Why We Make Transcripts

Have any of you experienced transcribing a conversation, interview, or a meeting? If you’ve tried transcribing, you would know that it takes a lot of time and effort to complete. A 1-hour audio takes approximately 4 hours to transcribe. There are automatic transcription tools available like Descript, Otter, Trint, etc., but the outputs are rarely accurate, especially when the conversation is not purely in English.

When we launched Habi Hour last year, one of the first inquiries we received was a request for episode transcripts, particularly so the deaf community could still access our episodes. Honestly, we felt quite stuck at the time wondering – who is our intended audience? Who are we designing for again? We made Habi Hour to share stories and conversations about Learning Experience Design. Transcribing these stories and conversations takes so much time, and we’re already spending a lot of hours producing the episodes. Can we afford to clock in more hours to produce transcripts? How many people will realistically access these transcripts? Will it be worth it?

Then we were reminded of one of our design principles in Habi – increases accessibility. A well-designed learning experience is an experience for ALL. As Learning Experience Designers, it’s our responsibility to reduce barriers of different learners, and we use multiple modes of learning to extend the impact of our work.

We’re happy to announce that Habi Hour Seasons 1 and 2 transcripts and resources are now available through this website! Just click the “Habi Hour” tab at the top of the page or click here. We hope that you find these documented stories and conversations useful in your learning contexts. Why not use an episode as a learning resource for your next module or online course? How about linking it to a friend or a colleague who might be fueled by new ideas? We can’t wait to see what you might design out of these episodes. Thanks for the support, and we’ll see you next season!

Author avatar
Celina Buensuceso
Celina has always wanted to be a teacher since she was a young child. She is a learning experience designer, early childhood specialist, and higher education teacher. Her current interests in learning are in project-based approaches, authentic learning, and storytelling and gatherings as learning experiences. She is a serial hobbyist who at the moment is into mushrooms, mismatched furniture, meditation, and tea.