MY EXPERIENCE WITH DRAGON NATURALY SPEAKING –
First published in a slightly different form at Suite 101 in May, 2002.
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/write_australian/92144
In
2001, the RSI that had been creeping up on me for years really made itself
felt.
I
tried to combated the problem by using elastic bandages, various liniments,
physiotherapy and exercises, and by cutting out all inessential typing.
Unfortunately,
this took a lot of time and also cost quite a few dollars. Most liniments smell pretty terrible and I
was always at risk of developing an allergy or sensitivity to one or more of
the ingredients. The bandages worked
quite well but again, it was a nuisance to have to remove them every time I
needed to prepare vegetables, wash my hands, or go shopping. More than once, I forgot which resulted
variously in soggy bandages, liniment-smelling vegetables or strange looks in
the supermarket queue.
Every
so often, I considered investing in a speech recognition program. My son had
brought one home several years ago, and had tried using it on our old 386. The program had not been very successful,
mainly because it seemed to expect my son to speak with an American accent. Recently, however, I had heard of an
Australian version that would accept Australian accents and spelling. Unfortunately, when I enquired about this, I
discovered that not only the accent had changed. The system requirements for the new versions of this program were
very much higher than they had once been. It was obvious that I would not be
able to run any such program on my 166.
"One
day," I said. "Next time I
need to upgrade my computer."
At
that time, I thought that day is a good many months or possibly, a good many
years, ahead.
I
was wrong.
Without
any warning, the motherboard of my 166 failed. I discovered that I could not
replace the motherboard or continuing to use the rest of the computer, because
it was obsolete. Biting the bullet (or was it grinding my teeth) I went ahead
and ordered a new computer. And this
time, I made certain it would have the system specifications to support the
modern version of the dictation program.
I
installed Dragon NaturallySpeaking preferred version 6 on my computer about
three days ago. (written on May 26th,
2002) So far, I have written one article,
filled out a long questionnaire, replied to several e-mails, and taught the
computer how to recognise my voice.
And
yes, I am writing this article using the wonderful device.
So
far, I am very pleased with my investment. The program seems very well suited
to the phraseology used in writing technical articles. It will be interesting
to find out how it performs when I begin using it to write fiction.
"It
does sometimes make some wild guess is that the words are amusing".
The
above sentence is an example of this interesting trait. Let me try that again.
"It
does sometimes make wild guesses at the words I am using."
By
speaking more clearly, in the second instance, I was able to write the sentence
with just one mistake.
"Guesses" was rendered as "guess is". However, I was able to correct it was two
simple commands.
It'll
be interesting to follow the developments of my partnership with the dragon.
Not only does the dragon need to learn to recognise my mode of speech and the
words that I'm likely to choose, but I need to learn to speak more clearly and
also to compose verbally instead of "through my fingers" as I have
been used to doing for the past 33 years.
http://www.scansoft.com/naturallyspeaking/
Please
note that I am not employed by, or otherwise affiliated with, any company
designing or providing this programme.
ADDENDUM, DECEMBER 2002.
Since
writing the article above, I have been using Dragon for writing fiction. It
isn’t quite as good for this purpose, partly because fiction tends to use
coined words, onomatopoeia and regional words, but mostly because of the
increased need for punctuation. Below is a brief passage from a w.i.p.
"That's
a top joke that is," chortled Raelene.
"It's
not a joke," said Matt. "I want to be a mage."
Merv and Raelene stopped laughing. "You can't be a wizard, son," said Merv. "You'd look a proper galah in one of them long black robes and a silly hat. You've got to be practical. You'd be tripping over the hem all day long."
"I
wouldn't wear that silly stuff. Mages don't. I told you, mages are different."
To create this passage, this is what I had to say aloud;
(punctuation rendered in orange.)
Tab Open quotes That's a top joke that is comma close quotes chortled Raelene full stop
New line Tab Open quotes It's not a joke comma close quotes said Matt full
stop open quotes I want to be a
mage full stop close quotes
New line Tab Merv and
Raelene stopped laughing full
stop open quotes You can't be a wizard comma son comma close quotes
said Merv full stop open quotes You'd look a proper galah in one of them long black robes and a
silly hat full stop You've got to be practical full stop You'd be tripping over
the hem all day long full stop
close quotes
New line Tab open quotes I
wouldn't wear that silly stuff full
stop Mages don't full stop I told you comma mages are different
italacise
that full stop close quotes
This looks terribly difficult, but it becomes second nature quite quickly, just as it becomes second nature to type in punctuation on a keyboard. However, it does expand the piece from 77 typed words to 140 spoken.
What
about words such as "Raelene", "Merv" and
"galah"? Well, you can teach Dragon to recognise these from their
spoken form. The way to do it is to say this.
"Raelene."
(The programme types in something like "day – lean".) Say – "Select
day lean. Spell that. Ah – Ai – Ee – El – Ee – En – Ee. OK. Raelene, Raelene,
Raelene."
After
this, the programme will almost always recognise and spell this word correctly.
And the more you use Dragon, the more obedient it becomes!
Background – “Ghost-grass”, by Sallyo's
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