2-Step Sessions

In a 2-step QA session, the text has already been transcribed on the Jobs tab by various transcribers and is ready for editing when you open the session. The system therefore displays the transcript in separate 'chunks', where each chunk represents one file completed by one transcriber on the Jobs tab. Part of the 2Step QA's job is to carefully monitor the boundaries between these chunks to knit the separate transcripts together into one cohesive document.

Play Mode

The default play functionality, Play and Stop mode, is such that when you click on a chunk, the audio will automatically jump from wherever it was to the beginning of the clicked chunk. This makes it easier to navigate around the whole document. If you do not want the audio to start playing from the beginning of each chunk, select the Non-interactive playing mode, as discussed in IMPORTANT: Play Modes.

Chunk Management

When you click on a chunk, the entire chunk will highlight in a light blue color, like so:

The chunk that you have your cursor in will be highlighted in blue, but if another chunk is showing in pink, this means the audio is currently playing in that pink chunk, therefore your cursor is in the wrong (blue) chunk and will not match the audio. Another tip - handy when proofing at the end - is when you're listening and have your cursor in the chunk playing, that chunk is blue. As soon as the next chunk starts, the new chunk being played turns pink until you move the cursor there.

Keeping Text in the Proper Chunks

With a 2-step file, several transcribers have worked on the file. Your job as a QA is not only to ensure the accuracy of the chunks are correct, but to keep all words within their proper chunks. Failure to keep all the words in their correct chunks can result in a rejection for a transcriber or, at the very least, an inflated change percentage. We don't want this to happen.

Remember that the chunk highlighted in blue is your active chunk, meaning that's where your cursor is. If ANOTHER chunk ever turns pink, this means that the position of your cursor does not match the audio, i.e., you are working in the wrong chunk. For new QAs, using the Play and Stop mode helps to differentiate between chunks.

Chunk Spacing

DO NOT add a space between chunks. The WorkHub does this automatically. The blue bar that you see between the chunks becomes a space in the final product, so please remove any spaces that appear at the beginning or end of chunks, as they will result in too many spaces in the final file. When in doubt, you can use the Preview link to see what will be delivered to the client. Doing a Ctrl F search for double spaces while in Preview mode will highlight any potential issues.

You'll also notice that if you click away from the two chunks you're working with, when the blue outline is gone, there is a natural space between the adjacent words of both chunks, as seen below.

Aligning Chunks

Occasionally, you will come across a stubborn chunk that does not want to line up with the one before it. Remember that each new line creates a new paragraph in the final output, so you need to join these chunks together - no one wants a paragraph break mid-sentence. Here's a simple trick:

1

Place your cursor at the end of the first chunk:

2

Hit Enter, creating a space between the two chunks, then arrow down to place your cursor at the beginning of the next chunk:

3

Hit Backspace twice, bringing the second chunk in line with the first:

If this doesn't work, click Save and Exit, then return to the session and try again. This usually will do the trick. If the chunks still won't align, you'll need to send a Help Desk ticket so they can fix it after you submit the file.

Tip: Navigating Chunks

If you Save and Exit your session or get kicked out due to inactivity then return to it, your audio will be back at 00:00. To quickly get back to where you were, click Play and Stop mode, then click on the chunk you were last working in. This will automatically place you a couple seconds before the beginning of that chunk. Then click Non-interactive playing (or whatever your preferred mode is) and use the hotkeys to get to exactly where you left off.

The Tab Key

You can also press the Tab key to jump to the next chunk, and Shift + Tab to jump back to the previous one. This can be useful to spot-check chunks before committing to a session and also to quickly go through the session looking for squiggly red lines or anything else amiss during proofing steps.

Chunk Management FAQs

How do I tell which chunk to add these missing words to?

If you use the Play and Stop option, it will only play that one chunk, so you can tell where the words should go. Note that, in Play and Stop mode, when the audio begins playing your selected chunk, it will also play a few seconds from the preceding chunk - you will see it highlighted pink - before leading into your active chunk. It will, however, stop at exactly the end of each chunk, just as the transcriber heard it. Knowing this, do not add words said in those lead-in seconds to your current chunk, but use where it stopped previously - when you finished editing the preceding chunk - to know where to start the next chunk. Pay special attention to these chunk borders, as any errors in this regard will be noted in your review.

The Play and Loop option may also be helpful. It will include a short piece of the previous audio's chunk on the first play, but when it loops, it will start precisely at the beginning of the current chunk.

How do I add words to the beginning of a chunk? It keeps putting them at the end of the one before.

Try using the arrow key to move over to the other chunk. It'll put you after the first letter, but if you arrow it back, it'll put you at the beginning of the chunk. Alternatively, click somewhere in the middle of the first word of the second chunk, then left arrow over to the first character to add your new text.

What if a word is said with part at the end of one chunk and part at the beginning of another?

Generally, you can put the full word in the earlier chunk. However, you can also go by what the TRs had in their respective chunks. If the second TR correctly guessed the half word they heard at the beginning of the chunk but the first TR didn't include the half word, go ahead and keep it in the second chunk. Remember that the system automatically inserts a space between chunks; you don't want that space in the middle of a word!

What about hyphenated words like a last-minute change?

Again, put the full hyphenated compound in one chunk or the other, and if neither transcriber added the word, then add it to the earlier chunk. Remember the automatic space created at chunk borders; you don't want the final product to have a last- minute change.

Oh no! One of my chunks just disappeared entirely!

Click into the chunk before that one and press Tab or use the right arrow key to move the cursor into the missing chunk. (Nothing will happen yet, don't worry.) Go ahead and type something, and your chunk should magically appear once again.