RSI Software

Anyware Limited (NZ)

PastTense

• Availability: Direct (Secure online ordering available on website)
• Compatibility: Windows 3.x, Windows 95/98/NT
• Price: US$9.00 (Evaluation version has most functionality and can be used as long as you like.

What Is PastTense?

PastTense is a software tool that can help you to reduce the build up of stress both in general and in specific parts of your body. It can help you to target problems associated with occupational overuse syndrome (OOS), aka repetitive strain injury (RSI), before they occur or (probably for most people reading this) before they get worse.

With PastTense a number of different configuration options can be defined, each of which contains one or more timers to remind you to have a rest. Timers can be set to remind you of anything from taking a short walk around the office every hour to stretching your wrists every 30 seconds - you define the reminder message.

A number of default configurations are supplied with PasteTense and these can be customised to suit your individual needs. You can define up to 10 configurations, each with up to 10 timers. Any one of these configurations can be selected and used at any time.

PastTense does not force you to have a rest by locking up your PC. It may not always be convenient to have a rest 'right now' and the main job of PastTense is to give you reminders based on the rest frequencies that you define.

There are four main factors you should consider when choosing speech recognition software:

• usability - how easy is it to learn how to use?
• accuracy - how much of your dictation does it get right?
• reliability - how often does the program crash?
• capabilities - how extensive is the command set for advanced users? That is, what can you do with the software?
• compatibility - can you compose a letter in Microsoft Word? What about spreadsheets? Can you email?

Usability

Setting up the software involves installing it and creating profiles that the software can use to differentiate between the speaking styles of different users. Although they are "perform once" tasks, you still need to consider how easy it is to complete them.

Then there is the day to day use of the software. Discrete speech requires you to pause between every word. It makes it easy for the program to interpret what you say, but slows down transcription and makes communication with the program unwieldy. Continuous speech is at the other end of the scale and characterises the way we talk to our friends and colleagues. Because spacing between words is minimised, continuous speech is harder for speech recognition software to understand. However, it is much easier for use to speak this way, and of course it makes for speedier transcription.

Your speech recognition software should be able to cope with continuous speech for stress free use.

My Transcription Process

Having the need to transcribe lengthy interviews as quickly as I could whilst achieving as much accuracy as possible led me to devise a particular way of working that I want to share with you here.

My interviews were each one hour long and consisted of me asking a series of questions, to which the participants responded at length. I had 30 to transcribe, so it was really important for me to find a way of minimising the time I spent on each one.

Before I decided to look for ways to improve my efficiency, my initial transcription process looked something like this:

• Playback a segment of the recorded interview on my dictaphone.
• Stop playback.
• Type the words into a document.
• Resume playback on my dictaphone.

Dragon Naturally Speaking is a range of voice recognition software created by Nuance. With this software, you can quickly dictate the content of documents, emails and spreadsheets. When you consider that most people speak over 120 words per minute but type less than 40 words per minute, you can appreciate how big a time saving you can make by dictating your content.

One of the problems that speech recognition software faces is that of accuracy. That is, how much of what is dictated is recognised correctly. When using Dragon Naturally Speaking, you "train" the software to recognise your voice and thereafter, it improves its accuracy the more you use it. Nuance boast an accuracy of up to 99%.