Course info

Description: This course gives an introduction to multimodal transcription of human social actions captured with video. Before transcribing video data researchers are tasked with the job of preparing the data, e.g. stitching together videos into a composite video or generating the best possible audio track based on the microphones used. After that the process of getting the data ready the process of transcription begins. The course will give a basic introduction to transcription, but also we will introduce DOTE (a digital transcription environment) for supporting transcription.

Learning objectives:

• Develop basic skills on how to prepare video data for transcription
• Develop a basic understanding on the theory on transcription
• Give a solid understanding of digital transcription tools – more precisely DOTE.

Day 1

• 10:00-12:00 - Preparing audiovisual data
  • Audio
  • 2D, 180 and 360 video
  • Transcoding
• 13:00-15:00 - Basics of transcription
  • Jeffersonian
  • Mondadian
  • Other script and score-based systems
  • Comic transcripts

Day 2

• 10:00-12:00 - Using transcription software
  • Legacy software (CLAN, Transana, Elan)
  • Pros and cons
  • DOTE
• 13:00-15:00 - Theoretical and methodological issues
  • Status of transcripts
  • Reproducibility
  • Theoretical biases
  • Script vs score
  • Text vs image

Key literature:

• McIlvenny, Paul & Davidsen, Jacob (2017). A Big Video Manifesto: Re-sensing Video and Audio. Nordicom Information 39(2): 15-21. https://www.nordicom.gu.se/sites/default/files/kapitel-pdf/mcilvenny_davidsen.pdf.-
• McIlvenny, Paul (2020). New Technology and Tools to Enhance Collaborative Video Analysis in Live 'Data Sessions'. QuiViRR: Qualitative Video Research Reports 1: a0001. DOI: 10.5278/ojs.quivirr.v1.2020.a0001.
• Jefferson, Gail (2004). Glossary of Transcript Symbols with an Introduction. In: Lerner, Gene (ed.), Conversation Analysis. Studies from the First Generation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 13-31.
• Bucholtz, Mary (2000). The Politics of Transcription. Journal of Pragmatics 32(10): 1439-1465.
• Bucholtz, Mary (2007). Variation in Transcription. Discourse Studies 9(6): 784-808. DOI: 10.1177/1461445607082580.
• Mondada, Lorenza (2007). Commentary: Transcript Variations and the Indexicality of Transcribing Practices. Discourse Studies 9(6): 809-821. DOI: 10.1177/1461445607082581.
• Bucholtz, Mary (2007). Reply: Variability in Transcribers. Discourse Studies 9(6): 837-842. DOI: 10.1177/1461445607082585.
• Kitzinger, Celia (1998). Inaccuracies in Quoting from Data Transcripts: Or Inaccuracy in Quotings from Data Transcripts. Discourse & Society 9(1): 136-143.
• Ayaß, Ruth (2015). Doing Data: The Status of Transcripts in Conversation Analysis. Discourse Studies 7(5): 505-528. DOI: 10.1177/1461445615590717.
• Hepburn, Alexa & Bolden, Galina B. (2017). Transcribing for Social Research. London: Sage.
• Mondada, Lorenza (2019). Transcribing Silent Actions: A Multimodal Approach of Sequence Organization Social Interaction: Video-Based Studies of Human Sociality 2(1). DOI: 10.7146/si.v2i1.113150. https://tidsskrift.dk/socialinteraction/article/view/113150.
• Laurier, Eric (2014). The Graphic Transcript: Poaching Comic Book Grammar for Inscribing the Visual, Spatial and Temporal Aspects of Action. Geography Compass 9(4): 235-248.
• Murphy, Keith M. (2021). Transcription Aesthetics. Semiotic Review 9. https://www.semioticreview.com/ojs/index.php/sr/article/view/68.
• O'Connell, Daniel C. & Kowal, Sabine (2000). Are Transcripts Reproducible? Pragmatics 10(2): 247-269.
• Skedsmo, Kristian (2021). How to Use Comic-Strip Graphics to Represent Signed Conversation. Research on Language and Social Interaction. 10.1080/08351813.2021.1936801.
• Aarsand, Pål & Sparrman, Anna (2019). Visual Transcriptions as Socio-Technical Assemblages. Visual Communication 20(2): 289-309. DOI: 10.1177/1470357219852134. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1470357219852134.
• Albert, Saul, Heath, Claude, Skach, Sophie, Harris, Matthew Tobias, Miller, Madeline & Healey, Patrick G. T. (2019). Drawing as Transcription: How Do Graphical Techniques Inform Interaction Analysis? Social Interaction: Video-Based Studies of Human Sociality 2(1). DOI: 10.7146/si.v2i1.113145 https://tidsskrift.dk/socialinteraction/article/view/113145.