Content Comparison

The Harvard Film Archive has many years worth of recorded audio of events with visiting artists at our Cinematheque. 

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The plan is simple.

1. Once you sign up on the Harvard Training Portal, please email amy_sloper@harvard.edu and you will be given access to edit the Project Sheet where you can mark your interest by placing your name and email next to one visiting artist event you would like to work on.
   
   
   
   
   1. If a name already appears in the “Transcriber Name” field, that set of files is in the process of being assigned to a transcriber.
      
   2. Please note that specific language skills are recommended for some events but are not required.
      
   3. This sheet will continue to be updated as the project lead readies additional files, so if there is nothing available when you view it please keep checking!
2. Within 24 hours of sign-up, the project lead will give you edit access to the AIcomputer-generated transcript.
3. Read the Formatting Rules (below) closely before you begin for guidance on your work.
   
4. Start work on your file on your own time. If you have questions, please reach out directly to the project lead via email.

5. When you are finished with your files, change the status for your file to “ready for review” in the Project Sheet. The project lead will reach out to you if they have any questions about your work

6. If you enjoyed your first project, sign up for another set of files!
   

Guidelines and Resources

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Our biggest goal is to create a standalone, easy to read document that can be used for research. All formatting guidelines are toward this goal.

You are starting with an AIa computer-generated transcript created directly from the audio file. It will contain numerous mistakes, so correcting the text is the most important thing for you to help us with.

The final edited transcript should follow the audio exactly. Exceptions: we are , with the exception of removing umms, ahhs, mistakes, restarts, etc.in an effort to create a “clean” easily readable version of the document.

**Transcripts that include translators and audio in more than one language will have some separate guidelines, which are forthcoming.**

Formatting Rules for Single Language Transcripts

• Use ALL-CAPS for names and any flags you add (text inside of brackets)
• Italicize film titles
• Flags
  • Flags appear in place of a word, phrase, or section that you cannot hear, confirm, or understand
  • Within a sentence, format flags with a space on either side of the bracket
  • Capitalize all text inside of brackets
  • Use [INAUDIBLE] to denote words or section that can not be heard
  • Use [?flagged wordFLAGGED WORD?] to denote words or proper nouns that can not be confirmed
    
  • Use [UNKNOWN] to denote a words or sections that you can hear but have no guess as to what is being said
• Speaker Identification
  
  • Use ALL-CAPS for speaker names
    
  • Use names if known (full names without titles) such as HADEN GUEST, DAVID PENDLETON, AGNES VARDA.
    
  • Label unidentified speakers as SPEAKER 1:, SPEAKER 2:, etc.
    
  • All audience members will be labeled as AUDIENCE:, even if name is given.
• Enhanced Audio Description
  • Audio descriptions such as [APPLAUSE] and [LAUGHTER] should be included whenever possible
• Timestamps
  • Please leave timestamps as-is in your transcript documenttimestamps that occur at the beginning of a speaker's section in your transcript document
  • If timestamps occur in the middle of a speaker's segment or sentence, you can remove them. For example:

  
  

  edit this from the computer-generated document:	into this in your edited transcript:
  Unknown Speaker  8:45   So this film you're going to see with electronic subtitles I'm sorry, seems Unknown Speaker  8:55   there is Unknown Speaker  8:59   only print available and the other one is without English subtitles like make it almost precious.	Unknown Speaker  8:45   So this film you're going to see with electronic subtitles I'm sorry, seems there is only print available and the other one is without English subtitles like make it almost precious.

  
  

Research

In most cases you will be streaming the audio directly from the event page on the HFA website. Here you can find the correct spelling of the visiting artist’s name, the titles of their films, and read a bit about the filmmaker before you begin.

Additionally, doing a bit of background research on the filmmaker and their work (on imdb, wikipedia, through google and/or journal searches) before you start is recommended but not necessary. It can help to establish context for identifying names, places, etc. in the transcript.