Sunday 28 January 2018

Online Transcription Services And Independent Contractors

By Susan Ross


Whether a freelancer or independent contractor, there are often a number of opportunities. One of these opportunities involves working for online transcription services. In fact, there are now a number of online services offering jobs to individuals whom have experience in transcription.

In most cases, transcriptionists are often good at converting information through live or recorded speech into a document. Most often, services work with medical professionals, legal entities and business organizations. Whereas, creative writers and poets have been known to hire individuals to transcribe a number of audio files or written pages into book form.

With the advancement of computers and technology, transcription has taken on an entire new identify. For example, it used to take a great deal of time for an individual to dictate a letter, proposal or other document, then have the material typed on a typewriter. After which, there were often a number of passes on the typewriter before a document could be finalized and delivered.

When it comes to using a service, most prefer that the information to be processed be submitted on a cassette, VHS or CD. Whereas, the most preferable is often a sound file transmitted to the service as at attachment to an email. While this is the case, different companies have different guidelines. As such, it is best to check with the company before preparing a recorded or electronic file to be transcribed.

Rates for this type service are often billed hourly, weekly, monthly or by page count. In most cases, services have faster turn-around times. Whereas, individuals being paid an hourly wage are often tempted to take things a bit slower so as to make more money over the course of a project.

When it comes to hiring an individual or service, it is important to know rates in advance. For, there are a number of different ways in which individuals working in this area have been known to charge clients. While this is the case, services working with nonprofits, trade associations courts, meeting planners and governmental agencies often charge more than others.

In the early days, office workers often took dictation from superiors, then typed out the information on a standard typewriter. As there could be a number of revisions, individuals often spent a great deal of time retyping documents from the beginning. Then, in the late 1970s, jobs became easier with the introduction of recording devices. As such, superiors would then dictate into the equipment and transcriptionists would type the information into a typewritten document.

While mailing cassettes became part and parcel to the job of a number of transcriptionists in the late 1970s and early 1980s, others still preferred to use traditional equipment. Now, audio files have become quite popular. In most cases, a client will provide audio files of all documents needing to be typed. After which, there will be a review along with a number of edits, changes and revisions before the document is finalized.




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