Will Our Brains Survive the Digital Age?

In a new series devoted to the effects of our reliance on digital devices in this modern world, the NY Times takes a serious look at the collateral damage in "Your Brain on Computers". Citing such cognitive calamities as memory loss, a weakening in our ability to focus, an increase in impatience, and fractured thinking, the expose draws on the expertise of psychologists, neuroscientists and communications specialists to warn us of the possible dangers of being too connected.

All of the digital technology available to us today: smartphones, e-readers, workstations, netbooks, and game players, to name a few, make us more prone to multitask. Several of the articles argue that multitasking, while in and of itself is very useful, can lead to sloppy work and an increase in mistakes made. Inundated by a plethora of information, the multitasker finds it hard to separate the vital details from the irrelevant ones. Many of the experts believe that the multitasker is less likely to be able to focus and is easily distracted, even after their tasks are completed.

Then there is the drug of that next ding indicating you have mail, luring you back to the screen and away from what you are currently working on. Or the flashing notice of a tweet. Or the buzzing of your smartphone with a new text. All of these invade your focus, fracturing your train of thought, and eliciting a dopamine response within your brain similar to the fight/flight adrenaline of our ancestors. These chemical responses create stress on your brain, causing shallow thinking, reduced creativity and weakened concentration.

One thing that most of the experts agree on is the necessity for technology users to impose a sort of digital detox on themselves. Living life unplugged for some portion of the day can increase the brain's ability to recover from the ravages of information overload. By concentrating on one thing, such as reading a book or immersing yourself in a hobby, the brain is given time to relax and break habits formed by constantly answering the siren call of a digital device.

Print For Marketing: A Comeback in 2011

With the advent of digital print, many have predicted the demise of traditional print and a trend towards the digital experience. Not so, says Joe Pulizzi, founder of the content matching site Junta42. According to his latest blog posting, marketers and agencies are talking up print for 2011. Joe lists many opportunities for the marketer, as well as reasons that there might still be a role for print:

1. Getting Attention: The decrease in magazines and print newsletters means the quantity of your mail is shrinking. Since there is less mail, that means more attention is paid to each piece.

2. Customer Retention: Historically, the reason custom print magazines and newsletters were developed by brands was for customer retention purposes. Since marketers are all about customer retention when it comes to content marketing outside of basic brand awareness, you have a fit here.

3. No Audience Development Cost: Publishers have to spend huge amounts of time and money qualifying subscribers, marketers do not. If marketers want to distribute a magazine to their customers, they just use their customer mailing list.

4. What's Old is New Again: What excites marketers and media buyers is what is NOT being done. Since social media, online content and iPad apps are all part of the marketing mix today, reverting to print is "something new in the marketing mix."

5. Customers Still Need to Ask Questions: Joe says that "the print vehicle is still the best medium on the planet for thinking outside the box and asking yourself tough questions based on what you read. It's lean back versus lean forward. If you want to challenge customers, print is a viable option."

6. Print Still Excites People: Many people perceive the printed word as more credible than anything printed on the web.

7. Unplug: More and more people are choosing to disconnect themselves from digital media.

According to Shachar Meron, marketing guru and copywriter at BatesMeron Sweet Design, print as it pertains to marketing and communications will re-surge going forward, but will be permanently transformed. He posits that cheaply printed materials used primarily to convey information (newspapers, etc.) are on their way out and high-quality, high-impact marketing pieces are in. Since printed materials cost more to produce than digital items, there will be an increase in usage by high-value brands who take advantage of benefits unique to tangible pieces: special papers, sizes, formats, foldings, die-cuts and printing techniques.

This is seconded by Kassia Krozser, who says that user experience is - after the content of the book - the most important place for publishing types to focus attention.

Print for 2011 will be all about impact, quality and reach. As consumers tire of digital interruption in their lives, marketers will gravitate towards print again to grab their attention.


(photo courtesy of Spike Print Studio - Spike Island)

Using Transcription: Focus on Interviews

Are you a human resources professional interviewing candidates for a job, performing an exit interview or disciplinary warning to an employee; a market researcher interviewing focus group participants; a news journalist interviewing interesting people about the latest news story? Whatever your industry background, interviews are important for gathering strategic information to help you make decisions. So, how do you get this information out to the decision makers within your organization? Have the interview transcribed.

Transcription offers you a word-for-word written account of what the interviewee said, allowing you to use the information in many ways. Do you have multiple managers in multiple departments spread throughout several offices? Just email each a transcript of the interview. Need to meet a story deadline? Just cut and paste parts of the transcribed interview into your story line.

Recently, a nursing association started using transcription when interviewing candidates for upcoming board memberships. Each current board member needed to interview several candidates. The problem: the current board members were spread throughout the country and could not meet with each candidate. The solution: each individual interview was transcribed and sent to all board members, allowing them to analyze each candidate's responses.

How can you best use transcription during your interview process?

Telepresence Systems Pay For Themselves Quickly

A recently released study produced jointly by AT&T and the Carbon Disclosure Project found that telepresence systems pay for themselves in as little as 15 months as reported in a Light Reading posting. By using telepresence to replace travel, U.S. and U.K. businesses could save as much as $19 billion by 2020.

This study showed the results of 15 Global 500 companies (sales of $1bn or more) implementing four telepresence rooms. Over a one-year period, an individual company can cut over 874 business trips on average. Carbon dioxide emissions are reduced by approximately 2,300 metric tons over a five-year period, the equivalent of removing 434 passenger cars from the roads, according to the Green IT Report.

Is Speech Recognition Dead?

In his recent blog post, "Rest in Peas: The Unrecognized Death of Speech Recognition," Robert Fortner posits that the accuracy of speech recognition software peaked in 2001 at 80% and, as of 2006, had still not progressed beyond that level. In contrast, a human can transcribe at an accuracy rate as high as 98%.

Many pundits in the speech recognition industry argue that their software currently has a 98% accuracy rate. If you take a closer look at those numbers, you will find that these accuracy rates are based on learned responses similar to those used in automated attendants. In over three decades of research, no parser of unrestricted text has been developed. No machine has established a fundamental understanding of our spoken language.

The bottom line is: to ensure that your speech is accurately transcribed, you need a human. Only humans can understand the nuances of the spoken language. Only humans can ensure that your transcription of conversational speech is 99% accurate or better. And, as an added bonus, you do not have to train a human to understand your voice - just record your speech and give the audio file to your transcription company.

May speech recognition software rest in peace.

The Power of Transcription: Making Your Past Speeches Work for You

So, you have given many, many speeches and you have all these recordings stored on CD's or taking up space on your hard drive. How can they benefit you now?

You can put your speeches to good use by having them transcribed. Transcription not only allows you to have a written record of your presentation, but gives you the flexibility of editing redundant information or mistakes. Once you have edited the content in the transcript, you can copy the information and publish it as an e-book or a white paper. You can even make it a part of an online curriculum. Best of all, you can charge for your publication and create an additional revenue stream.

If you have given a number of speeches on various topics, you can publish the transcripts on your website as a bonus to event attendees who want more in-depth information or would like to read your thoughts on other matters. These readers may then quote you directly (and accurately), straight from your transcript, giving you even more exposure and a larger audience. As your popularity grows, so will your number of invitations to speak in other venues, and your business will continue to grow too.

Special Delivery: How to Get Your Audio to Us

Have you ever wondered how to transfer your audio files to us? Many times we are asked how to best deliver audio files to us for transcription and if we can accept uploads or email attachments. The good news is: we can accept both, plus we have additional options for you.

Email Attachments:

If you have a small audio file, say around 5MB, you can attach it to an email and send it to our operations department at transcriptionrequest@ttetranscripts.com. Be sure to include your contact information, a descriptive title for your audio, and the turnaround time you are seeking. Your email and the attached audio file will be sent to our entire operations staff to ensure that your request receives timely attention.

File Uploads:

Any audio file you have can be uploaded to us via our ftp website. Just point your browser to www.tteintranet.com/customerupload.aspx and fill out the convenient form. Click on the "Choose File" button to locate your stored audio file and select the file you wish to upload. Once the form is completed, just click submit and your file is on it's way to us. Our system will automatically notify the operations manager that your file has been uploaded.

Direct Dictation:

You can have our digital dictation system record your conversation, meeting, conference or blog updates by dialing directly into our servers. Just add us as one of your participants in your conference call or dial our number from your conference phone or cell phone, enter your customer pin number and our system will immediately start recording your call. Once you release the call, our system will store your audio and submit it to our operations crew for transcription. We will complete your transcript within the turnaround time you set when you create your account. You can change your turnaround for any audio file by submitting an email to us at transcriptionrequest@ttetranscripts.com.

Snail Mail:

Do you have audio stored on dictation or regular cassette tapes? Just place them in an envelope and send them to our Huntley, IL office. Our mailing address is:

TTE Transcripts Worldwide

10317 Fair Lane

Huntley, IL 60142

If these solutions do not meet your specific audio file delivery needs, be sure to contact us at 847-592-6211. We have a solution for you.