[Athen] Caption Mic

[Gaeir Dietrich]

Just some thoughts...

My first question would be, How is this better than just having someone
using Dragon? From what I can determine, that is essentially the solution
they are selling. I'm sure you get a package with the steno mask, the
program, the computer, and other electronic components, but I'd sure want to
compare their price to the price for those items separately.

Even if you get their equipment, you still need to hire the voice captioner,
and in the end, your accuracy is based entirely on that person--how well the
person trains the voice recognition software, how thoroughly s/he prepares
the program by training specific vocabulary and adding unusual names or
subject-specific vocabulary, etc.

As with all voice recognition systems, you have the issue of what happens if
the captioner has a cold or allergies or any other condition that affects
the voice. Such temporary changes in the voice all affect recognition, and a
knowledgeable user will have separate voice profiles for such conditions.

So my second question would be, Do they have a list of trained captioners to
refer you to or are you entirely on your own to find someone? Do they have
materials that you can use to train a captioner or are you on your own for
that as well? (As a long-time Dragon trainer, I can tell you that voice
recognition is not intuitive, and although I love Dragon, I'd have to say
that lack of really good training materials is one of the biggest issues for
most people with using it.)

And, of course, you still have the biggest issue whenever you use any sort
of in-class captioning: Will the captioner be the interface for the student
if the student has a question? For students who rely entirely on sign
language, the interpreter provides two-way communication.

******************************************************
Gaeir (rhymes with "fire") Dietrich
High Tech Center Training Unit of the
California Community Colleges
De Anza College, Cupertino, CA
www.htctu.net
408-996-6043


-----Original Message-----
From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On
Behalf Of Stacy L. Smith
Sent: Monday, July 02, 2007 9:29 AM
To: athen at athenpro.org
Subject: [Athen] Caption Mic

All -

A co-worker asked me to check into Caption Mic (www.captionmic.com). 
Anyone know anything about this?

Thanks,
Stacy

Stacy Smith
Adaptive Technology Specialist, Disability Support Services
532-6441
stacylee at ksu.edu

~~~~~~~~~~~~

One does not need buildings, money, power, or status to practice the
Art of
Peace. Heaven is right where you are standing, and that is the place
to
train.

--Morehei Ueshiba

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