recording on video things about the software or standards that are least likely to change while using the text based tutorials to cover things that are more likely to change since they are easier to update.  Parts of the process that may change would be mainly file paths to where files are located. 

My goal is to leave the Stark Center with a set of materials where all they need to do is sit an intern down in front of a computer with these video tutorials and a couple text based tutorials and the intern will be able to start transcribing. 

I have one intern who is ending the project this week.  I'll have a sit down with him to get his impressions of the project on Wednesday.  After that, I only have the one intern working on transcription. 

As part of my final analysis of the project, I've decided to look into grant possibilities for transcription.  Getting a grant to hire a transcription intern would really speed up the project.  I would think that getting class credit for doing transcription would be enough to motivate interns, but after this summer, it is pretty clear that it is not enough to motivate interns at the Stark Center.  I have also concerned setting time goals, like transcribe 30 minutes of audio each week.  That would give them a clear milestone each week, similar to completing an assignment.  Completion/quality of the transcription would factor into determining their grade. 

Week 7-8

OK!  The start of week 8.

I have been busy!  I researched best practices for audio preservation and discussed them with the librarian and the GA responsible for handling the audio files.  They had not been saving or recording in WAVE files, which supports more data and is the conservation standard.  It took some convincing of how we need to be more concerned about the preservation of the audio than how much space the files are taking up or how long it takes for WAVE files to download.

To help speed up the transcription process, the Stark Center decided to change the transcription process. Since Glifos does not allow users to use hot keys while transcribing, we have started using a program called Express Scribe that does allow for hot keys to be used. I created a quick text-based tutorial and trained the interns on it. The main problem with the new program is that the interns work on several different computers at the Stark Center.  The file that contains their transcription could be started on one computer and finished on a different one.

One of the interns is having trouble with the project.  He is simply not invested or motivated to learn how to transcribe or to learn the program.  The Stark Center knows this and they want to let him do something else for the summer.  Another intern was only working for Summer I so she finished up last week.

The other two interns are doing pretty well.  It's tedious work and I feel like I have very little to motivate them with.  The Stark Center wants the interns to do only what they want to do so I feel like very little transcribing actually gets done.

I feel like the project is going successfully!  This summer was supposed to be a test to figure out the best way to go about doing the transcription and I think we are doing just that.  We won't be able to meet the goal of how many transcriptions we wanted to get done, but when I made that goal, I was unaware that the interns would be working on several other Stark Center projects throughout the summer.

Week 5-6

Yay!  Week 6 of the capstone!

Last week, I taught an instruction class on how to use Glifos and the transcription standards the Stark Center wants the interns to adhere to.  It went well; the interns really picked it up.

We have had some problems with some of the software Glifos uses and Quinn and I just can't figure out what the deal is.  But we now have it working on at least one browser for each Stark Center computer that transcription is being done on.  I suspect that certain computers are missing some plug-ins but the Stark Center is ok with how it is.

My file system with using Google Docs to let the interns know what they will be working on has been a success!

My field supervisor decided that we would start using a piece of actual transcription software for the transcription part instead of doing everything in Glifos.  Yesterday I worked on getting the piece of software on everyone's computers, making sure the files are where interns can find them, and creating a short text based tutorial for the interns to refer back to after I teach them the software tomorrow morning.

I am really enjoying everything that I'm doing at the Stark Center and I can see how what I'm doing is actually helping them out!

I found out this past week that the Stark Center does not have a best practices guide for their audio files.  Not that big of a deal but I investigated it anyway.  As it is, the metadata for the audio files is a little wonky and the librarians do not understand the difference between .MP3 and .WAV files.  This past weekend I researched the best practices for audio files and on Wednesday I'll meet with them to make some recommendations.

Week 3-4

Today starts week 4 of the Capstone.  Last week was spent working on the general Glifos tutorial.  I learned how to use Camtasia and the tutorial is done!  It covers logging in to Glifos, editing content, syncing the transcript, and creating a table of contents.  It came out pretty well but I may spruce it up before the end of the summer. 

Today I met with Cindy, my field supervisor at the Stark Center.  We determined what audio files we want to have priority in the project and what undergraduates were going to be participating in the project.  Right now we have four undergraduates committed to the project.  By second semester a couple more may join up.

For the past two weeks the Stark Center has been hosting a conference and all the staff have been extremely busy.   The Olympic project was pushed to the back burner so we have lost about five days on my schedule. 

The first instruction session will take place on Tuesday 6/14 in the afternoon.  Between now and then I will be making sure everything is ready to go so we can get the ball rolling pretty quickly.  The Stark Center also wants me to instruct some of their staff in Glifos, which I am happy to do. 

Once the instruction session is done, we'll be able to see if my Google docs system for keeping up with the workers is going to work out!

Week 1-2

Here it is at the start of week 2 of my capstone.  Last week, I focused on creating the work flow process.  What I really strove to create is something that allows workers to know what project they need to work on and have access to the project.  I have created a series of Google spreadsheets that will do this.  Each worker will have a spreadsheet shared between me and them.  This is where they will put information about time they spent working, what they worked on, and whether its finished.  I also created a document that will help me see who is working on what project and what parts are finished.

Pretty basic but I had to keep in mind the different metrics the Stark Center wants me to collect throughout the summer.

Today, I started writing the script for the online tutorial of Glifos.  This will be used in training the workers but also the Stark Center wants to use it with transcription of future audio files in this project.  I'll have this done by this week.  I'll go into the IT lab on May 31st and June 1st to create the tutorial with the lab's software.

I am wanting to create a sort of checklist for the workers that will show them everything that the need to do for each project.  I think this would also be good to help them understand when they are finished with a project and can move on to the next project.

Capstone Proposal

The 1968 Olympic Team Oral History Project:  Phase I

Objective

            The goal of The 1968 Olympic Team Oral History Project:  Phase I is to manage four to six undergraduates as they transcribe about fifteen oral histories for the H. J. Lutcher Stark Center. 

Work Expectations

• Prepare instruction tutorials about Glifos.
• Manage four to six undergraduates during Summer I & II terms in 2011 as they transcribe audio files.
• Assist Desiree Harguess in the management of audio files in Glifos and quality control of the transcriptions.
• Create indexing terms for the transcriptions.
•  Evaluate each student at the end of the summer for Thomas Hunt.
• Gather time statistics and recommend work process improvements. 
• Update project blog once every two weeks for Diane Bailey.

Schedule

•  The project will begin on May 16^th, 2011 and continue until August 15^th, 2011. 
• Between May 16^th and June 1^st time will be spent creating tutorials covering the use of Glifos for audio transcription.  Any additional documents to aide in the instruction of Glifos for use by the undergraduates will be created during this time.  Time will also be spent with Desiree Harguess incorporating audio files into Glifos.
• June 2^nd to June 10^th will be spent training undergraduates to use Glifos software.
•  July 11^th to July 15^th will include training for any additional undergraduates who begin working at the Stark Center during Summer II.
•  June 11^th to August 15th
• Supervision of undergraduates as they transcribe audio.
•  Maintenance of quality control with Desiree Harguess.
• Indexing of transcriptions.
• August 8^th to August 15^th
• Final evaluation of each student for Thomas Hunt.
• Evaluation of the project that includes time statistics and recommendations for future transcription improvements. 

Project Progress

• Student will meet with the Field Supervisor at least once every two weeks to discuss the progress of the project.
• Student will update project blog once every two weeks. 
• The Faculty Advisor will meet with the student twice during the semester to discuss the project: once midway through and once within two weeks of the end of the project. 
• Student will be evaluated at the end of the project with the Capstone Experience Student Evaluation by the Field Supervisor. 
•  Success of the project will be determined by comparing progress against stated goals.

End Product

            By August 15^th, The 1968 Olympic Team Oral History Project:  Phase I will be completed.  About fifteen oral histories will have been transcribed under the supervision of the student.  The student will present the Stark Center with all the tutorials used to train the undergraduates, evaluations of the work performance of each undergraduate, statistics relating to the time spent on each area of the project, and recommendations for future transcription improvements.