How to Become the Best VisiHow Transcriber

• TAB = pause / play
• ENTER = insert snapshot at cursor position
• Ctrl-ENTER = new line with no snapshot
• F1 = Skip Forward one Frame (great for positioning to take a snapshot)
• F2 = Skip Backward one Frame (great for positioning to take a snapshot)
• 'Pause while typing' = when checked will automatically start/stop audio while you type

Deviating from transcribing verbatim

One of the key things to remember is that the people creating these videos are normally doing them on-the-fly, not working from scripts. There are going to be some errors, some duplication, or the occasional wrong word used. We all give a person a lot more leniency when speaking than when writing. That being said, you still should be mostly following the speech in the video word-for-word, and just cleaning it up a little bit to make it read better as written text.

Some quick examples:

• Remove filler words/sounds such as um / er.

• Remove small mistakes. Example: "To open the gate, put the key in the door - I mean in the lock - and then turn it counterclockwise." That should just be transcribed as "To open the gate, put the key in the lock and turn it counterclockwise."
• You should split run-on sentences when appropriate, or also combine short choppy sentences into one if that reads better. Remember though, when the sentences are actual steps in the process (especially a somewhat technical process), it can be a little easier for the reader to follow along if they are broken up into shorter steps. The key here is not to go overboard worrying about it. Most of these should stand out. If you have to think and debate with yourself whether it should be split (or combined), then you should probably move on.
• Try to remove first-person pronouns (like "I" or "me") when possible. Example: "Now I'll turn on the light." should be "Now turn on the light." An alternative is to use "we" or "let's" if those make the sentence flow better compared to removing the pronoun completely like "Now let's turn on the light". Note it's not always possible to remove it. An example where it is OK: "I like this face cream because it has almost no smell to It." Just leave that and carry on.

Other writing standards/conventions

• Use American spelling rules (e.g. "color", not "color").
• Company names, applications, and products should all be capitalized/stylized as designed. Samsung Galaxy S6, HTC One M8, Twitter, YouTube, iPhone, Microsoft Office.
• If you are transcribing a video that is showing menu items, buttons, labels or any other written text in a screenshot, then format it as you see it. These labels should also be put into double quotes to make it clear to the reader that they should be looking on their screen for this exact text. Examples: Click the "OK" button. Open the "File" menu. Tap on "Location services".

• Pictures that accompany the steps should follow the words for the step. Example: "Insert the key into the lock and turn it counterclockwise. [~Image of key turning in lock]"
• The first image of the article that will appear in the introduction can be out of sequence with the rest of the images in the article. It can be picked from any time in the video and is best if it really shows the subject matter of the video. For example, if the article is about how to build a birdhouse, then a screenshot of the completed project, or at least one of it in progress is better than an empty workbench to start.

The article title is one of the most important parts of the transcription/publishing. Most people are going to find the article by searching for some phrase or keywords, and hopefully see this title as one of ten options. So it has to make sense, not be excessively long, still have all the important words in it, and hopefully stand out a little. Think of what you might click on out of "How to Fold a T-Shirt" vs "How to Fold a T-Shirt in 3 Seconds" or "How to Fold a T-Shirt Without Creasing It". Certainly the second two options are way more likely to get interest than the first.

For the most part, the people creating the videos have done some research into the topics ahead of time, so you should normally be able to use the title of the video (maybe with slight editing and checking the capitalization). But if something doesn't quite make sense, or you can think of a better wording, then you can change it. There a lot of science, but also some art to the process.

Minor words in the titles (a/ the/ to/ etc.) should be all lowercase while more important words start with a capital letter. This link can help with Capitalizing titles. An exception may be something like iPhone which should always be written like that - never iPhone or iPhone. Example: "How to Check Network Usage on an iPhone 6".

You can leave out small words occasionally to save space if the title still reads OK without them. The example above is more grammatically correct as "Check the Network Usage", however it is still completely understandable without the word "the" in there.

Re. Article in the Title. Please note the following 3 examples:

1. 1
   Adding 'the' as an article dropped down the hits more than 58% less

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   • clear history in the iPhone 6: Example

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2. 2
   Not using an article at all and using 'an' were the same, and high hits

   .

   • clear history in iPhone 6: Example

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3. 3
   Adding articles in some articles might increase the length of the articles which we try not to do

   .

   • clear history in the iPhone 6: Example

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For those reasons, I think not adding an article is the standard, unless not adding distort the general reading flow.

1. 1
   Load the video in the transcriber tool again.

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2. 2
   Remove "<Your name> transcribing" from the start of the text, and then save it again.

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3. 3
   Triple-check that the title is correct and does not contain any typos

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   We can edit the main text easily after the article is published, but it's much more difficult to edit the title of the article.

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4. 4
   Make sure it has been saved with any recent changes or last edits

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   Then choose one of the publish options at the bottom of the page. The difference between Stand-Alone vs Methods vs Parts is very important.

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5. 5
   You can follow this article for more help with Publishing

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   Transcribe Tool / Publish Types. Please make sure you are using the correct option for the article you are publishing.

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6. 6
   Mark in the approval document that it was published

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   By posting the link to the article in column K of the Approval Document that shows you have finished.

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Note: you do not have to wait for a video to be approved and published before starting to transcribe another one. When you finish one video, you can start over on another one.

How to start and What does VisiHow entail?

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