Transcribing

There are two schools of thought on this rather laborious process. One is that you just make a synopsis of the interview. The other is that you transcribe the entire interview.

A synopsis gives an overview of what topics have been covered with, perhaps, some detail. The benefit with this method is that it is relatively quick and easy to achieve.

A full transcription takes time. By this method’s very nature it entails the listener being plugged in to an earpiece and typing what is said. It’s good if there is a touch typist who’s used to audio work but can be very time consuming. However, this is what we chose to do at St Levan, partly because there was a touch typist and also because the benefits of the resultant printed transcription were considerable. From a fully transcribed interview it’s easy to pick out themes and quotes if you wish to develop them further as a compilation recording, for audio clips in an exhibition, or for memories to be used in a publication.


Image: An example of transcriptions

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