Standon, Staffordshire, September 17, 2014 -- Unpublished records and scientific data about biological diversity and natural habitats, especially wild plants, insects and birds, are edited and transcribed into electronic form to be made available on the internet to anyone, amateur and professional, interested in natural history in the recent past. Old information for a new generation!

Professor Caroline Pond, who had a long and distinguished career as Professor of Comparative Anatomy at The Open University, volunteered her skills but requested the use of TalkingPoint as an assistive technology.

Commenting on the project Professor Pond said: “I knew I had the ability to help digitise natural history records but due to long-term health problems, I cannot type for long periods, which would obviously be necessary for this role! However, I have been a user of the TalkingPoint voice recognition assistive technology for years, so I requested an updated version of the technology for my computer.

Professor Pond’s speech recognition vocabulary contains numerous scientific and technical terms, many, especially the taxonomic names, long and complicated. For Professor Pond, a key feature of the TalkingPoint workflow has been the ability to train her PC to recognise taxonomic, anatomical, biochemical, geographical and geological terms and to recognise a set of simple voice commands that enable her to insert special symbols and font formats without the need for a keyboard or mouse.

Professor Pond adds: “TalkingPoint has been invaluable for me, and allowed me to keep working until I was ready to retire. It has also meant that I can volunteer for projects where I can use my scientific expertise. I have transcribed over half a million words so far. Without TalkingPoint, this would not have been possible”.

The scientific volunteers are undertaking a challenging venture. The old scientific manuscripts are partly handwritten and partly typed with old, smudgy typewriter ribbons on grey wartime paper, so are often difficult to read. School Greek and Latin from 50 years ago have been useful for deciphering taxonomic names from their classical roots.

Discussing the other merits of TalkingPoint’s role in the project, Professor Pond concludes: “Much of an academic’s working life involves analysing and commenting on existing work and investigating and creating new material, which involves hours of poring over written texts and typing on a computer. With TalkingPoint, I can drive my computer by voice. It frees me from the usual ‘typing posture’ and has relieved my associated back and neck problems. I would advocate to any young academic, scientist or healthcare professional, where dictating notes is a high frequency, daily occurrence, to learn how to use voice activated software. It can be a big help in preventing backache, stiff hands and other problems later in life”.

For further information on TalkingPoint and how it could assist your working environment log onto: www.talkingpoint.uk.com, or telephone: 01908 565 663.

Contact:
Philippa Bevan
Accelerate Associates
Jupiter House, Drummond Road, Astonfields
Stafford, Staffordshire, ST16 3HJ
+44 0 1785 747 102
[email protected]
http://www.accelerate-associates.co.uk