This page will permit me to report my observations about my experimental use of Dragon Naturally/Speaking as a writing tool. The company’s website contains links to features, requirements, and pricing issues so I don’t expect to try to answer all those questions here. Instead, here I hope to capture my experience of attempting to use the tool for my purposes and in my own way. I want to document that process as well as how well it works.
My initial idea for how I might use D N/S was that I would just talk into a digital recorder to myself about the memories I have of the event or situation and then have D N/S transcribe that. I also wanted it in the event that I decided to conduct interviews. I can provide links to the unedited transcriptions as well as the audio that was transcribed so you can make your own assessment of its efficacy. So I anticipate that I’ll add to this page over time so it will remain under construction for now.
Update: I’ve found that the concept I had devised for this strategy was ill conceived. I am not so eloquent as to be able to write anything worth reading just by speaking it into a digital recorder and then having Dragon transcribe it. The transcriptions from Dragon work best when you know before you start talking what you are going to say. That way, you can dictate, the punctuation and the paragraphs as you speak. Dragon does not transcribe halting, stream of consciousness conversation very accurately. So at least for now, I am abandoning this trial.