Friday 27 August 2010

Of interviews and transcribing

Since starting work with Signs of the Times, I've had a lot more opportunities to do more in-depth/longer interviews, most of which are also done via the phone.

With people speaking faster than I can write/type, the easiest solution is to simply record the interview. You place it in front of the speaker, hit record and then you can relax, listen to what the person have to say and think about what question you'll ask next. No more furious scribbling and fear of missing anything.

The only problem with that is the need to transcribe your interviews afterwards. An hour-long interview takes at least two hours to transcribe because of all the pauses you have to do to make sure you've typed everything in. And really, by the end of the interview, all you want to do is write the article, not transcribe it.

But I think the worst thing about transcribing an interview is when you've done a really bad one. Then you have to relive the experience all over again...

Thank goodness I don't have too many of those!

Well, back to transcribing now.

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