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.