Transcribe seminars

It separates voices and labels them Speaker A, Speaker B, Speaker C, starting a new paragraph at every change, so a discussion reads as a discussion rather than one block of text. That is the difference from a lecture, where one person talks and no labels are printed at all.

Expect it to be less exact than a lecture. Voices far from the phone are quieter, two similar voices can end up under one label, and crosstalk, where people speak at once, is where words get lost. The parts that matter, the tutor’s summary or a point you want to cite, are worth checking against the recording.

A seminar recording captures your classmates as well as the tutor. Ask the room before you start, follow your university’s recording policy, and keep the recording and transcript for your own study unless everyone agrees otherwise. If somebody says no, take notes instead.

• Phone flat in the middle of the table, microphone end up, not next to one person.
• Away from laptop fans, the projector and the radiator.
• Voice memo apps are fine. M4A or MP3 keeps a two-hour file small.
• If the room is large, two phones at either end and two uploads beat one phone at one end.

With an hour pack the notes and the Word file start every turn with its time, like [41:05] Speaker C: …, and Word gets a heading every ten minutes. Rename the speakers, then skim the headings for the part of the discussion you need. Copy for Notion does the same as Markdown for a shared study-group page.