Speech Recognition FAIL

I purchased Nuance Software's Dragon Naturally Speaking speech recognition program last month in an effort to streamline the process of creating course content for a new Distance Learning course on the book of Acts. I began recording my in-class lectures during the fall when I abandoned the idea of preparing full written notes while the course was in session. In theory, the recordings will help me get back into the moment of teaching and think about how to fill out my terse lecture notes. But who wants to listen to themselves talk for hours on end? Why not let today's technology transcribe the lectures for me? Answer: Today's technology is not up to the task. Here are the results from an experiment on a recording of a class on Acts 20:

First, my lecture notes:

• Set up this section: Gaventa points out that this is an “extended account of life within the believing community” (276).

• The significance of the itineraries “may lie in the consolidation of believers in a number of locations” (292). 

• Only pastoral speech to a Christian audience in Acts in the middle of the section. 

• Really important for my own attempt to peer over the shoulders of Luke’s audience: What about Acts is supposed to form the audience and what just describes the past? …Here we have a picture of church life.

Second, my own transcription of the first two minutes of the recording (where it is obvious why I don't like to listen to myself talk):

And what we’ve got in uh this section—So the first slide is trying to capture what what Gaventa said about this section that here is a concentrated section punctuated with travel narratives that talks about life in the church. So there’s not a lot of evangelism going on. Paul is spending time with churches. Um. And that I think is significant. Gaventa—this is interesting—suggests that the itineraries uh may be significant in that they consolidate the believers in a variety of different places. And there’s this really emotional meeting with churches in places where we haven’t even seen Paul spend time. And um so a sense of unity in the church and then right in the middle of the section you have the only pastoral speech in Acts where uh there’s an extended speech addressed to a Christian audience. This is uh important for me because as we’ve been going through Acts this time one of the main things that I’ve been interested in is trying to reflect on the question, “What what is Luke presenting that he thinks is maybe an ideal for the earliest church and what does he think is a model or what does he think is typical uh for the church in his own day? And I’m guessing, I guess, uh that this section is one of the the clearest windows, the most transparent windows onto the church in uh Luke’s own days, and and so what Paul is saying to the church, to the Ephesian elders, is presumably the types of things that that would be straightforward what Luke thinks church leaders in his own day should grab onto. And and so the types of things that he says can be maybe an interpretive key, a hermeneutical key...

And here is what Nuance came up with (notice the references to juice, a "policy research zone", Windows and zombies):

What we've got in this section so the first that talks about life church as it is unlikely with your juice and that I think is significant event. It is interesting suggests that the itineraries may be significant in that they consolidate the believers in a variety of different places in this is really emotional eating with churches and places were not and is a unity in the church and in right in the middle of the section you have the only pastoral speech in acts where it is an extended speech addressed to a Christian audience. This is important for me because as remain going through this on the meaning is done? Let us was median. I feel further policy research zone and I'm guessing I guess that this section is one of the the there is Windows the most transfer windows onto the church and the zombies and someone the types of things that that would be straightforward. What do things try to capture ...

For the record, the program worked great when I tried dictating clearly and deliberately into a microphone headset, but $100 is a lot to spend for a dictation program that I will seldom use. The idea sounds (and looks) nice:

...but unfortunately, I generally need to write down what I want to say before I say it. The thought of composing orally in complete sentences is as big a mental block as a blank screen. So here's hoping Nuance's 30 day money-back guarantee works as promised!

On the positive side, having to listen to my lectures again may help me improve my public speaking.