Transcription Guidelines

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BACKGROUND
TRANSCRIBING FOR CAPTION TEXT
Many times, the transcripts we produce are used as closed captioning data and not for use as
transcripts in and of themselves. Closed captions are the visual representation of audio made
available for the non-hearing, hard-of-hearing and ESL (English as a second language) viewers of
television and IP-delivered media.
Once you've learned the fundamentals, these transcripts might be the "simplest" you've ever done in
your transcription career in that there are no paragraph spacing requirements, no font type or size
requirements, and no document identifiers other than the file name. That's because the text from
our transcript is often "pumped" into another program where caption data is reformatted and
assigned to video. Most pre-established parameters (like font size) would be irrelevant after that
process has been completed. The transcript itself may not ever be read in document form because
the program audio has been formatted so that end users can follow along with its corresponding
video (instead of referencing a stand-alone document).

TECHNICAL ITEMS
COMMANDS
Command markers are often entered during transcription or added just prior to final submission.
These markers identify placeholders in the audio so that they can be "matched up" later on, when
that becomes necessary. The three command markers used most often are
^M - marker (generic)
^B - beginning
^E - end
If you are not already using these command markers, that's okay. If you would like to learn more
about them, there will likely be more opportunities for work when we are given projects that require
many markers throughout the transcript.

SPECIAL CHARACTERS
Because the transcript will likely go through additional processes to become caption data, many
commonly-used characters (like curly quotes, asterisks and accent marks) cannot be included in our
transcript text. If you use Microsoft Word to do your transcribing, please disable these in your
AutoFormat settings. These characters are not compatible with many earlier captioning platforms
and will cause disruption in the data stream or -- in some cases -- the secondary system sees it as an
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internal command instead of as transcription of the program's audio. This is why we use more
limited text features.
Use "cafe" instead of caf
Use "fiancee" instead of fiance
Use "manana" instead of maana

UNIFORMITY
SPEAKER IDs
If speakers' names are known, please identify them after the chevrons, like this:
>> William Burns: Thank you for having me. I'm honored to be here.
If speakers' names are not known, there is no need to try and identify them. They can just be
identified with chevrons.
>> Welcome to this episode of "Victory Tomorrow," with your host David Buckner.
>> David Buckner: Hello again, folks.
Sometimes the client will have specific naming instructions. Whenever possible, I try to forward that
information ahead of time. Though it's rare, we have a number of clients who insist on having
generic speaker IDs, which can be quite labor-intensive in a roomful of irrelevant speakers, like this:
>> speaker 1: Are we ready?
>> speaker 2: Marker.
>> speaker 1: London interview, take seven.
>> speaker 3: I forgot to turn my phone off.
>> speaker 4: Yeah, everybody turn your phones off, or set them to silent, please.
>> speaker 2: Okay, I think we're ready.
If you are unsure of how to proceed with speaker IDs, just let me know. I'm always happy to help.

NUMBERS
Our standard rule of thumb is to spell out single-digit numbers (zero through nine) and use numerals
for double-digit numbers (10 and above).
He turned 17 last April, and his two older brothers threw him a party.
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but there are exceptions here!
- If a speaker says, "a quarter of a million dollars," type it as such -- do not type $250,000. Same with "two dozen,"
etc.
- If a speaker says, "I think the loan was for 81... 82,000 dollars, something like that," type, "I think the loan was for
$81,000... $82,000, something like that." This may be a less truthful representation, but it is more easily
understood.
And if the transcript contains calculations, type all digits (think of yourself as a reader with a
mathematical frame of mind) unless the numbers are "countables" and not part of the equations
themselves. For example...
Train one leaves Venice at 10:00 PM, averaging 80 miles per hour. Train two leaves Venice at 11:00 PM, averaging
110 miles per hour.
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As you have seen in the four problems we've calculated in the last two lessons, our textbook highlights two
primary ways of calculating geometric area. Let's look at this next one.
You will also be asked to make judgment calls when doing projects that contain fractions and such.
Weigh readability against ease of calculation in making those decisions.

QUOTATIONS
This is a tough one, because we are asked to pretend to be the reader instead of the transcriber.
Who is doing the talking? One of my least favorite audio projects is one that contains a speaker who
always tells stories with an endless string of "he said, she said," like this...
So she went up to the guy and said, "Surely we can negotiate a better deal." And he was like, "I don't know; this is
already below the amount I'm authorized to offer." And then I said, "Is there someone else we can talk to about
it?" And then he fired back, "Yes, sir, but my director is out to lunch." And I thought to myself, "This is probably
going to take all afternoon."
Sure, it's annoying to add all of these quotation marks, but it is much easier to follow the story in
situations where these "internal" characters have dialogue alongside the main
presenter/speaker/host.

CAPITALIZATION
Ask yourself, "Is this normally capitalized?"
After pushing Play on the VCR, I would hear the wheels warm up before they spun around wildly. And when I
would rewind the tape, I remember the vibration being quite loud.
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(Play is capitalized because we're talking about the Play button, which will more than likely be shown on the
machine with a capital "P"; rewind, however, in its use above, is not capitalized, because the sentence refers to the
verb and not the button on the machine.)
In thinking of buttons and menus and functions, consider whether or not it would be capitalized on
the equipment, on the menu or inside that program.
Go to the Start menu and select Control Panel. In the Search Control Panel bar, type "processor."
All proper nouns are capitalized.
Titles:
This afternoon, President Obama arrived in Minneapolis. // In years past, former presidents have found a warm
welcome in that area.
Departments/Organizations:
The Department of Homeland Security announced an amendment to last week's press release. // She wandered
over to the shoe department before heading home. // The first deployment of the 172nd Stryker Brigade
Combat Team to Mosul, Iraq was in early March of 2006. // The Stryker vehicle is outfitted with advanced
medical facilities to support the corpsman attached to the combat team.

RESEARCH
If you are unable for whatever reason to confirm spellings by performing secondary research, please
mark the applicable words/phrases so that another transcriber or reviewer can attempt to perform
the research on your behalf. It is very important to us to retain the integrity of the program by
properly spelling names, cities, etc., whenever possible. I realize that some programs are research-
heavy, and that's unfortunate, but I like to think that having other transcripts that require no
research at all help to balance out our research-heavy projects. Feel free to reach out if you would
like help honing your research techniques.
Please mark words/phrases you are unsure about with an asterisk (*), like this:
We learned about Cyanookville*, a province of Cambodia.
NOTE: The reason we use an asterisk to identify where more attention is required is specifically because the symbol
will be rejected by CC platforms. This calls attention to the word or phrase during the final stage of review.
In a situation where the word or name could not be confirmed through internet research (as opposed to
the previous example), you may identify that it has been spelled out phonetically, like this:
He introduced himself as Julie's cousin, Bill Fickelgruber [phonetic].