SGUTranscripts:Community portal

Hi guys like others I've often thought about this as a project but put off by the amount of time that it would have taken one person, the main reason I thought about doing this was to be able to search the transcripts when needed, example: if someone asked me a question on Homoeopathy I would be able to use my smartphone to give an answer based on what the SGU have talked about in the past, as I generally take what the guys say as fact.

Do you think that what I'm taking about would be possible using this WIKI project??

Looking forward to starting and completing my first SGU Transcript :-)

--Manontop 09:31, 16 April 2012 (UTC)

Hi Manontop.

Sure, I think that would be one of the most important uses of these transcripts. My ideas for having transcripts of the SGU episodes are to facilitate linking, searching and accessibility:

• Linking. We have headings throughout the podcasts so that it's possible to link directly to a specific segment, for example Aristolochia Nephropathy (internal wiki link) or Aristolochia Nephropathy (external link).
• Searching. Currently there are (at least) two ways to search. Either using Google or the built-in search box in the top right. If you want to use Google to search only this site, you can do so by using the "site:" term in your query. E.g. your Google query would be "site:sgutranscripts.org titanic disaster". Google is the king of them all, so I have installed proper semantic web (SEO) support. When a transcript is completed I go through and insert tags to important concepts that are covered in the podcast. This helps Google (and other search engines) know what is important about that page. You can see these by opening a transcript and viewing the source of the page. Then look for the <meta name="keywords" content="..."> tag. There are two components to this, tags that are site-wide such as "skeptics, sceptics, scepticism" etc. followed by tags that are local to a particular page such as "titanic, tragedy, ss, californian, space, junk" etc. Of course, Google also uses the page content when indexing.
• Accessibility. Quite simple really; people who can't listen to the podcast for any reason (deafness etc.) can now read the transcripts instead.

Great to have you on board! :)

--Rwh86 11:13, 16 April 2012 (UTC)

Hi guys,

I'm guessing this is the best place to put project discussions, let me know if there's another way - I'm new to Wiki editing.

Regarding time stamps for the sections, I've entered them into the headings of SGU_Episode_348 using < small > tags. This shows them smaller in the actual headings, but the same size in the contents list. What do you guys think?

I've also been thinking of ways to make these transcript pages as useful as poss without causing ourselves too much extra work. One way might be to include a kind of bullet-point list of facts from the episode, as they often have throw-away comments that are interesting. E.g. in ep.348, they talk about nut allergies, and that cashew nuts contain the same allergy-inducing resin as poison-ivy. We could lift these from the main text as we go and build a list at the end. It wouldn't make much difference if someone's reading the whole transcript, but it might make a nice feature for flicking through them. Just a thought, I figured it would be better said earlier than later. What do you think?
Cheers,

--Teleuteskitty 04:14, 17 April 2012 (UTC)

I like the idea of compiling a fact list at the end of the transcription for each episode. It's just up to the individual transcriber I suppose. Regarding the < small > tags, I definitely think it would help to have the timestamps in these transcriptions, and having it in the section title makes it visible in the table of contents. The other option is to use the wikibox on your user page, which I think is very nice, containing the image, quote, times and links in one place. It just depends on whether or not other people like it too.

--Jay One 20:11, 17 April 2012 (UTC)

Thanks, I have no experience making wikibox templates, so if someone else knows more about these, mb they'd like to build one? (although I'm happy to try) we should probably come to some agreement about whether we want them and what they should contain.

--Teleuteskitty 20:31, 17 April 2012 (UTC)

Has anyone explored the idea of hiring a professional transcriptionist to do the work? This could be much faster, but there would be a cost involved. Perhaps a donation fund could be set up for SGU listeners to pay for it. Another podcast that goes this route is the "Security Now" podcast from Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte.
-- 128.200.139.53 (talk) 17:08, 18 April 2012 (UTC)

I'm a professional trascriber and I would love to contribute towards this project. VLC is good but not optimized for transcription purpose. I would suggest NCH's ExpressScribe software and it's free. Also if you are spending a lot of time on this project, I would recommend investing on a foot pedal. It shouldn't cost you more than $25. With these two things, I am sure you can double your productivity.

--Eupraxsophic (talk) 02:16, 26 April 2012 (UTC)

I'd like to help, but I cannot tell Jay and Bob's voices apart. Am I useless?
--Jenpohl 20:54, 18 April 2012 (UTC)

I often find this difficult, and it's quite likely I've already made mistakes based on this, but mb you'll get better as you're listening closely. I find Bob more nasal. Another good indicator is whether they're referencing nanotechnology or porn. :)

--Teleuteskitty 21:00, 18 April 2012 (UTC)

That may be a problem, but all it took for me to tell their voices apart was a little time.

--Jay One 21:02, 18 April 2012 (UTC)

Just a thought: if you want to put up a transcription page including timestamps in comments (using "< !--" and "-->" without spaces in them) for the points you're unsure about, you could flag the pages up here for me (or whoever) to see if we can help out. This way we can easily search for problem points.

--Teleuteskitty 06:23, 19 April 2012 (UTC) [edited:16:16, 19 April 2012 (UTC)]

You're definitely not useless! The most important thing is to get a first pass of the transcription done, corrections are then much quicker/easier. How about you put a question mark after the letter if you can't work out who's speaking? So like:

B?: Stuff that Bob or Jay said

Then someone else can go fix them later, should be pretty quick to do.

--Rwh86 09:13, 19 April 2012 (UTC)

I've inserted a rough draft of a fact list at the bottom of SGU_Episode_348. What do you guys think? It was easy to put together, but I didn't know what to call it.
--Teleuteskitty 05:54, 19 April 2012 (UTC)

I originally thought it was a bad idea until I went and looked at your example. Now I think it's awesome, I love it! :) Currently you've called it "Today I Learned..." which I think is good, but can anyone think of a title that's better? Like maybe "Interesting ideas from the podcast" except not that as it sounds terrible. ;)

--Rwh86 09:13, 19 April 2012 (UTC)

Yay! Thanks. For the name, the only thing I thought, was I wanted to be careful not to assert them as hard facts. Also, we should mb point out that they are not part of the transcript, but taken from it after.
--Teleuteskitty 16:16, 19 April 2012 (UTC)

Hi guys, and thanks for starting this project! I don't have a lot of time to devote to doing whole transcripts, but I'd like to start categorizing the wiki pages, like "SGU Transcripts", "Live Episodes", etc. I think it would also be helpful to have next/previous episode links on each page, either at the bottom or in the infobox. Any opinions?
--Av8rmike (talk) 15:30, 3 May 2012 (UTC)

Hi Av8rmike, thanks for your interest, any help is always appreciated, big or small. We were thinking of using the categories from the Rogues gallery, plus others more specific to the podcast, e.g. guests. I think adding a category for live episodes is a great idea. We're also considering using redirect pages for categorizing podcast sections separately.

I agree, previous/next buttons would be good (in fact I was just playing with some graphics for them). However, I'm not sure how to get a wiki template to recognise the episode number and add/subtract automatically, do you have any ideas about that? Otherwise we can just input them manually.
--Teleuteskitty (talk) 16:18, 3 May 2012 (UTC)

I took a stab at adding some categories to SGU_Episode_354 to give an idea of how that would work. I don't know offhand how to do the auto-numbering in wiki templates, but from looking at the help pages for templates, you can do almost anything with them. I could probably do some experimenting and see how far I get.

Av8rmike (talk) 18:17, 3 May 2012 (UTC)

Hi guys, I've noticed we've used 2 different time-stamp formats. When it gets past the hour mark, I use the h:mm:ss format, but some pages use mm:ss, e.g. 78:12. As the time-stamps form the links for sections, I figure this is pretty important. My argument for using h:mm:ss is that, in my experience, that's what the majority of audio software and mp3 players use, plus I think it's more natural for us to think of time this way. What do you guys think?
--Teleuteskitty (talk) 17:50, 8 June 2012 (UTC)

Kitty, the only reason I was using mm:ss was because that's what was already in use on the existing pages. =P I agree that h:mm:ss makes more intuitive sense and is used in more places, so I'm all in favor of switching over.
-- Av8rmike (talk) 13:04, 12 June 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for responding. Rwh86's away this week, so I'm gonna be cheeky, assume he's cool with it and change them over. We can always change them back if anyone comes up with a good argument for the mm:ss format.
--Teleuteskitty (talk) 19:00, 12 June 2012 (UTC)

Hi guys...First time transcriber here! I was inspired by Tim Farley's presentation at TAM 2012 to see where I could help out - and figured I could at least try this. I just transcribed and posted 5X5_Episode_4, but I'm not familiar enough with the Rogues to distinguish voice identities. The only voice IDs I'm somewhat sure of are Steve's and Rebecca's (the others I guessed at). If anyone can help with voice IDs in Ep. 4, that would be great. (Maybe I'll get better at the voices in the future -grin-) Skepticat (talk) 03:47, 27 July 2012 (UTC)

Hi Skepticat, and (as Av8rmike said) welcome to the team! I proof-read 5X5 Episode 4 and added the speakers. The page is great, took me no time to add them. In future, if there's a lot of lines you can't attribute, don't worry about adding times to each, just the first in a cluster. Hopefully that will save you a bit of time too :)
I often find Bob and Jay hard to distinguish, but I think Bob's just a little more nasal, and it sounds like Jay might use a desktop mic instead of one close by his mouth. I don't know if that's any help.
Thanks for your help, I'm very jealous you got to go to Tam, if you have any feedback for the site, do let us know.
--Teleuteskitty (talk) 18:58, 27 July 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for the proof-read! Care to take a whack at 5X5 Episode 5, which I just posted? I don't think I'm going to have much luck with voice IDs (other than S & R) unless someone specifically says who's who, so I'll leave that to much more experienced folks, such as yourself, for now. Heck, I ended up riding down in the same elevator with the SGU crew at TAM (I think it was the first morning?) and I didn't fully realize who they were until later. As I was a "first TAMMER", that happened to me a few times with other skeptic notables there. :) Skepticat (talk) 04:23, 28 July 2012 (UTC)

Done! And just for the record, I definitely don't get the voices right all the time. That's just one of the reasons to have subsequent contributors as proof-readers :)
--Teleuteskitty (talk) 12:56, 28 July 2012 (UTC)

Skepticat: Some things that may help you get more familiar with the voices:

• Listen to an episode and follow along with the transcript (assuming it's been verified), paying attention to who's speaking when.
• Transcribe some of the earlier episodes. Perry is easy to distinguish, and Jay (and sometimes Bob) aren't in all the early ones because of software limitations.
  -- Av8rmike (talk) 14:24, 28 July 2012 (UTC)

Hi guys, there's a few things I could do with getting some feedback on:

1. Using this page for the main page. (Av8rmike, I know you're pro)
2. Adding explanatory footnotes with the Template:Link needed (I explain this in more detail on the talk page)
3. Help:How to Contribute page. Does this make sense to everyone?

Could you please leave any feedback (positive/constructively critical/short/long) on the talk pages for these?
--Teleuteskitty (talk) 12:57, 28 July 2012 (UTC)

The 5X5 Episode 6 transcript has just gone up and is begging for a proof-read and voice check. Any takers? :) Skepticat (talk) 04:21, 30 July 2012 (UTC)

I got it covered. Thanks, Skepticat!
-- Av8rmike (talk) 02:40, 31 July 2012 (UTC)

You may have noticed a few changes in the site layout, including restriction of the Main Page editing to admin only. To add/amend transcript page links on the new main page and the dedicated SGU Episodes and 5X5 Episodes pages, use Template:SGU episode list and Template:5X5 episode list. Links to these templates and the skeleton pages are on the Help:Contents page, and instructions on Help:Getting Started have been updated accordingly.
--Teleuteskitty (talk) 10:15, 12 August 2012 (UTC)

Hi all. I think it would be a good idea to pick an episode that is the canonical one. One where whatever the current agreed upon standard is implemented that can be pointed to or referenced whenever needed. Just a thought. Oo... also, we should be careful about links. We need to use nofollow when appropriate so quacks don't get any google juice from our work.
--Geneocide (talk) 03:59, 16 October 2012 (UTC)

Good idea on the example episode, we're trying to figure out which one would be best. Suggestions welcome!
--Teleuteskitty (talk) 18:38, 18 October 2012 (UTC)

It might be that we'll have to splice together a few episodes to get all the various elements in one place.
--Geneocide (talk) 19:00, 18 October 2012 (UTC)

Hi, Geneocide! I think that the transcripts from episodes 350-365 (even the unverified ones) are probably as close to canonical as we're going to get. Those were done in the time when TK, RWH, and I had a little bit more time to devote to the pages and before we started to fall behind. (I'm particular to 365, since that's one I did almost entirely myself. =)
--Av8rmike (talk) 02:42, 19 October 2012 (UTC)

I've posted the transcript for 5X5 Episode 30 so it's ready for a proof. Any takers? Tried my best to keep to US spelling. Mostly wiki links but some external, any preference? tnewsome (talk) 23:19, 18 October 2012 (EST)

We've mostly used wiki links, as it keeps a general standard of reference, they're often updated and they reference out to other sites. It's also very handy when you've got lots of linkable points, and it would take forever to find the best website for each. If readers are interested, it's generally a good place for them to start. Thanks for your help!
--Teleuteskitty (talk) 18:38, 18 October 2012 (UTC)

Had an idea for a project we could work on in conjunction with the transcription. We should keep track of places where the rogues explain a core concept in detail (a lot of 5x5 episodes I imagine) and link to that explanation from other places in the transcription. Paradolia, Occam's razor, selection bias, things like that. We could centralize them into a single page, as well. Within the canonical rogue explanation we can link out to wikipedia or other sources.
--Geneocide (talk) 19:06, 18 October 2012 (UTC)

Sounds like a great idea, somewhat compatible with the TIL (Today I Learned) sections. I think centralising them into a single page would make them much easier to find... I know that when I'm transcribing and I hear someone say "we discussed that on a previous podcast" it'd be nice to have a place to go to find that, though perhaps searching would be sufficient.
--Rwh86 (talk) 19:43, 31 October 2012 (UTC)

Is it possible to have certain text automatically become a link? Like 'Skeptic's Guide to the Universe' or 'New England Skeptic's Society' or the rogues' names for example?
--Geneocide (talk) 00:39, 19 October 2012 (UTC)

Not that I know of, other than perhaps using a template
--Rwh86 (talk) 19:43, 31 October 2012 (UTC)

Question regarding interviews. When an interview is incorporated into a segment, such as Dr Rachie's interview in SGU 366, does that make her a guest? It doesn't seem like a black and white distinction. Zambuck (talk) 22:09, 20 October 2012 (UTC)

Hi Zambuck, we use the 'Guest' section in the infobox as a key for non-Rogue speakers, so you're right to add her in there. Thanks for your help!--Teleuteskitty (talk) 10:30, 21 October 2012 (UTC)

Is there a way to get <blockquote> formatted a little bit. Maybe a light background color and/or some automatic large quote marks? Right now it's not necessarily worth using, imho.
--Geneocide (talk) 19:43, 23 October 2012 (UTC)

Yep, we could probably change the CSS. I'll see what I can do. Do you have a site in mind that I could use as a basis (i.e. to steal the css from)?--Rwh86 (talk) 19:43, 31 October 2012 (UTC)

Hey, guys! I'm new here (heard about the project on the recent episode) and today added two sections in episode 349: Nuclear Clock and NDE and Lucid Dreaming. Let me know how they look! It's my first time transcribing anything on this scale, and I think I'm getting the hang of it, but I have to admit that I'm a bit of a perfectionist and I feel strange not having more direction as far as formatting (I realize it would probably be very difficult/time-consuming to enforce super-specific standards at this stage). I looked at some of the completed transcripts to get an idea of what others were doing and tried to use my best judgment from there. I think I'm ready to attack a full episode, but it might take me a while to get through it. There are still some things I'm not entirely clear on, including exactly how the categories/redirects work, so I'm sure I'll ask for some help once I've finished transcribing a full episode (and probably while I'm in the middle of it). Also, I wanted to say that I usually don't have any trouble distinguishing voices (including Jay's and Bob's), so if there are any episodes/sections that need a second pair of ears for that specifically, I can definitely help out. Going forward, is this page the best way to communicate with other members? Thanks! --Jacquie o (talk) 11:16, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

Hi Jacquie! Those transcripts you've done look absolutely fantastic! In terms of direction, we're just feeling our way though here. :) I suppose the most important thing is to get as much of the content done, and so long as the meaning is accurate, that's the most important thing. I also try to think "what if someone was running this through google translate?", i.e. would it translate well? That's leading me to leave out "you know" and "um" and those types of things to make the transcript flow better.

Great to hear you can tell Jay and Bob apart, if you have time and want some lighter work, doing some proof reading might be right up your alley then. Some people do transcripts and leave, say B?: or J?: if they're not sure, so you could possibly go through and fix those.

Going forward, we're trying to work on a place to help members communicate. The best I've got so far is this: Special:WikiForum, but it's a bit bare bones, so when I get some time I'm going to try to integrate something a little more sophisticated.

--Rwh86 (talk) 19:53, 31 October 2012 (UTC)

Hello everyone! I heard Rob on the SGU and it sounded like a fantastic idea to contribute here. I transcribed a 5x5 episode to start (#39), and I'll probably do a few more before I go whole hog and tackle a full SGU episode. If anyone wants to proof-read that episode I did, that would be fantastic. I know the punctuation is way off there. Thanks in advance, and If you need my help specifically, don't be afraid to message me. Have fun! Thevipermike (talk) 05:29, 25 October 2012 (UTC)