Transcription Requests

[Zas678 he/him]

Hey guys, I have a favor to ask of you.

Every so often, I stumble across an interview. Sometimes they're all typed up, which is nice and easy for me to add to the Interview Database. But sometimes, I stumble across one that is a podcast or an interview. These are much more time consuming, and so I decided that I would reach out to you guys to receive help.

Go ahead and tell me if you're planning on transcribing an interview so that we don't do duplicate work.<br><br>I'm going to keep this list current, and when you finish a transcription, go ahead and shoot me a PM, or an email (zach at 17thshard.com), and depending on the interest level, we can either put it straight on the Database, or we can make a thread on here with the transcription.

Oh there's one more thing- you'll also receive an award. That's right, I'll give anyone who transcribes an interview over 15 minutes long an award. Hoorah!

1. Speculate SF- Brandon Sanderson Interview- (March 7, 2012)- Windrunner (in progress)

2.AHH! Data loss!!!

Sometimes I think IPB doesn't like me....

3. St. John's Q&A- (March 2012)- Voidus (in progress)

4. Boomtron Inverview- (Sep 21, 2010)- Voidus (in Database)

5. Google + Hangout- (April 17th, 2012)- Voidus (in Database)

Others I need to put in database:

http://www.ericjamesstone.com/blog/2005/08/11/writer_interview_brandon_sanderson/

http://twg.17thshard.com/index.php?topic=6896.msg151810#msg151810

[Windrunner he/him]

I've got the Speculate SF one, I'll post it as soon as I'm done. I'll clean it up as well, and edit out any umms and things like that.

[lyssie95 she/her]

I can get started on Eye on books tonight. Do we want introduction too?

*edit* I'll hit the Warbeaker one while I'm at it.

Edited March 18, 2012 by lyssie95

[Kurkistan he/him]

I'll take the Tor Forge interview (I want that medal!)

[lyssie95 she/her]

Just finished. I have time to burn, might as well hit the Atomic Array one too

[Kurkistan he/him]

The sections already on the interview database aren't verbatim: they skip over a few tangents and expansions. Should I leave this alone? Change it? Model my own transcription after it?

[Chaos he/him]

I say transcribe all of it, just not with the ums and ahs.

[Windrunner he/him]

That's definitely what I've been doing. I clean what Brandon was saying, where he starts a sentence and changes his mind about what he was going to say and starts a new one. I've also been editing out a lot of "ands" to try to chop run-on sentences into better chunks for the readers. I also cut out interjections like you say you've been doing. I don't know what your Q&A sounds like, but since mine is an hour long podcast the questioners tend to go into superfluous detail. I usually try to distill the question down when I can. I've also been trying to chop it into discreet questions and answers for the database, rather then a conversation. This is typically easy because Brandon likes to give verbose answers.

[Kurkistan he/him]

^I have a stealth-Q&A where we don't hear the questions, and it's mostly about Brandon's development as a writer moreso than a specific series of answers, and so I think I'll try to keep everything, since it essentially boils down to

Q: "Oh, Brandon, what awesome writing skills you have!"

A: "All the better to defy genre conventions with!"

[lyssie95 she/her]

Brandon talks rather quickly

For the most part I've been doing a straight transcription. I cut out "um"s, but... *shrug*

He also says "and things like this" and "Y'know" a lot.

[Windrunner he/him]

I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm still working on it. Today is the first day of spring break, so my free time basically just tripled. It will be done by tommorow night or I will die trying

[firstRainbowRose she/her]

Please make sure to transcribe everything as it's said, minus "uh" and "ums" and such. (ie, include the beginning of a sentence even if it's changed mid-way, or excessive "ands") Sometimes those small changes are hints he's dropping, or letting slip. I know they'll look bad, and flow horridly, but in the end it's best to keep things the same.

[Kurkistan he/him]

Please make sure to transcribe everything as it's said, minus "uh" and "ums" and such. (ie, include the beginning of a sentence even if it's changed mid-way, or excessive "ands") Sometimes those small changes are hints he's dropping, or letting slip. I know they'll look bad, and flow horridly, but in the end it's best to keep things the same.

Are you quite sure? The excessive "ands" are simply indicative of massive run-on sentences, and add nothing in the way of content or meaning.

I can see keeping cut-off sentences if he changes what he's talking about midway, but not simply if he rephrases himself. Ex. "I though Spook was the most i-- I mean that Vin is an example of when..." should be retained, while "I thought Vin, in my head, initially, was a woman-- I mean that Vin is an example of when..." should just keep the second segment.

Edited March 25, 2012 by Kurkistan

[Windrunner he/him]

Please make sure to transcribe everything as it's said, minus "uh" and "ums" and such. (ie, include the beginning of a sentence even if it's changed mid-way, or excessive "ands") Sometimes those small changes are hints he's dropping, or letting slip. I know they'll look bad, and flow horridly, but in the end it's best to keep things the same.

Ah good point, I'll run through them again and replace the beginnings of sentences. Is it okay if I chop down the questions? It's a podcast so the guy, will go off on tangents about where he first found Brandon's works, and explaining exactly what this other site that Brandon gave an interview from does. It seems superfluous to me, but if you want it I'll go back and add it as well. And as Kurkistan said, it's okay to remove "ands" right? Sometimes Brandon just appears to be using them to string his thoughts together, and not because the sentences are supposed to be attached.

[Chaos he/him]

Ah good point, I'll run through them again and replace the beginnings of sentences. Is it okay if I chop down the questions? It's a podcast so the guy, will go off on tangents about where he first found Brandon's works, and explaining exactly what this other site that Brandon gave an interview from does. It seems superfluous to me, but if you want it I'll go back and add it as well. And as Kurkistan said, it's okay to remove "ands" right? Sometimes Brandon just appears to be using them to string his thoughts together, and not because the sentences are supposed to be attached.

Verbatim as possible, yes. I think you can remove superfluous conjunctions, but content, no.

As for the questioner... hmmm. For the transcript of the interview as a whole, I think that every word that is said is important. Like, if you're transcribing this into a coppermind, that intro stuff is important.

However, thinking in context of the interview database, that superfluous stuff might not be important for an individual question entry. But I don't know. This is something that requires external judgment, on a case-by-case basis.

Zas, unless you have any opinion otherwise--because you are, of course, the boss on this matter--I suggest that everyone gets as perfect transcription of the event as possible. Ums and ahs and obvious artifacts of vocalizing the words (like superfluous conjunctions), but all content, even if possibly unuseful, should remain. Once Zas has the transcript, he can pare it down to the format required of the interview database. It's always better to have more, and maybe another editor can look at it and take out some of the artifacts. Does that make sense, and do you agree, Zas?

[Windrunner he/him]

It sounds reasonable enough, although I would like to mention, that at least in my case, Brandon isn't answering questions about the cosmere, but rather the writing process, about characterization and deciding when to change the plot and stuff like that. If you still want a word-by-word transcription of this, I would be perfectly willing to go back in my transcript and fix it. Also do you want the into, before any questions are asked?

[Chaos he/him]

It sounds reasonable enough, although I would like to mention, that at least in my case, Brandon isn't answering questions about the cosmere, but rather the writing process, about characterization and deciding when to change the plot and stuff like that. If you still want a word-by-word transcription of this, I would be perfectly willing to go back in my transcript and fix it. Also do you want the into, before any questions are asked?

There are tags in the interview database for "brandon on writing", so definitely keep them. Keep it all, haha.

[Kurkistan he/him]

For mine, I got rid of all "and so" and "kind ofs" I wrestled with "kind of" because it can have some value as a qualifier, but I found it to be verbal clutter rather than genuine thought in the examples I saw.

I also committed the mortal sin of culling his abandoned sentences, although I can't recall any instance where Brandon said something significantly different in his proto-sentence.

Would you like me to give the interview another listen and add the "kind ofs" and/or proto-sentences back in, Zas?

EDIT: Never mind, I just did it anyway. Good thing too, given the embarrassing number of mistakes I made on my first pass. It would still be nice to get a verdict on "kind of," for future reference.

Edited March 25, 2012 by Kurkistan

[Zas678 he/him]

Yeah, full transcription is best. That way we won't miss anything important. The only one I don't care about is the Atomic Array one. They do some ads, and some things for other productions that I don't care about and won't be in the Database.

[lyssie95 she/her]

Yeah, full transcription is best. That way we won't miss anything important. The only one I don't care about is the Atomic Array one. They do some ads, and some things for other productions that I don't care about and won't be in the Database.

I'm still working on the Atomic Array one (I know, I'm being slow, I'll finish after church today).

I just started at 58 minutes, where the interview with Brandon actually starts. Do you want me to go back and listen to the bits with the game designer etc. to see if anything important is in there? And are there bits of the actual interview we don't care abot (for example when he talks about how he first got into role playing)?

[Bunyod he/him]

I'm still working on the Atomic Array one (I know, I'm being slow, I'll finish after church today).

I just started at 58 minutes, where the interview with Brandon actually starts. Do you want me to go back and listen to the bits with the game designer etc. to see if anything important is in there? And are there bits of the actual interview we don't care abot (for example when he talks about how he first got into role playing)?

Lyssie,

TYVM for all your hard work.

[Zas678 he/him]

It's up to you on the RPG people. But record all of the stuff Brandon says. And you are more than welcome to take a little longer. It's pretty time consuming to transcribe.

[lyssie95 she/her]

Awww... I feel special.

Anyway, yeah, so surprise paper was a surprise (that apparently had to be tuned in today), so I didn't finish yesterday. Thanks, it is rather time-consuming, but pretty fun too. I'm trying to up my WPM anyway, so... *shrug* this is useful.

[Zas678 he/him]

Hey! There's another interview up for grabs! And the award is almost ready. As in by tonight.

[Voidus]

I'll take an interview! which one is it? the stormlight?