Transcribing - Ready to Work!
When you're ready to begin work, click on the Jobs tab/Transcription link at the top of your WorkHub screen. If there are no jobs available to work on, you will see a spinning circle with a message that reads, Waiting for work (commonly referred to as AWICA, "All work is currently assigned"). Remember, however, that not only will clients upload new files at any time, but other transcribers may cancel a job that is in their queue, so you never know when work will become available! On the new interface, your page will load with a file once it's available.
If there is work available in the queue, clicking Jobs/Transcription will immediately open up a chunk for you to transcribe. If you are unable to complete the job assigned to you, you may press Cancel, then click Jobs/Transcription again to try another.
Please take careful note of the features of the Jobs/Transcription screen so as to avoid falling into common pitfalls and errors.
The Transcription (Text) Box
This is where you type. The text entered in this box needs to match the audio and adhere to our style. DO NOT paste into the hub from a formatted source such as Grammarly or Word, since doing so could cause formatting issues in the document the client receives, even if you don't see anything amiss on your screen.
The WorkHub's Autosave Feature
The system automatically saves your work every 2 minutes. This means that if you temporarily lose your connection, if you refresh the page, your work will still be there (although you may have to retype a bit if you were actively transcribing). It also means that if you lose or cancel a job, any text that you typed will be there for the next transcriber who picks it up.
My job already has text in it! Do I edit it?
As mentioned above, the hub automatically saves text. If you receive a job that has been partially (or fully) transcribed, you are free to work on it. Note, however, that once you submit the job, you are claiming responsibility for the work therein, so be sure to carefully go over the text and make any corrections necessary. Remember that the text must match the audio and adhere to our style guidelines.
What's the text at the top and bottom?
Sometimes you will notice that there will be text above and/or below your text box. If another transcriber has worked on the chunk before yours or after yours, this is where you will see their text. This should help give you some extra context and try to help you line up the edges where your chunks meet. You are not able to change this text, and there is no guarantee that the text will be correct. Just transcribe what you hear in your own chunk. The other transcriber may not have even finished theirs and the text you see is in the middle of their chunk!
"Connection is lost" Pop-Up
While you are working on a job (or, especially, if you walk away for a few minutes then return), you may see a pop-up saying that you have lost your connection. If you see this message, wait for your connection to be restored. If you feel too much time has passed, try refreshing the page, then follow the instructions in our Troubleshooting document.
Is There a Time Limit?
We ask that you strive to complete jobs in 60x the length of the audio; that is, one hour for a one-minute chunk, four hours for a four-minute chunk, etc. Especially when you're first starting out, please focus on quality. Speed will come with practice.
Can I start a job and save it to work on later?
No. You should strive to complete jobs in one sitting. There is no "save" feature for the Jobs tab other than the system automatically saving the job every two minutes.
Canceling a Job
If, for whatever reason, you cannot complete a chunk, you may exit out of it by selecting the More Actions icon (three verticle dots) and clicking Cancel. A box will open asking if you are sure you wish to cancel the job. If you're sure, click OK. If you cancel 3 jobs within a 5-minute period, you must wait for 2 minutes to pick up another job. Once the 2-minute time span has passed, you can click the Jobs tab again to select a new job.
Submitting a Job
Once you feel confident that your transcription chunk has been transcribed and proofread to the best of your ability, click Submit! If you have Submit confirmation enabled, a box will appear asking you to confirm.
Submit & Exit
When you are done for the day and are ready to submit your last job, click More Actions (as seen above), and select Submit & Exit to return to the homepage. If you submit a file then another appears that you cannot work on, cancel it or simply navigate to another page. The job showing on your screen will be assigned to another transcriber.