Rhoda Colins has asked me about editing with Dragon Pro 9 so I've started this new discussion.

Rhoda,

Do you ever go on the NCRA website? I posted over there about editing with Dragon. I'll just do a quick copy and paste for you. If you want to read some comments about that post, do a search there for Dragon Pro 9 and it will pop up. Recently, Dorothy McGrath, another Eclipse reporter, has expressed interest in Dragon and may post in the future. Here's the NCRA paste:

Misty,

You asked me, "What is Dragon Pro 9 to edit with Eclipse?" Well, this is not the short answer, but it could be way longer!

At the end of September I purchased Dragon Professional 9 - "The world's first and foremost software product that recognizes and creates general text from normal speech," which allows me to create voice macros just like Eclipse's hyperkeys. They were extremely quick and easy to create. For example, if I want to insert an off-the-record discussion, I just say, "Read discussion." If I want to create an index, I say, "Index." I can turn off hyperkeys, move my cursor by voice to the correct spot, speak any word and have it appear. With Global Magic now I just say, "Choose 1," or "Choose 4," to select the correct word. The same with any conflict. To do a find and replace I say, "Find - somebody - replace - someone - enter." Instead of hitting Ctrl L, I say, "Find down."

My first step in editing a transcript is to perform a quick edit using only voice - scanning for untrans - "Scun," globaling - "Gee" if it's a one-stroke or "Two Stroke, Three Stroke," and resolving conflicts - "Conflict - Choose 1," before sending the job off to my scopist. When I proof it, I use a combination voice and keyboard - mainly voice, though. "Go to page 22 - line 4." If I don't want to use my scopist for a particular job, I have the ability to edit the entire job myself using voice alone.

Here's a comparison of different Dragon versions. The Pro is the only one that will let you create and perform the macros. Http://www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/matrix/

Patrick Seeley of Advantage told me to purchase from SpeakingNaturally.com because they offer such good support. I paid $754.95 for the Pro - a huge investment for me, but well worth it!

If any steno reporter is dealing with body issues and would like to keep off the computer keyboard as much as possible, I highly recommend Dragon Pro 9. It's fantastic to use for surfing the Internet, dictating e-mails and forum posts as well.

Jenny - reporting since January 1978 - CRR taken and passed May 2007

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THAT one job, was a good portion at the end, lol. I believe the way Jenny uses it, it is 'more' than me, but is the Pro version....
Rho
Yeah, I think the 9 version would be way more powerful. But too expensive :(
but I'm glad I had the chance to talk to you.
GG
Jenny,

I'm glad to see you bring up this technology. I've been experimenting with the Speech Recognition software integrated with the Vista operating system and it's not too bad if you can program it to fit your needs. I tested it with StenoCAT 32 and it all comes down to how well your SmartKeys are defined. The 5.8 SmartKey set worked pretty good, but could be customized quite a bit to individualize the system. I'm sure all the other CAT systems can do the same thing, but I'm not familiar enough with them to compare.

I did run into some difficutlies when there were multiple people talking in the room. It wasn't able to distinguish the fact that there was more than one person. That was even with a dedicated headset/microphone setup.

As for other things I found:

1) It works really well with the Vista operating system itself and basic Windows programs (Explorer, Windows Media Player, Internet Explorer, and all the standard games). For my first test, I hooked up my headset/microphone, laid back in my chair and gave verbal commands to multitask between various programs, including: Internet Explorer (searching general websites), Explorer (to pick MP3's from my song list), Windows Media Player (to change controls while playing the MP3s) , and Texas Hold 'Em (a new game added in Vista). I was able to go for about 35 minutes without touching the keyboard. I didn't win in poker, but was able to listen to about 5 songs and review 4-5 different news articles on msn.com.

2) I ran into a lot of problems in MS-Word when using anything other than basic commands. You kind of have to learn a special way of talking to do more complicated things (especially when tables are involved). I must admit I gave up on the project before memorizing all the built-in Word commands.

I'm sure it can be setup pretty nice if you have a fairly controlled environment and can truly program the keys to minimize commands. I had a lot of fun though. I've been waiting for this operating system ever since Win95.

Hopefully you'll get to report more on your successes and failures.

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