This last project has me terrified. I'll admit it. I came out of the last project needing 50 hours for my internship requirements and notified my site supervisor of the situation. With this final project, I've taken a lot more time than I had in the past. After finding out that the other intern completed the projects with extra time as well, I look back at my timesheet and wonder if I could have taken more time with my previous assignments. I didn't realize I was working quite so fast (relatively speaking, since it always seems to take me ages to actually get the work submitted) on previous assignments.
I think another aspect of 'time management' that hasn't been addressed is the simple fact of managing productivity versus time spent. If x amount of hours are required then it's important to track, from the beginning, just how many hours you're spending on your work and communicate that clearly with your site supervisor with the indication that you would like more work.
As I look to the future (I'll be interning on-site at a library over the summer), I realize I've learned a lot from this internship, not just about libraries and my learning objectives, but also about managing my time in an environment where a certain number of hours need to be completed by a certain time. When I began looking for internships for next semester, I'd already realized the number of hours I needed in order to complete this internship was going to be difficult to achieve and, with that in mind, I planned my 135 hours for my summer internship accordingly with some time to spare so I would finish before the final week. That seems to be one of the greatest challenges of the virtual internship (it keeps coming up), you don't have to 'be there' so you have to make sure to monitor your time because you may never actually leave the house in order to complete your work.
So... the Saturday before my final report is due, I have 10 hours remaining of the original 50. This last report (for better or worse) really has taken a lot longer for me to research (from the AVW website) and write but I'm going through it with a fine toothed comb just to be sure. At some point at the beginning of April, I was ready to admit defeat, take my NC and move on, but I'm determined to make it work. I'll be able to put in a few hours this morning before work and tomorrow after work. And then it will be done.
This last week, I've come to realize the importance of morale boosters. Working for so long on one project by yourself is an isolating experience and I've noticed my mood has been a lot gloomier the past few weeks. I filled my iPod with my favorite songs and they've become essential to my daily routine in order to keep me going.
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Monday, May 7, 2012
It's Already the End of the Week
I'd forgotten today was Sunday. Such is my strange schedule these days.
This week in virtual internship land, I've started work on my next assignment: another trends report. After the first report, I've become a little more confident in my ability to format a report to precisely the way my site supervisor would like it. Admittedly I've taken a few days off to put the finishing touches on some final projects for other classes, but I'm determined to finish my internship hours in the next week as well as the project in order to give myself, and my site supervisor, some time to complete our administrative paperwork including rating and reviewing each other.
An ongoing challenge that I've found throughout this internship that became readily apparent when I began researching and compiling reports, was that the terminology has changed so drastically in the past few years that even looking at information from 2000 or 2002 seems terribly out of date. The rate at which things change and become obsolete is blindingly fast for some of us who still love things from the past. I am perhaps too much my parents' child in this sense. While I like new technology, I approach with extreme caution and I think this internship has been good for me to learn just how fast I have to move to keep up in this new day and age when all my friends are texting and tweeting and pinning and all sorts of other things.
This week in virtual internship land, I've started work on my next assignment: another trends report. After the first report, I've become a little more confident in my ability to format a report to precisely the way my site supervisor would like it. Admittedly I've taken a few days off to put the finishing touches on some final projects for other classes, but I'm determined to finish my internship hours in the next week as well as the project in order to give myself, and my site supervisor, some time to complete our administrative paperwork including rating and reviewing each other.
An ongoing challenge that I've found throughout this internship that became readily apparent when I began researching and compiling reports, was that the terminology has changed so drastically in the past few years that even looking at information from 2000 or 2002 seems terribly out of date. The rate at which things change and become obsolete is blindingly fast for some of us who still love things from the past. I am perhaps too much my parents' child in this sense. While I like new technology, I approach with extreme caution and I think this internship has been good for me to learn just how fast I have to move to keep up in this new day and age when all my friends are texting and tweeting and pinning and all sorts of other things.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Winding Down
This week I completed my updated list of virtual worlds and enterprises that provide virtual world services. I discovered that many of the virtual worlds in existence today are actually branches of other, larger virtual worlds. Perhaps the internet gives us too many options. I have been looking at my learning objectives for this semester and thinking about the implications of the work I am currently doing for a 'real' library setting and I understand some of the issues that have come up in discussion such as the reluctance to use new technologies. I fully understand this sentiment as there are a lot of options and the whole thing can be very intimidating. Also, not have people in the same place can provide many options which can be a good thing but also, having so many people and options spread across the internet, what's an organization to do if they wanted to market their brand? Pick the best fit for their target demographic, I suppose. I wish I'd been more interested in marketing and business in my undergraduate years. This is fascinating.
And then while updating my resume I came upon an interesting situation... I have my previous work sites listed on my resume with dates worked, the name of the organization and the physical location. In this case... what do I put down? I thought perhaps the URL to the AVW's website would suffice as 'The Internet' may not look good to certain employers.
And then while updating my resume I came upon an interesting situation... I have my previous work sites listed on my resume with dates worked, the name of the organization and the physical location. In this case... what do I put down? I thought perhaps the URL to the AVW's website would suffice as 'The Internet' may not look good to certain employers.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
The Audience
This week (besides Blogger's new format, which looks a lot like Google Docs), I've been working on updating the list of virtual worlds and companies that make virtual worlds. Our site supervisor provided us with a list of virtual worlds she had already collected and asked us to research and make additions to the list. While I have found some additions, her list is fairly inclusive so much of what I'm finding is already included. As is true of almost anything related to the internet, checking to make sure links remain active throughout a document's life (be it a text document, PDF, or web page) is very important. What I've been finding is true of both the sources I'm using for my research and the document provided to me by my site supervisor is that some of these links are no longer active and the virtual world they refer to is no longer active.
This week's challenge? Scale. When doing research on virtual worlds, I'm finding a lot of interesting virtual worlds that only serve China or Germany or Australia or some other non-North American country. What is important to consider here (which I should have considered earlier but didn't think about it) is that in the vastness of the internet, there is a place for every place and documents we create here in the US may be viewed by many people from other countries so when creative a resource such as the one we're working on presently, do we include resources for other countries? What is the scope of our work? Do we build our resources and materials for our own community (in the U.S. in this case) or do we build for a global audience? In this case, it appears that we are focusing on the North American audience. I'm surprised this hasn't come up in discussion before.
This week's challenge? Scale. When doing research on virtual worlds, I'm finding a lot of interesting virtual worlds that only serve China or Germany or Australia or some other non-North American country. What is important to consider here (which I should have considered earlier but didn't think about it) is that in the vastness of the internet, there is a place for every place and documents we create here in the US may be viewed by many people from other countries so when creative a resource such as the one we're working on presently, do we include resources for other countries? What is the scope of our work? Do we build our resources and materials for our own community (in the U.S. in this case) or do we build for a global audience? In this case, it appears that we are focusing on the North American audience. I'm surprised this hasn't come up in discussion before.
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Punching In, Punching Out
One thing we hadn't discussed in depth at the beginning of my internship were additional projects outside the three major projects. I put my time logs into an Excel spreadsheet and the total number of hours so far has barely reached half of the required 135 hours worked. I'm somewhat surprised and yet, not really. In my work experience, aside from 'special' tasks, one usually is assigned a general list of tasks to complete in your 'work time' when you have no special projects to do so you aren't just standing around. In the virtual environment, it would be difficult to accurately gauge how long a project will take someone (especially in cases like ours where we only interact with our site supervisor once a week) and sometimes a new assignment is not given immediately after the completion of one task.
This week I am working on making additions to two lists of virtual worlds currently available. I've learned a lot from the past two projects and am making a list of virtual worlds not currently included on the published list. What is interesting is the broad spectrum of 'virtual worlds' and the audiences they serve. Without saying too much, there are definitely some that I hadn't thought of as 'virtual worlds' that would be interesting to businesses until I'd started working at this internship.
The one Golden Rule of this internship is to not email the site supervisor on Sunday because it is her one 'unplugged' day. As such, I will be emailing her on Monday to ask about any additional tasks I can help out with around the site or reports to write to fulfill my hour requirement. I should hope I can squeeze them in as soon as possible.
Time sure is flying by.
This week I am working on making additions to two lists of virtual worlds currently available. I've learned a lot from the past two projects and am making a list of virtual worlds not currently included on the published list. What is interesting is the broad spectrum of 'virtual worlds' and the audiences they serve. Without saying too much, there are definitely some that I hadn't thought of as 'virtual worlds' that would be interesting to businesses until I'd started working at this internship.
The one Golden Rule of this internship is to not email the site supervisor on Sunday because it is her one 'unplugged' day. As such, I will be emailing her on Monday to ask about any additional tasks I can help out with around the site or reports to write to fulfill my hour requirement. I should hope I can squeeze them in as soon as possible.
Time sure is flying by.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Belated Spring Break?
This week, I have nothing new to report as I am still awaiting my next assignment from my site supervisor.
I think a challenge that should be mentioned at this time is starting out strong and establishing a schedule of communication. I'm not entirely sure, but I think that had we established a regular schedule of communication at the beginning of the internship, there would be better communication overall without these long periods of silence that feel empty on one end while the other person is working on a project. I learned a lot this semester about how one should or should not operate as a virtual worker and I feel like those lessons may be some of my greatest takeaways from this experience.
I think a challenge that should be mentioned at this time is starting out strong and establishing a schedule of communication. I'm not entirely sure, but I think that had we established a regular schedule of communication at the beginning of the internship, there would be better communication overall without these long periods of silence that feel empty on one end while the other person is working on a project. I learned a lot this semester about how one should or should not operate as a virtual worker and I feel like those lessons may be some of my greatest takeaways from this experience.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Old Tools, New Tools
This week, my challenge continues to be 'thinking virtually'. I completed my report and submitted it to my site supervisor last week. I'd received my feedback yesterday. While she said that overall the report was 'good and solid', she asked that I change my citations to links. I'd never thought of that. As a college student, I've been taught to cite things in parenthesis at the ends of sentences. So when our instructions said to 'cite' our sources, I proceeded as per usual. Linking in Word documents is not the most challenging thing to do, nor is it a new feature. I'd just never needed to use it before and I'd certainly never been encouraged to explore more advanced MS Word features before.
(The table of contents creator in MS Word continues to amaze me. Then again, in academic papers, we're generally not asked for a table of contents so I've never used it before. It's so easy, now I want to put a table of contents in every paper.)
For this week, I will be going back and putting citation links into my report (today) and then awaiting further instructions from my site supervisor. It's hard to believe but we're already half way through the semester.
(The table of contents creator in MS Word continues to amaze me. Then again, in academic papers, we're generally not asked for a table of contents so I've never used it before. It's so easy, now I want to put a table of contents in every paper.)
For this week, I will be going back and putting citation links into my report (today) and then awaiting further instructions from my site supervisor. It's hard to believe but we're already half way through the semester.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
The Report and The Practice
This week, I completed my trends report on social networks. I'm seeing that transcribing the interviews helped me learn much more about social networks and the business world before compiling materials for this project. While it is a bit ironic that I decided to deactivate my personal Facebook page just before starting this project, a lot of what I learned did reflect what I'd seen over the course of my Facebook use the past eight years.
While I managed to set and keep my own deadlines, communication can be a challenge in a virtual internship. I suppose it may be due in part to the way this particular internship is structured, but it can be easy to forget or misunderstand. Our contacts with each other and our site supervisor are generally brief and to the point. We get directly to what needs to be said and then move on. As we work independently, there is no real 'need' for communication except to update our supervisor on our progress and to notify her of any concerns or questions we have. As distance learners in an online program, working independently is not necessarily a problem as we do this a lot for other classes, but communicating can be a challenge. Learning to work in a team over long distances continues to be a challenge just because we become so used to setting our own dates and working on our own terms and with our own expectations that we sometimes forget that in a team or with a supervisor, their expectations can be different than our own.
While I managed to set and keep my own deadlines, communication can be a challenge in a virtual internship. I suppose it may be due in part to the way this particular internship is structured, but it can be easy to forget or misunderstand. Our contacts with each other and our site supervisor are generally brief and to the point. We get directly to what needs to be said and then move on. As we work independently, there is no real 'need' for communication except to update our supervisor on our progress and to notify her of any concerns or questions we have. As distance learners in an online program, working independently is not necessarily a problem as we do this a lot for other classes, but communicating can be a challenge. Learning to work in a team over long distances continues to be a challenge just because we become so used to setting our own dates and working on our own terms and with our own expectations that we sometimes forget that in a team or with a supervisor, their expectations can be different than our own.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
The Intern Who Wasn't
I had dinner with one of my friends earlier this week who is doing an in-person internship (in a different field). Having been an intern before, I've found that every site and site supervisor operates differently. Talking with my friend over dinner, I found that her experience was very different and yet very similar to my own experiences.
It would be worth noting that she is working in a lab at a fairly reputable academic institution who work with a lot of interns. They seem to have a fairly well established bureaucratic hierarchy that allows them to delegate tasks and manage their interns in a way that is quite different and yet somewhat similar to the way our virtual internship is managed.
After our intern group meeting this week, I began thinking more about the differences and similarities between her experience and mine.
Both our schools require a class to support our intern experiences. She didn't say much about her class so I suppose that when compared to the actual internship it's somewhat unremarkable.
Her internship site is very different from mine. In addition to the obvious factors like her site being a science lab and mine having nothing to do with science and the simple fact that she goes in in-person and I am a virtual worker, she works with a large organization whereas I work with a small one. While both our site supervisors offer support and guidance, her site appears to take on more of a teaching role in that they assign mentors to their interns who act as task masters, supervisors, and career counselors.
One thing that stood out to me from our meeting this week was the notion of being alone on the internet, especially with a virtual internship. Our blogs and class meetings sometimes feel like a one-way conversation. You put your piece out there and people read and observe. Sometimes comments are made or questions are asked but you never really know how to respond and sometimes questions go unanswered. (I've always resisted posting simple 'I concur' comments. It feels like sending a text message with a smiley or a 'lol' and nothing else, but I understand that the silence can be a little scary and discouraging.) My friend's internship site, with its large pool of interns, faculty, grad students, PhD candidates, etc, hosts weekly non-work-related meetings for all its student workers to network and mingle (and drink beer). While I don't think this is necessarily the most practical for virtual interns, the internet does offer a host of other opportunities for people to gather and talk.
In taking on this internship, I've learned a lot about virtual worlds and I think that there is a lot of potential there. Based on my own personal experience, I would say it's a great place for people to meet, gather and chat, but based on what I've learned so far, there are a lot of limitations to making them an accessible gathering place (in addition to the fact that 'virtual worlds' are expanding and redefining themselves in light of changes to social media).
Overall, I think that a virtual internship has a lot of opportunity to function just like an in-person internship but the new, virtual world seems to have created a disconnect in the way we communicate with each other, thus limiting the ways we think about working together when we're not physically together.
I've set my goal of completing my report by Monday (tomorrow) and the deadline approaches, but first... a midterm.
Until next time....
It would be worth noting that she is working in a lab at a fairly reputable academic institution who work with a lot of interns. They seem to have a fairly well established bureaucratic hierarchy that allows them to delegate tasks and manage their interns in a way that is quite different and yet somewhat similar to the way our virtual internship is managed.
After our intern group meeting this week, I began thinking more about the differences and similarities between her experience and mine.
Both our schools require a class to support our intern experiences. She didn't say much about her class so I suppose that when compared to the actual internship it's somewhat unremarkable.
Her internship site is very different from mine. In addition to the obvious factors like her site being a science lab and mine having nothing to do with science and the simple fact that she goes in in-person and I am a virtual worker, she works with a large organization whereas I work with a small one. While both our site supervisors offer support and guidance, her site appears to take on more of a teaching role in that they assign mentors to their interns who act as task masters, supervisors, and career counselors.
One thing that stood out to me from our meeting this week was the notion of being alone on the internet, especially with a virtual internship. Our blogs and class meetings sometimes feel like a one-way conversation. You put your piece out there and people read and observe. Sometimes comments are made or questions are asked but you never really know how to respond and sometimes questions go unanswered. (I've always resisted posting simple 'I concur' comments. It feels like sending a text message with a smiley or a 'lol' and nothing else, but I understand that the silence can be a little scary and discouraging.) My friend's internship site, with its large pool of interns, faculty, grad students, PhD candidates, etc, hosts weekly non-work-related meetings for all its student workers to network and mingle (and drink beer). While I don't think this is necessarily the most practical for virtual interns, the internet does offer a host of other opportunities for people to gather and talk.
In taking on this internship, I've learned a lot about virtual worlds and I think that there is a lot of potential there. Based on my own personal experience, I would say it's a great place for people to meet, gather and chat, but based on what I've learned so far, there are a lot of limitations to making them an accessible gathering place (in addition to the fact that 'virtual worlds' are expanding and redefining themselves in light of changes to social media).
Overall, I think that a virtual internship has a lot of opportunity to function just like an in-person internship but the new, virtual world seems to have created a disconnect in the way we communicate with each other, thus limiting the ways we think about working together when we're not physically together.
I've set my goal of completing my report by Monday (tomorrow) and the deadline approaches, but first... a midterm.
Until next time....
Sunday, March 4, 2012
One-Third Point
Midterms are coming which marks the one-third or mid-way point (it's been five to six weeks already) of the semester.
This week's internship challenge: accomplishing my assigned task. After my last post, I received details about my next assignment: a report on trends in social networking with an estimated completion date of 'two to four weeks'. Two weeks have already gone by. I've done the necessary preliminary reading but have yet to actually write anything. As a result, I am determined to set goals for myself so that I don't drag it out to the entirety of the four weeks.
This week's life challenge: Being ill, but still healthy enough to go to work. I never have a fever but I'm always fatigued and semi-permanently attached to a box of tissue.
As a result, I am aiming to have a draft completed by Tuesday morning before work (fingers crossed that my work schedule doesn't change again). If all goes well, I will be ready to submit my final draft by Friday or Saturday.
I suppose it's not safe to admit your faults in a professional environment but I do find this internship a challenge with a lack of designated due dates. At work, I perform better when my supervisor gives me tasks to be completed before I leave for the day or before a certain time. For the remainder of the internship I will work to improve on setting my own deadlines in order to have my projects completed before the maximum time allotted.
This week's internship challenge: accomplishing my assigned task. After my last post, I received details about my next assignment: a report on trends in social networking with an estimated completion date of 'two to four weeks'. Two weeks have already gone by. I've done the necessary preliminary reading but have yet to actually write anything. As a result, I am determined to set goals for myself so that I don't drag it out to the entirety of the four weeks.
This week's life challenge: Being ill, but still healthy enough to go to work. I never have a fever but I'm always fatigued and semi-permanently attached to a box of tissue.
As a result, I am aiming to have a draft completed by Tuesday morning before work (fingers crossed that my work schedule doesn't change again). If all goes well, I will be ready to submit my final draft by Friday or Saturday.
I suppose it's not safe to admit your faults in a professional environment but I do find this internship a challenge with a lack of designated due dates. At work, I perform better when my supervisor gives me tasks to be completed before I leave for the day or before a certain time. For the remainder of the internship I will work to improve on setting my own deadlines in order to have my projects completed before the maximum time allotted.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Stage 2
I believe I have come to the end of my time transcribing interviews for the Association of Virtual Worlds. I have learned a lot from what I have heard in five-word segments. There is a lot going on right now and I'm not sure how much I can discuss here out of consideration for the book that they are putting together but I can say for a fact that I did have to take some breaks from transcribing to go and look up some of the things that were discussed in the interviews. I learned a lot about marketing in the new virtual environment these last few weeks and it seems that there are several common themes that interviewees (if they can be called such) described independently of each other. While all this new social media in the virtual web environment (or however you choose to call it) can be daunting, with the right tools, knowledge and assistance, any company (even a fairly wealthy individual) can market a product or a brand. While there was no specific talk (in the interviews I'd transcribed) about product placement, the subtle ways in which companies now advertise their products to us and manage to keep their names at the 'front' of our minds is amazing.
In regards to the actual work, I have realized the value of Elluminate/Blackboard Collaborate's one-person-talking-at-a-time function. In the end, transcription times generally stayed a consistent 1.5 hours per 15 minutes of interview though naturally times seemed to elevate for places in the interview when the people were talking faster or excitedly interjecting over each other with comments.
This week's challenge was a surprise deadline. While I had set myself a deadline for Friday, my supervisor wanted the interviews done by this morning so I fit a whole interview transcription into my schedule. Though this was not ideal, knowing how long it would take me to finish the interview helped me plan out my time to better arrange meals and breaks and sleep.
Perhaps it would be better to have mutually-agreed-upon dates (specific dates, not general time frames) for our deliverables.
Awaiting further instructions from our supervisor as to specifics on our next project.
In regards to the actual work, I have realized the value of Elluminate/Blackboard Collaborate's one-person-talking-at-a-time function. In the end, transcription times generally stayed a consistent 1.5 hours per 15 minutes of interview though naturally times seemed to elevate for places in the interview when the people were talking faster or excitedly interjecting over each other with comments.
This week's challenge was a surprise deadline. While I had set myself a deadline for Friday, my supervisor wanted the interviews done by this morning so I fit a whole interview transcription into my schedule. Though this was not ideal, knowing how long it would take me to finish the interview helped me plan out my time to better arrange meals and breaks and sleep.
Perhaps it would be better to have mutually-agreed-upon dates (specific dates, not general time frames) for our deliverables.
Awaiting further instructions from our supervisor as to specifics on our next project.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Working and the Internship
This week, the challenge has been to juggle changes in my work schedule with making time for my internship. While online classes are more forgiving in terms of due dates and deadlines, an internship is essentially a job and has people on the other end waiting for results. With a coworker out on sick leave and another on vacation, the work load at work has increased significantly. Also, with midterms looming I'm struggling to fit everything in and there are no days off. This was more or less what I'd expected so I fit in study and internship project time where I can so my timesheet reflects the odd hours and sometimes full days dedicated to completing tasks for my internship.
Nothing else to report this week. Although, I wish I could work on my transcriptions during my commute but that's just not practical since I'm convinced it would take too much concentration and the bus would be too loud and I would surely have all my technology stolen. Sometimes I really value all the technology we have and sometimes I wish people would value it less.
On a slightly unrelated note, I watched a program on Braille typewriters. They remind me of those stenographers' machines. It seems like a useful skill to have to be able to type in shorthand like that.
Nothing else to report this week. Although, I wish I could work on my transcriptions during my commute but that's just not practical since I'm convinced it would take too much concentration and the bus would be too loud and I would surely have all my technology stolen. Sometimes I really value all the technology we have and sometimes I wish people would value it less.
On a slightly unrelated note, I watched a program on Braille typewriters. They remind me of those stenographers' machines. It seems like a useful skill to have to be able to type in shorthand like that.
Friday, February 10, 2012
A Technological Aside (And Some Personal Statistics)
As I wrap up this set of transcriptions, I've encountered a new challenge: making the technology work. I've been closely monitoring my time spent on each interview and noting where the delays occur. My poor computer, while up to standard for SLIS/MLIS, seems to be having some difficulty with these longer interviews. While I work, I have two windows open: MS Word (where the transcription happens) and iTunes (where the interview gets played back). What I found was that there was significant lag between hitting pause in iTunes and then switching to MS Word to type in the three to five words.
In order to alleviate this, I conducted part of the transcriptions snuggled down on the cough (in a very unprofessional and yet very comfortable position) with my iPod balanced on my chest and my netbook on my lap (my mother would have been ashamed of my posture). While typing in a less than upright position can be tricky while balancing a computer on your knees, there was significantly less time spent on waiting for my computer to catch up, no matter how little time was actually spent.
Also, taking breaks have become essential, not just for me but also for my computer. A few hours after switching back to my computer for both listening and typing (the constant pause/play required to successfully transcribe significantly reduces the battery life of your MP3 player) my computer seemed to have had enough. I would hit pause on iTunes and nothing would happen. The people would keep talking and I would have to hit pause several times before the player stopped leaving me to scroll back to where I'd originally intended to stop. I found that letting the computer restart seemed to alleviate this problem.
Some small recommendations (mostly for myself, but also for anyone who happens across this and is transcribing things):
- Beware the forward/backward/fast-forward/rewind buttons on your MP3 player. I had to click VERY carefully to get my MP3 player to move back a few seconds in the recording. There were a lot of times where I'd accidentally not hold the button down long enough and end up at the previous track or the next track. Returning to your spot, especially mid-track of an hour-long interview can be tedious on a small device where you have to hold the fast-forward button until you get to where you want to go.
- My USB-to-wall charger for my cellphone (HTC) also works for my iPod. It may no be recommended, but hey, Apple doesn't give you the little brick any more and to save money, you improvise. (Plugging in to the computer just ends up with it locking you out and trying to sync.)
- Unlike other homework, this isn't something that you (me) can do at Starbucks. It's just near impossible with my set-up to hear what's being said. People tend to speak quickly and sometimes their words run together or they speak over each other (interviews are conversations after all) and then your recorded interview voices run together with those two girls sitting at the next table gossiping about their friend and you lose too many important words.
Time Totals:
In order to alleviate this, I conducted part of the transcriptions snuggled down on the cough (in a very unprofessional and yet very comfortable position) with my iPod balanced on my chest and my netbook on my lap (my mother would have been ashamed of my posture). While typing in a less than upright position can be tricky while balancing a computer on your knees, there was significantly less time spent on waiting for my computer to catch up, no matter how little time was actually spent.
Also, taking breaks have become essential, not just for me but also for my computer. A few hours after switching back to my computer for both listening and typing (the constant pause/play required to successfully transcribe significantly reduces the battery life of your MP3 player) my computer seemed to have had enough. I would hit pause on iTunes and nothing would happen. The people would keep talking and I would have to hit pause several times before the player stopped leaving me to scroll back to where I'd originally intended to stop. I found that letting the computer restart seemed to alleviate this problem.
Some small recommendations (mostly for myself, but also for anyone who happens across this and is transcribing things):
- Beware the forward/backward/fast-forward/rewind buttons on your MP3 player. I had to click VERY carefully to get my MP3 player to move back a few seconds in the recording. There were a lot of times where I'd accidentally not hold the button down long enough and end up at the previous track or the next track. Returning to your spot, especially mid-track of an hour-long interview can be tedious on a small device where you have to hold the fast-forward button until you get to where you want to go.
- My USB-to-wall charger for my cellphone (HTC) also works for my iPod. It may no be recommended, but hey, Apple doesn't give you the little brick any more and to save money, you improvise. (Plugging in to the computer just ends up with it locking you out and trying to sync.)
- Unlike other homework, this isn't something that you (me) can do at Starbucks. It's just near impossible with my set-up to hear what's being said. People tend to speak quickly and sometimes their words run together or they speak over each other (interviews are conversations after all) and then your recorded interview voices run together with those two girls sitting at the next table gossiping about their friend and you lose too many important words.
Time Totals:
- Interview 1:
- Recorded time: 16 mins.
- Transcription time: 2h 40m
- Interview 2:
- Recorded time: 1 hour.
- Transcription time: 7 hours.
- Interview 3:
- Recorded time: 50 mins.
- Transcription time: 4h 40m
I found the significant variations in transcribing Interviews 2 and 3 were based on the speech patterns of the people being interviewed. While the subject in Interview 3 spoke slowly (most of the time) with minimal 'you know's and 'um's and other speech tics, the subject in Interview 2 spoke quickly, sometimes running words together and there was significantly more talking over each other between interviewer and interviewee. There were also many more words said in the second interview which left me going back and forth a lot trying to pick up first what one person said then the other.
Internship Time
In the third week I've discovered a challenge that isn't necessarily unique to the virtual internship but has become something of a challenge in light of the tasks assigned for this particular virtual internship: finding quiet time in a shared house to work on my transcriptions. Having been tasked with transcribing two hour-long interviews, I'm finding that there are a lot of interruptions from family members walking by and wanting to talk or ask questions. While in the past, I've been able to get study time in at night when everyone else is sleeping or on the bus to and from work, the level of concentration needed to accurately transcribe what has been said feels a lot higher than, say, studying for exams or writing a paper as much of that information has either been seen before in a lecture or reading, or is already written down.
To address this challenge (late night transcribing, while effective, is exhausting), I will have to speak to my family members about giving me a quiet hour every evening I am home to work on my transcriptions. They were capable and understanding of my need for quiet space during National Novel Writing Month so I'm certain they will be capable of this as well.
The transcription I am working on in interesting but I don't know if all of this information is relevant to the interview or the research. People to talk over each other a lot in conversations and there is a great deal of stuttering and 'you know'ing. Translating from the conversational tone to a 'proper' sentence is also tricky. While I know to drop the 'um's and the repeated words, I am never quite sure whether to change a 'gonna' to a 'going to'.
My rate of transcription remains at a constant 1.5 hours per 15 minutes of interview. For the next set of interviews, I resolve to spend an hour a day rather than trying to do 'half the interview' in one sitting. I budget my study/school time based on CA labor laws (that sounds terrible, but it's effective). For every three hours worked, I give myself a ten minute break. For every five or more hours worked, I give myself half an hour. I have yet to hit the five hour mark in one day but should I get there, I know how to handle it.
To address this challenge (late night transcribing, while effective, is exhausting), I will have to speak to my family members about giving me a quiet hour every evening I am home to work on my transcriptions. They were capable and understanding of my need for quiet space during National Novel Writing Month so I'm certain they will be capable of this as well.
The transcription I am working on in interesting but I don't know if all of this information is relevant to the interview or the research. People to talk over each other a lot in conversations and there is a great deal of stuttering and 'you know'ing. Translating from the conversational tone to a 'proper' sentence is also tricky. While I know to drop the 'um's and the repeated words, I am never quite sure whether to change a 'gonna' to a 'going to'.
My rate of transcription remains at a constant 1.5 hours per 15 minutes of interview. For the next set of interviews, I resolve to spend an hour a day rather than trying to do 'half the interview' in one sitting. I budget my study/school time based on CA labor laws (that sounds terrible, but it's effective). For every three hours worked, I give myself a ten minute break. For every five or more hours worked, I give myself half an hour. I have yet to hit the five hour mark in one day but should I get there, I know how to handle it.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
The Second Week
Week Two (Or 'Week One' who call the first week of school 'Week Zero') has given me the opportunity to take a step back and organize myself. This week's challenge lies in organizing just what needs to be done when. While I have, in past semesters, been fortunate enough to have professors whose due dates correspond, this semester every class has a different date for items to be due. I've found that adjusting from one semester to another can take about a week and this semester is no different, except for the internship.
Our site supervisor provided us with a rough estimate of when she wanted us to complete our transcriptions so there is no predetermined schedule and as a result, I have to make one on my own. In line with the internship class, I've decided to set Sunday as my personal completion (or at least landmark) date. The two interviews I've been assigned are just under an hour each. The first, fifteen minute long interview took a final total of two and a half hours including the time it took for me to review my word choices and check for errors and remove my own personal markings in the document for final submission.
While my current system of noting my start and end times on my planner is effective in logging my time spent on internship tasks, if we're supposed to be submitting our time logs I will have to consolidate this information into some sort of document. I'd discussed this briefly with my supervisor at our first interview in December, but it hasn't come up since. However, I will have to remember to ask her the next time we meet.
Our site supervisor provided us with a rough estimate of when she wanted us to complete our transcriptions so there is no predetermined schedule and as a result, I have to make one on my own. In line with the internship class, I've decided to set Sunday as my personal completion (or at least landmark) date. The two interviews I've been assigned are just under an hour each. The first, fifteen minute long interview took a final total of two and a half hours including the time it took for me to review my word choices and check for errors and remove my own personal markings in the document for final submission.
While my current system of noting my start and end times on my planner is effective in logging my time spent on internship tasks, if we're supposed to be submitting our time logs I will have to consolidate this information into some sort of document. I'd discussed this briefly with my supervisor at our first interview in December, but it hasn't come up since. However, I will have to remember to ask her the next time we meet.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Internship: Week 0 (Or "Week 1" if you so prefer)
The first week of the semester. Our site supervisor proves to be just as organized as she claims and sends out assignments immediately.
Our first assignments (I am one of two interns this semester) are to transcribe interviews. "I've done this before." I tell myself. "It'll take a bit of time but it can be done." So it sit down and start plugging away and it immediately becomes clear where the challenges lie.
Challenge the First: This interview is so interesting I want to listen to the content and forget that I'm supposed to be taking this down word-for-word.
Challenge the Second: I didn't conduct the interview. Contrary to my previous experience transcribing an interview, I did not write the questions or conduct the interview so I could not predict what questions were being asked or what was being said. Also, having not been present at the time of the interview, I had no previous knowledge of the conversation flow on which to base predictions of conversation direction and word selection. Additionally, the voices are relatively new to me so I had to listen very carefully to what was being said in order to attempt to pick out words and phrases.
Solutions: Listening to the interview all the way through once before beginning the transcription process seems to be advisable in order to attain greater familiarity with the subject matter, voices and conversation flow.
As a result, I spent an hour and a half working on transcribing the first eight minutes of a fifteen minute interview. For a previous project transcribing an interview I'd conducted myself, I was able transcribe a 45 minute interview in four hours. There is a notable difference in speed of transcription. I also caught myself wishing I knew shorthand.
I am looking forward to what the semester has in store for me and, as I am hyper-aware of the shift in verb tenses in this post, I will sign off for now. Good night!
Our first assignments (I am one of two interns this semester) are to transcribe interviews. "I've done this before." I tell myself. "It'll take a bit of time but it can be done." So it sit down and start plugging away and it immediately becomes clear where the challenges lie.
Challenge the First: This interview is so interesting I want to listen to the content and forget that I'm supposed to be taking this down word-for-word.
Challenge the Second: I didn't conduct the interview. Contrary to my previous experience transcribing an interview, I did not write the questions or conduct the interview so I could not predict what questions were being asked or what was being said. Also, having not been present at the time of the interview, I had no previous knowledge of the conversation flow on which to base predictions of conversation direction and word selection. Additionally, the voices are relatively new to me so I had to listen very carefully to what was being said in order to attempt to pick out words and phrases.
Solutions: Listening to the interview all the way through once before beginning the transcription process seems to be advisable in order to attain greater familiarity with the subject matter, voices and conversation flow.
As a result, I spent an hour and a half working on transcribing the first eight minutes of a fifteen minute interview. For a previous project transcribing an interview I'd conducted myself, I was able transcribe a 45 minute interview in four hours. There is a notable difference in speed of transcription. I also caught myself wishing I knew shorthand.
I am looking forward to what the semester has in store for me and, as I am hyper-aware of the shift in verb tenses in this post, I will sign off for now. Good night!
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