What work have you done in the past few weeks?
For my project at the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (CFCH), I have been tasked with creating audio file transcriptions from the 2024 Folklife Festival, Indigenous Voices of America. Most of the sessions are recorded as they take place, and have since been transcribed as unedited text documents. I spent a few weeks reading transcriptions from the sessions about Indigenous sports, arts, food, sacred spaces, dance, Indigenous sovereignty and more. I then sat down with my immediate supervisor, Rebecca Fenton, to discuss which session I should work on transcribing first.
What new skills are you developing?
I am learning how to transcribe an audio file to a text based document with time stamps included. In order to transcribe an audio file, there are a few recommended digital tools to use. Adobe Premier Pro was suggested, but there are fees attached. Another suggestion was to create a private YouTube channel with a personal email account, then transcribe the audio file. However, I was not sure how appropriate it would be to use a Smithsonian created audio file with a personal email account. I thought it would be okay to use my GMU school email, but when I got to the last step it asked for payment. I did not follow through with that option. I finally tried Microsoft Word, which thankfully worked after I installed Google Chrome on my laptop computer instead of using the browser Safari. It was thrilling to see the audio file quickly create a transcribed, readable document.
Rebecca then gave me a list of next step tasks to do. She suggested that I create a spreadsheet for the eighteen sessions to be transcribed and what needs to be checked and completed for each of them. Once the audio file is transcribed, it must be edited to check for spelling errors, and the names of the speakers are to be added. Each file needs a brief written description and a meaningful quote that captures the essence of the transcribed session. Finally, I need to coordinate with other team members to select a picture for each of the transcribed sessions. I have started editing the first transcribed audio file of one of the sessions about Indigenous Sovereignty.
Have you identified other skills to develop in the future?
One of the skills I am hoping to become more familiar with is learning how to manage digital assets. At the CFCH, there are monthly meetings that cover Digital Asset Management, or DAMS, which is the process of how to organize, store and retrieve digital pictures and audio files. There was a meeting scheduled for Wednesday, November 6, but it was postponed. I am looking forward to attending a meeting sometime in the future.
Here are some pictures from the Folklife Festival, Indigenous Voice of America.