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For getting a wordy essay or report done, voice transcription is far and away the best option. You can talk 150-170 wpm, but can only type 60-80 wpm. I have a f

For getting a wordy essay or report done, voice transcription is far and away the best option. You can talk 150-170 wpm, but can only type 60-80 wpm. I have a friend who swears by Dragon, and has used it to crank out more papers in a shorter time. I think the reason people haven't adopted voice transcription is because (1) they don't realize that some of the programs out there have reached the 99% accuracy level, (2) we all have developed the habit of working with a computer with our fingers - breaking habits is hard and (3) -related to 2- our brains have been trained to think as we type in ways that allow us to get certain work done, and if we moved over to getting our work done via voice, there are neural connections we'd have to re-create through training.

CWuestefeld 16y ago
For this to work you'd have to have the whole essay mapped out in your mind at the outset. For me, writing with a word processor is not just about setting down my words, but even before that, setting down the structure of the essay, then going back into it non-sequentially to flesh it out. I can't imagine how that would be workable, even if the speech recognition were perfect. Things like "go back to the first paragraph of the section, now after the first sentence insert X" is unwieldy, and bound to take far longer than traditional cursor control with keys or mouse.
- scott_s 16y ago
  I had a similar thought: how much of the writing process for me is keyed up by actually writing it? That is, I think that the act of typing is now, in my brain, tied to the creative process of writing. I could adapt, of course, but it would take time and effort.