| If you are publishing on the Internet, you must | | | | To make the VR software perform to its best |
| spend a considerable amount of time typing | | | | efficiency, you must spend time training it to |
| information into your computer. Why not talk to | | | | understand your voice. The more time that you |
| your computer and let it do the data entry for | | | | spend doing this, the better the accuracy of the |
| you? Voice recognition has matured and may be | | | | translation. |
| in your Windows system and you don't know it. | | | | On Windosws XP, when you click the Tools option |
| When you develop a website you must transfer | | | | on the VR Toolbar, Training is one of the options. |
| a considerable amount of information from the | | | | When you click on Training, you will be given a list |
| mental form to the written form. Wouldn't it be | | | | of 8 selections from which to read. These include |
| nice if you could speak to your computer, and it | | | | Aesop's Fables, Bill Gates The Road Ahead, |
| would type your words into your word processor | | | | excerpts from The War of the Worlds, The |
| for you? | | | | Wizard of Oz, The Fall of the House of Usher, |
| Well, if you are using Windows XP, voice | | | | among others. The text is displayed and as you |
| recognition software (VR) is included in the | | | | read and the software understands what you |
| operating system. If you are not using XP, there | | | | read, the background behind the text read turns |
| are several software packages that will do the | | | | blue so you know where you are. Allow 10 |
| job. From the reviews, it appears that Dragon | | | | minutes per training session. |
| Naturally Speaking is a front runner. | | | | After reading several training sessions, go back |
| The accuracy of the voice recognition software is | | | | and read the first one that you read and see how |
| very dependent on the microphone and the sound | | | | much the accuracy of your transcription has |
| card so consider this before you attempt to use | | | | improved. VR is not 100% accurate and you will |
| voice recognition. An earphone/boom microphone | | | | have to make your decision if it is faster to enter |
| combo works well and one of good quality can be | | | | the data using voice and edit the document, or to |
| purchased for approximately $60 - $80 plus | | | | enter the data using the keyboard. |
| shipping. | | | | The good news is that if you are using Windows |
| When you first start, the system requires that | | | | XP, the software is free and you can experiment |
| you read from text that it displays so that you | | | | with it for the price of a quality microphone. |
| train the system to understand your voice. This | | | | Copyright 2006 John Howe, Inc. |
| takes approximately 10 minutes. | | | | |