Speech Recognition software for briefing-outlining-notes? Forum

[dinerroll]

Sorry if this is in the wrong forum, but adv. forum search is down, and most of the similar active threads were in this forum (e.g. the one about going to the gym). Also, 0L disclaimer.

I've used built in windows, and Dragon speech recognition (SR) software for taking notes in UG, and it was generally a big time saver, but was a bit less helpful in some of my more technical classes (MIS major). I'm looking into it for law school this fall, but wonder if anyone has any experience with SR software in law school? I'd primarily be using it for briefing and taking notes; if outlining were easy enough to do with it, then that too.

I'm just looking for thoughts on SR in general, and if any specific packages come recommended. Obviously, a "legal" version would be better, but the "legal" version of Dragon is obviously targeted at lawyers, as its $1100 or so sticker. Would the $80 student license of Dragon Preferred, or the built in Windows 7 SR be sufficient/recommended?

Thanks.

edit: changed erroneuos word "thread" to "forum"

[dinerroll]

one time bump before letting into obscurity... anyone?

[username1]

I'd primarily be using it for briefing and taking notes; if outlining were easy enough to do with it, then that too.

Notes
Funny, I picture someone in the back of class using this to take notes
--http://www.interpreting-translating.com ... CN0490.JPG

Briefs
I hate to type; I literally have typed out one case brief. I choose to cut and paste
the case brief from lexus and use the extra time elsewhere.

Outlining
Ask 50 people and you will get 50 different answers on outlining. The consensus in my group,
and some of the "pros" here, is that the finished outline product is not important, it's the process
of completing it that counts. If you will retain and understand the material far better by using
voice software than I would outline using voice software regardless of the extra expense.

[20160810]

TBH, I think writing down (and thus presumably having to go back and read) every word said in lecture (including dumb questions and gunner hypos) is anything BUT a time-saver. But I'm also not a big note taker.

[webbylu87]

TBH, I think writing down (and thus presumably having to go back and read) every word said in lecture (including dumb questions and gunner hypos) is anything BUT a time-saver. But I'm also not a big note taker.

People seriously do this? I mean I'm just an 0L but the idea of transcribing an entire class sounds utterly stupid. Surely it's all about the big ideas and concepts (with some minutiae thrown in for fun)?

Also, and this is a stupid 0L question, what exactly goes into an outline? Briefing is a pretty self-explanatory concept, but what exactly makes up an outline? Your briefs put together into some sort of logical flow?

[20160810]

TBH, I think writing down (and thus presumably having to go back and read) every word said in lecture (including dumb questions and gunner hypos) is anything BUT a time-saver. But I'm also not a big note taker.

People seriously do this? I mean I'm just an 0L but the idea of transcribing an entire class sounds utterly stupid. Surely it's all about the big ideas and concepts (with some minutiae thrown in for fun)?

Also, and this is a stupid 0L question, what exactly goes into an outline? Briefing is a pretty self-explanatory concept, but what exactly makes up an outline? Your briefs put together into some sort of logical flow?

Go back through your notes. Get rid of the shit you never should have bothered to write down in the first place. When you get to a legal issue or point which was illustrated during a lecture, find that part of your notes and insert the brief (or just some memory-jogging reference to the case) at that point. That's basically it, outlining really isn't rocket surgery.

Some people just take their notes and ADD even more stuff from reading, but I find this useless. For me, brevity is the name of the game with outlines. I don't think I had an OL longer than 40 pgs for any of my classes, and 20 was closer to the norm. Remember--it isn't a reference guide; even if you're allowed to use it on test day, you still need it basically memorized if you hope to do well.

[20160810]

TBH, I think writing down (and thus presumably having to go back and read) every word said in lecture (including dumb questions and gunner hypos) is anything BUT a time-saver. But I'm also not a big note taker.

People seriously do this? I mean I'm just an 0L but the idea of transcribing an entire class sounds utterly stupid. Surely it's all about the big ideas and concepts (with some minutiae thrown in for fun)?

Also, and this is a stupid 0L question, what exactly goes into an outline? Briefing is a pretty self-explanatory concept, but what exactly makes up an outline? Your briefs put together into some sort of logical flow?

Go back through your notes. Get rid of the shit you never should have bothered to write down in the first place. When you get to a legal issue or point which was illustrated during a lecture, find that part of your notes and insert the brief (or just some memory-jogging reference to the case) at that point. That's basically it, outlining really isn't rocket surgery.

Some people just take their notes and ADD even more stuff from reading, but I find this useless. For me, brevity is the name of the game with outlines. I don't think I had an OL longer than 40 pgs for any of my classes, and 20 was closer to the norm. Remember--it isn't a reference guide; even if you're allowed to use it on test day, you still need it basically memorized if you hope to do well.

[dinerroll]

Sorry for resurfacing a 2 week old thread, but I didn't bother checking on it after a few days as I assumed no-one would reply. One point of clarification, is that when I said "taking notes," I meant from the casebook, E&E, or hornbook, not in class... those'll be shorthand (or virtually non-existent... I kind of hate taking class-notes).

I guess the reason I'm bringing this up again is to see if any of you have experience/recommendations with/for specific software packages. If not, I'll let this thread die.

[Matthies]

Sorry for resurfacing a 2 week old thread, but I didn't bother checking on it after a few days as I assumed no-one would reply. One point of clarification, is that when I said "taking notes," I meant from the casebook, E&E, or hornbook, not in class... those'll be shorthand (or virtually non-existent... I kind of hate taking class-notes).

I guess the reason I'm bringing this up again is to see if any of you have experience/recommendations with/for specific software packages. If not, I'll let this thread die.

I use speech to text software almost exclusively because I have sever dyslexia and everything I type comes out all fucked up all the time. But I can't use it in many online programs like TLS chat window. I use dragon naturally speaking legal edition. But in hindsight I would not get the legal addition, its not worth the extra like $500-600 bucks if you can spell stuff. It take forever to train it to your voice, but once you do its pretty decent. Dragon has a new program for controlling applications as well, I have not used it, but looks like it could be used to do everything on your computer with your vioce, great for disabled folks. The only thing that really sucked for me was I could not use it on exams and I was so used to using it to type that it made me even slower going back to normal typing which I am already bad at since the keybaord is as jumbled as the words I type.