purplerabbit

So the bids are in and I can't afford the transcribing services. ($5000 I don't have!) You see, one of the things keeping me from finishing my dissertation is that the interviews have never been completely transcribed. Out of 51 people interviewed, only 14 have been transcribed. I have an estimated 50+ tapes hours of interviews that still need transcribing.

So I am looking for transcribing help. Can you type what you hear? Transcribing is hard work. You would need to be able to type relatively fast and have the ability to concentrate to listen to a conversation and type what you hear. I have a transcription machine with foot pedal. Even if a several people just did a few hours each, it would help. I can't offer the going rate for transcribing but I pay better than most jobs. How much I can pay someone actually depends on how fast they type/transcribe. I am looking at $10-20 an hour depending on the speed of the person doing it. And I need these done yesterday! Which means, if I am to have a chance of finishing my dissertation on time, I will need them all done by the first of the year.

To help, you would need to be willing to come sit in our computer room and transcribe tapes. Unless a person can do this full time, I will need to get more than one person. Which means I can't loan out the machine. If you have your own equipment, we might be able to work something out. I am also concerned about letting tapes with confidential information out of my control. You would also need to sign a confidentiality waiver to protect the privacy of the interviewees.

As for the tapes themselves, they are actually really interesting. Life histories with FTMs -- people born female but who now live as men. This is important work and I feel I owe it to these guys to take good care of the stories they have shared with me. I hope that the material will not only be part of a book but may someday be able to be part of the GLBT historical archives in SF.

Oh, if you don't have the time and/or ability to help, but want to help with costs I would accept financial help as well. (Yeah, I feel weird asking but promised a friend I would ask anyway.) Maybe you could pay for someone else's time to help me?

I also want to thank everyone who has been sending positive energy my way. It has been helping. I have been more focused and less panicky. I even turned in a rough draft of the prospectus!