What are you doing that seems to be successful in the internship? 

For my internship with the Smithsonian’s Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, my tasks are to transcribe audio files from this past summer’s Folklife Festival, Indigenous Voices of the Americas, then carefully edit the transcription. Many of the public programs are recorded, and transcribed in real time onto a screen for those who are hard of hearing. I have been tasked with employing timestamps to the transcriptions, then dividing the transcriptions into 30 seconds to one minute segments. Where I feel that I have been successful is that I was able to find a means of downloading the audio file to Microsoft Word, which automatically added time stamps to the transcription.

I think I have also been successful in my communication with my immediate supervisor, Rebecca Fenton. Because of my geographic proximity to the physical office in Washington, DC, I have taken advantage of going to the office in person when I am able to. This has allowed me the opportunity to meet others who work for the CFCH, and the chance to meet with Rebecca in person to discuss the particulars of this project. When I am not going into the office, I have kept in touch with Rebecca through email. 

I have also taken advantage of the Smithsonian’s Office for Interns field trip opportunities. This has given me the opportunity to meet other interns, which I do feel has helped with my successes. 

What is challenging, and how can you address these challenges? 

What has been challenging is simply learning how to transcribe and edit transcriptions, as this is a task that it new to me. Initially, the biggest challenge was in figuring out how to transcribe the audio file with timestamps. I was fortunate in getting advice and suggestions from others in how to perform this task. Next, I had to add the speakers, and review the entire document to check for correct phonetic spelling and sentence structure. When I finally finished the initial editing process, I met with Rebecca virtually and she explained the next steps. I had to start at the beginning and group the sentences by each speaker into 30 second to one minute paragraphs, with the timestamps at the top of the paragraph. What makes this particularly challenging is having two windows open, with the document and audio files on separate pages. It is just a learning curve for me to get used to, and with practice and experience, I am confident that the next transcriptions will go more smoothly and more quickly.