NoNotes.com

If you must miss class, don’t miss your notes

2009-12-01T19:46:00.000-08:00

The life of a college student is a busy one and trying to balance study with various other extra curricular activities can be pretty challenging.

Say you have an important lecture at 4pm that just happens to coincide with a party invitation you received yesterday from buddy x which you can't afford to miss or worse still, you play for the college hockey team and a crucial game is on the way.

In both aforementioned scenarios a student is forced to make a choice, a choice which may mean either skipping classes to attend to the other business or vice versa, such decisions are sometimes difficult to make in light of the fact that both activities are considered important by the student.

If you choose to skip classes then you may have to borrow notes from colleagues in order to catch up, this is not always an attractive option since you're not guaranteed of its completeness. Even to those that choose to stay behind, note taking while simultaneously listening to the Professor can slow you down and is never productive because learning is a cognitive process that demands your full concentration.

Nonotes understands the challenges college students face and has set out to address those challenges in a highly efficient way. At Nonotes we're dedicated to making the life of every college student an easy and productive one. And the way and how we do it is set to transform college experience of most students for the better.

With Nonotes.com making choices just became easier. If you have to skip class due to one reason or the other, you no-longer have to worry about missing notes. Sign up for a free account online at Nonotes today and learn more about what Nonotes can do to make your life easier.

Killer Startups Article

2009-11-14T09:39:00.000-08:00

NoNotes.com - Say Goodbye To Taking Notes

nonotes
A fact is a fact – you know that if you are going to take notes at school or at a meeting you are going to do so at the expense of not being that active in the conversation. That is, the role of he who jots everything down is essentially a passive (or receptive) one. Such a fact somehow defies the purpose of being there, as the message which is communicated always amounts to much than these things that can be written down.

NoNotes is a startup which aims to address these shortcomings. In general terms, we could say it is a transcription and translation service which is backed by voice-recording technology. The mechanics of the site involve recording a class and its subsequent upload to the site in order to be transcribed and sent back to you.

Attending classes is not for everybody. I don’t know how beneficial will something like this turn out to be for the ones whose habits are on the lazy side, as it will just reinforce them. Conversely, the ones who want to focus on every word the teacher is saying instead of taking notes frantically couldn’t ask for a better tool. Whatever side you are on, this is an interesting service for sure.

In their own words

“NoNotes.com is a student founded company who’s goal is to improve the way students throughout the world learn. Using NoNotes will allow you to focus on learning while in class rather than having to focus your attention on taking notes. Our company exists to simplify the learning process and our system is based on the cognitive processes involved with learning.

As students we understand that endless writing, while simultaneously trying to pay attention and absorb class subject
matter is ineffective. Our service allows you to sit back, learn, ask questions and make the most of your class time. We provide you with a written copy of the notes—making studying and content review simple and effective.

We are students helping students and we're here to make your semester easier.”

Why it might be a killer

It will effectively mean students can focus on the class as a whole, and it also makes sharing notes a doodle.

Some questions

How much does this service exactly retail for? In case you are a translator, how can you volunteer your services?

Read more: http://www.killerstartups.com/Web-App-Tools/nonotes-com-say-goodbye-to-taking-notes#ixzz0WrAw2tIm

Vancouver Sun Article

2009-11-10T09:51:00.000-08:00

Note-taking via the web

By Gillian Shaw, Vancouver SunNovember 13, 2009

NoNotes is a web-based service that has both a transcription service for students' notes, plus a translation service.

Photograph by: Handout, Vancouver Sun

1. NONOTES, NONOTES.COM, FROM $9.57 PER HOUR CLASS

A solution if you're given to snoozing through lectures -- or as this Ottawa-based student-founded company points out, you'd like to focus on learning instead of trying to keep up your notes. NoNotes is a web-based service that has both a transcription service for students' notes, plus a translation service. To use the service, create an account on the online site and then simply upload an audio file, which will be returned as typed content in your e-mail. It will also be available on the NoNotes server. NoNotes commits to having the transcription back within three days, but the company says normal turnaround time is one to two days, with an expedited service to come. The service comes in packages that start at $11.75 for one hour of class time, five hours at $53.75, and 10 hours for $95.75. www.nonotes.com.

Windsor Star Article

2009-11-05T09:53:00.000-08:00

Service for lazy or busy students

Gillian Shaw, Canwest News Service

NoNotes, NoNotes.com.

If you're given to snoozing through lectures, or if you'd simply like to focus on learning instead of trying to keep up your notes, here's a solution from an Ottawa-based student-founded company. NoNotes is a web-based service that has a transcription service for students' notes, plus a translation service. To use the service, create an account on the online site and then upload an audio file, which will be returned as typed content in your e-mail. It will also be available on the NoNotes server. NoNotes commits to having the transcription back within three days but the company says normal turnaround time is one to two days, with an expedited service to come. It comes in packages that start at $11.75 for one hour of class time, five hours at $53.75 and 10 hours for $95.75 (www.nonotes.com).

CareerTech Testing Center Article

2009-11-04T11:41:00.000-08:00

NoNotes.com is something that I'm really excited about, especially for Special Education purposes!!!

Have you ever been so busy taking notes during a lecture that you felt "lost" after the lecture? You took great notes, but you really weren't able to analyze what was being said or had a chance to ask follow-up questions? NoNotes.com could be your answer!

NoNotes.com is a student founded company who’s goal is to improve the way students throughout the world learn. Using NoNotes will allow you to focus on learning while in class rather than having to focus your attention on taking notes. The service allows you to sit back, learn, ask questions and make the most of your class time. Simply record the lecture, upload the recording to their site and they will provide a written transcript (turnaround time is typically 1-3 business days). Prices start as low as $9.57/hr class.

I know I could have used this service when I was in college. To not only help with my own note taking ability, but to rely on someone more reliable than my "friends." Were you ever sick and asked a friend to take notes and you basically received nothing in return, except for a response like, "Dude, we really didn't talk about anything new." You later find out that you had a test review on the day you missed, because the next lecture you attended was actually a test! That's right, the instructor moved the test up in the schedule to the next class period instead of two class periods from my abscence (which made the syllabus...WRONG!). I know...I know... I should have chosen my friends more carefully and I didn't do so well on that test, but I'm still not over it! Where was NoNotes.com when I needed it?

Now for what I think could be the BEST part of this site that NoNotes doesn't really even highlight....Special Education! Now what is there about special education that NoNotes could influence??? Two things: Specific Learning Disabilities and Limited English Proficient (LEP) and Immigrant Students.

Student's with a Specific Learning Disability typically have average to above average cognitive ability, but a discrepancy exists between expected and actual ability in reading, written expression, or mathematical calculations. Wouldn't NoNotes.com make a great resource for these students? Instead of taking notes, these students could spend their lecture time trying to process the information and asking questions of instructors to clarify their understanding of the material.

Now what about Limited English Proficient (LEP) and Immigrant Students? NoNotes can translate notes into several languages and wouldn't it be a great way for these students to learn if notes were provided in both English and the student's native language?

I hope you will take a look at NoNotes.com and let us know how you used the service and what your thoughts are!

http://careertechtesting.blogspot.com/2009/11/nonotescom.html

Mashable Article

2009-10-28T09:36:00.000-07:00

NoNotes Makes Attending Class Optional

October 28th, 2009 | by Adam Ostrow

37Share

This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.

Name: NoNotes ()

Quick Pitch: NoNotes.com is a transcription service for students. Students can record lectures while paying more attention in class, then upload their recording to be transcribed by NoNotes.

Genius Idea: Last week, you might’ve seen the story about the Georgetown student that’s looking to hire a personal assistant to help deal with the overwhelming life of … being a college student (I can’t wait to hear his plan for dealing with the real world).

In any event, NoNotes is a service for that type of individual. The company provides a transcription service aimed specifically at college students, allowing them to record lectures, upload them to a website, and then have written notes prepared for them.

The company uses the tagline “you do the learning, we’ll take the notes,” but you can imagine how this service might be used in practice. Jokes aside, there is something to be said for paying attention to the lecturer in class as opposed to furiously trying to keep up taking notes, and this is the need that NoNotes looks to satisfy.

Like a personal assistant though, NoNotes will cost you money. One hour of class time costs $11.75, with discounts if you buy hours in bulk. That might make it cost prohibitive for many college students, though you can imagine groups of friends chipping in and then drawing straws to see who attends and records a lecture. The company is looking to build its customer base in part by hiring reps at universities.

Would you pay for a service like NoNotes? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Multi-tasking made easy with nonotes.com

2009-09-21T11:04:00.000-07:00

by Ivana Pelisek
Interrobang
Click here to read more Interrobang articles written by Ivana Pelisek

Published: Monday, September 21, 2009

Are you finding it difficult to take detailed notes and listen attentively to instruction at the same time? Tackling college fresh out of high school or even getting back on the horse after a lengthy absence can be an overwhelming experience for anyone; that is, of course, if you don’t have the right tools necessary for success. Lucky for you we live in an electronic age, and once again, the Internet’s got you covered.

Developed a year and a half ago, NoNotes.com offers a variety of services for the eager student and professor alike, independent of field of study. While it does not eliminate the need to attend classes, NoNotes.com allows students to concentrate (and therefore potentially participate more in discussion) on the subject matter at hand by providing typed transcriptions of course lectures. All you have to do is equip yourself with a mid-to-high quality voice recorder (available through the site), and submit each audio file for which you desire notes to their server. The team at NoNotes.com is happy to do the rest.

Consisting of approximately 45 full-time staff members, NoNotes.com’s mission is to act as a learning aid for the modern student. Once an audio file has been uploaded to their server, NoNotes.com’s employees meticulously oversee the process of ensuring that their users receive exactly what is on their recording in a typed format. Within one to three business days, students can expect to obtain access to their lecture notes via email or direct download from the website. While sign-up is free, transcription costs vary depending upon the length of each submitted file, with rates starting as low as $9.57 per hour-length class.

Erin Law, a third year PR student has always understood the importance of attending her lectures, but before NoNotes.com, she consistently struggled with attempting to capture everything her professors were saying verbatim. Through the assistance of this simple online tool, Law is now able to solely focus on her professors directives. As she explained, “I can [now] concentrate on what the prof[s are] saying…instead of making sure what they said is properly written down. [NoNotes.com] is fantastic for students who have extremely long lectures and find it difficult to multi-task by both listening and writing accurately.”

In the eyes of Matt Whittecker, director of business development (International) and one of three owners of this booming scholastically-based business, NoNotes.com can and should be “used by just about any student.” The website not only offers top-notch services that are guaranteed to make a student’s time at college or university more rewarding, but it also is extremely user-friendly. NoNotes.com could potentially eliminate the anxiety-provoking situation in which a student misses classes due to illness, if friends sign up together. But it’s not just scholars who can benefit from this venture. NoNotes.com also has unique services available for professors such as “Lesson Planning.”

What started out as a mere idea intended to ease the academic transition associated with the jump from secondary to post-secondary has expanded tremendously since the website’s inception. As explained by Whittecker, the developers behind NoNotes.com are not in it purely for mercenary rewards; they have a vision. The website’s team is hopeful that the proceeds derived from their services will be able to contribute to supporting ongoing initiatives to build new schools in developing countries. Some students who choose to utilize NoNotes.com may in fact be given the opportunity to visit sponsor locations on a paid trip to help assist with this fantastic program in the future.

As made evident by the services they provide, along with their impending “good works” aspirations, NoNotes.com is founded upon the principle of “Students Helping Students Everywhere!” And if that isn’t enough convincing to check out this exciting new learning management system, Whittecker summarized NoNotes.com succinctly, “it’s just a cool tool.” That’s something we’re certainly taking note of!

New University Article

2009-09-21T09:25:00.000-07:00

Time To Toss Out The Notebook?

By Maral Aghazarian on Sep. 21, 2009

You show up to the first day of class ready to tackle the new school year. As your professor begins to lecture, you suddenly realize that you are still in summer mode. You find that you can’t focus enough to take quality notes and can barely understand what is going on. However, if you have a voice recorder and around $9.95 to spend on each hour of class, you may not have to stay in the dark.

Nonotes.com is an innovative idea started by Matt Whitteker, a graduate of Carleton University. The Web site allows any student with a voice recorder to sit back in class and absorb the lecture. All the student has to do is sign up for an account and purchase the number of hours they will need in transcribed notes. Hours come in one, five, and 10 – hour increments. Once the account is set up, they can then upload to the Web site an audio file of the lecture in either an MP3 or Windows Media format and will receive a transcript of that lecture in one to three days.

This Web site is based on the idea that students will be able to absorb more during their lectures by listening and asking questions instead of struggling to write every word the professor says. After all, their slogan is, “You do the learning. We’ll take the notes.”

Though this may seem like a useful tool, I couldn’t help but wonder about the practicality of the circumstances. My first worry came from knowing that those who use the Web site have to use their own voice recorder to capture the lecture then upload it to the Web site. I figured if someone is taking the time to record the lecture themselves, what is stopping them from returning to the recorded lecture to brush up on any missed information?

The other issue I had stemmed from the Web site’s Q & A section. The clarity of the transcript you receive depends on the quality of the audio file you upload to the Web site. So, what would happen if you were unfortunate enough to sit in an area where chatter overrides the lecturer’s voice, or have a lecturer who doesn’t know how to turn up the volume on their microphone?

In my interview with Matt Whitteker I gained some insight as to why he created this Web site and cleared up uncertainties I had.

The idea of starting Nonotes.com came from Whitteker‘s own college experiences. While in college, he would get frustrated due to the difficulty of paying attention in class, asking questions and trying to keep up with notes all at once.

Whitteker addressed my concern about the practicality of the services by stating that, “listening to a lecture twice may help but you are bound by time. A two – hour lecture would take four hours to listen to twice whereas you could listen once with 100% attention in class then selectively study your transcript when convenient.”

In response to the audio quality paralleling the quality of the transcript you receive, Whitteker said that though accents, speech impediments or subject-specific jargon may pose a slight problem to the quality of the transcript, his team is good at deriving meaningful transcripts. If a file is unusable, the student will not be charged and will be notified of the situation.

This is just another possible way to help further your studies while here at UCI. As always, there are opportunities on campus such as the Learning and Academic Research Center (LARC) or group study sessions with friends.

U of Richmond's The Collegian Article

2009-09-10T09:32:00.000-07:00

Students use NoNotes in classes

Published: September 10, 2009, 2:00 am ET

By Stephen O'Hara

Collegian Staff

At least 11 students, and perhaps professors, at the University of Richmond are using NoNotes.com, an online audio transcription service, according to Matt Whitteker, director of business development for NoNotes.com.

Students record their classes, lectures or study and tutoring sessions and upload the file. Those who work for NoNotes.com will type up and send back their class notes in one to three business days, and will also share the class notes on its server for anyone else in — or otherwise interested in — that class, according to the NoNotes.com Web site.

One hour of class time costs $11.75, and students can purchase time packages up to 10 hours for $95.75 on the Web site. Students can also purchase a special package with five hours of audio time and an audio recorder.

Thousands of students at about 200 universities are registered at NoNotes.com, Whitteker said, though he added that not all were active.

Whitteker said that even teachers could benefit from NoNotes.com, noting that it would be a great tool for self-review.

“Many teachers teach the same subject many times,” Whitteker said. “Having a transcription of lectures helps teachers refine their teaching, catch anything they may have missed and also lets them critically analyze the lecture for future improvement.”

NoNotes.com, which started two years ago and went into global production last year, is currently available only in English, though the company has accounts in the United Kingdom and as far as New Zealand, Whitteker said.

Whitteker said that he didn’t think there was a problem with students not taking their own notes.

“Our service lets you focus 100 percent on audio when it’s delivered, then 100 percent as you read and review and pick out what is meaningful,” Whitteker said.

Contact staff writer Stephen O’Hara at stephen.ohara@richmond.edu

U of South Florida Oracle Article

2009-09-09T09:30:00.000-07:00

"NoNote" taking, just listening

By Shana Johnson, CORRESPONDENT

Print this article

Published: Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Updated: Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Sometimes, taking notes in class causes students to miss important lecture information. NoNotes.com is a new Web site designed to help college students avoid this problem.

According to its Web site, the goal of NoNotes.com is to “help you focus on learning while in class without having to divide your attention to take notes.” It allows you to “sit back, learn, ask questions and make the most of your class time.”

NoNotes.com founder Matt Whitteker wanted to ease the strain of note-heavy courses on students.

“Transcription services are widely used in the medical and legal field. Since students are the largest demographic of ‘note takers,’ I decided to offer the same service used by doctors and lawyers to students,” he said.

Meagan Daly, a senior in the College of Nursing, said she plans to use NoNotes.com.

“In (the College of Nursing), a majority of us record lectures because so much material is given at one time,” Daly said. “Then we spend hours listening to it over and over writing things down. That would give us more time to actually focus on the material.”

The Web site is essentially a transcription service aimed for college students. Typed notes are made from class recordings. A student records a class, uploads the audio file to the Web site and then waits for an e-mail of the transcription in 1-3 business days. Files need to be in either MP3 or Windows Media format.

The price is based on the uploaded file’s duration per hour.

Transcribing one hour of class costs $11.75. The more you buy, the more you save. There are discounted rates for five - and 10 - hour class time transcription. Five hours will save you $5 and 10 hours will save you a little over $20.

There are no policies in place to prevent sharing notes. The company actually encourages it.

“Cognitively speaking, everyone only has so much mental bandwidth,” Whitteker said. “You can’t listen to two people speak to you at the same time with 100 percent attention. Think of when you write notes. There’s a little voice in your head trying to play back what you just heard, then there is your professor speaking as well. Those two voices conflict.”

“Our service lets you focus 100 percent on audio when it’s delivered, then 100 percent as you read and review and pick out whatis
meaningful,” he said.

The Web site says that the transcription service can be used for anything from class lectures to study groups and meetings.

Whitteker said that Students with Disabilities Services at USF has registered on the Web site.

“We have several centers for students with learning disabilities that use the service as well,” he said. “It’s a great tool for students with hearing impairments and other cognitive disorders.”

He also said he has nine USF accounts registered on the site for either students or teachers.

One draw back is that the service is only useful for some classes. A transcription for a math class, where most of the instruction is visual, may pale in comparison to handwritten notes.

“Depending on the type of lecture, the transcript may be more or less useful,” Whitteker said. “The majority of the teachers and students that use our service fall under the art majors: English, history, law,
socio, etc.”

Another problem may arise if students use the service as a crutch rather than an enhancing tool. The intention to “sit back and learn” could become “sit back and check your Facebook during the entire class” for students who think the Web site can handle everything.

Joe Cole, a senior majoring in criminology and pitcher for USF’s baseball team, said he also plans to use NoNotes.com when he misses a class because of a game, but he also feels that the cost is too high to use the service for every class.

While NoNotes.com makes it easy for college students to skip class and have a friend record without consequence of missing a lecture, it could also save the grades of students who have to miss class for emergencies.

“Students often feel pressured to go to class when ill because they don’t trust other students’ note taking ability,” said Christina Hill, a senior biomedical science major. “I think that this Web site would be very useful, especially this semester. There have been a lot of cases of swine flu. I would rather a classmate have someone record the lecture than come to class.”

Stony Brook Statesman Article

2009-09-03T09:27:00.000-07:00

High Tech Realm: With New Technology Comes a New Way to Take Notes

By Charles Costa

Published: Thursday, September 3, 2009
Updated: Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Voice recorders are great for capturing lectures while snoozing,but why sit through the class a second time to make sure your notes match up? Thanks to the miracles of transcription technology, you can "set it, and forget it," when it comes to learning. Well, actually I mean forget about staying up in class -- not the lessons.

While it would be great to sleep in class and still learn, I won’t officially condone the activity. Rather, I suggest ways to take your note taking to the next level, by using tools such as OneNote, part of the Microsoft Office Suite (office.microsoft.com) provided at no cost to students at Stony Brook University, or Evernote (www.evernote.com), which comes in free or premium versions.

Both tools are useful as they both support: organizing notes into notebooks, attaching/linking external files such as images or word documents, and adding drawings, both programs also boast features which set themselves apart from each other.
OneNote boasts a robust interface, tight integration into the Microsoft Office suite, and with an innovative recording system, which syncs your typing with audio recordings taken through OneNote. Despite the robustness of the software, OneNote is only usable on the Windows, or Windows Mobile platforms.

On the other hand, Evernote, with versions available on Windows, Mac, and the iPhone and Blackberry, stands out through its online sync feature that makes your notes accessible on internet connected computers ,with or without Evernote installed. Evernote also includes applications for the iPhone and Blackberry, although they also have support for conventional mobile browsers.

Although it is important to have great notes for class, academia is also about spreading knowledge, so why not share and exchange your notes with friends. Although you could use email or copiers for making clones, you also could use drops. Group collaboration tool Drop.io (www.drop.io) allows students to share their notes – in real time, essentially putting the classroom online. Just like a swiss army knife, Drop.io can be used in many ways; from uploading files, media, and notes, to even integrating chat rooms, conference calls, and even faxes.

When I asked Peter Frasca, community manager at Drop.io, about statistics regarding student usage, he pointed out the key aspect that sets the site apart from others – they don’t really keep track of user information, because they focus on simplicity and the needs of the user, which is an excellent alternative for student to student activities, compared to Blackboard.

Creating a drop is as simple as visiting the site, and typing in the name you want. Although free drops are limited to 100mb, users are free to create as many as they like. When I asked Peter whether they discouraged splitting of drops, he pointed out that they want users to share as much as they want – and that the premium accounts include additional features aside from extra storage.

Speaking of sharing and collaboration, how about we cover transcription? I mean, while sharing recordings of lectures is great, being able to share text documents of the work is also ideal, which is why tools such as NoNotes (www.nonotes.com) are worth consideration for making life simpler. In my interview with Matt Whitteger, director of business development at NoNotes.com, he mentioned that the idea for the service came from transcription systems in medical schools, where persons conducting autopsies would record their steps and then have the notes transcribed.

Although such services in medical school are expensive due to the excessive steps and detail involved, NoNotes is able to offer low prices as it relies on proprietary software although humans also are involved in the transcription when necessary. This model of transcription is similar to services such as ReQall (www.reqall.com) which focus on short notes – up to 30 seconds long.

Regardless of your learning style, be it auditory or visual, chances are there’s a tool to make your learning simpler. Overall the tool you pick should be based on your personal preferences and needs, so be sure to find a set of tools that works best for you.

South Carolina's The Tiger Article

2009-08-28T09:56:00.000-07:00

o Notes means no problem

New transcription service allows students interact in the classroom.

by ALLIE RICEPRINT | SHARE

No Notes, an online service created by Matt Whitteker and Rob Imdeault, is the newest method of note taking that is changing the way students engage in classroom lectures.

The company, which was founded in Canada in 2007, provides a service that allows students to focus their full attention on lectures by ridding them of the task of taking notes. No Notes does this by transcribing lectures over the Internet and then sending a verbatim copy of the lecture back to the student. All the user has to do is record the lecture, download it onto an audio file, and then send it to the company through the Internet. Then, using voice-recognition software the lecture is put into paragraph form word-for-word, read over for errors by technicians, and sent back to the user. The turnaround for the notes is one to three business days whereupon the user is then alerted by e-mail that their file is ready.

Today, the company has anywhere from 500 to 1,000 active accounts and thousands more inactive members. This new service, which is made up of 80 percent students and 20 percent teachers, has quickly taken off since its start a year and a half ago. No Notes has grown to span Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

“The idea first came to us when we were talking to some of our friends who are medical transcribers,” said Whitteker. “We wanted to try and apply this concept to a different group and we figured who takes more notes than students? No one.”

The service proved a success with much positive feedback including highlights on national television, write-ups in university newspapers and a recent deal signed with Sony.

“Certainly gaining a Fortune 500 company like Sony as a partner was a milestone for us,” said Whitteker. Sony, which recently signed with No Notes, is promoting a deal on their Web site for users who buy a Sony voice recorder.

With this purchase, buyers will receive one hour of No Notes services for free. After that, the service runs around $9 per hour of transcription with packages of five and 10 hours that are slightly cheaper.

“Users buy them like prepaid phone cards and then just use up the hours and reload the cards if they like the product,” said Whitteker.

While the company has proved a success thus far, some students still remain skeptical of the concept.

“I think it promotes laziness and eliminates the incentive to pay attention if you know the lecture is going to be transcribed for you anyways,” said senior engineering major, Kat Mekdara.

When asked what he thought of this opinion Whitteker said, “You only have so much cognitive bandwidth with which you can engage in the subject matter. No Notes is meant to be a learning tool to allow students to focus their attention on the lecturer and ask questions in class. We want them to let the lecture seep in and make the most of their class time and enjoy it.”

U of Carleton - Development Centre

2008-09-19T09:34:00.000-07:00

Speech-to-text no problem at NoNotes.com

Posted on September 19, 2008 by Hamish
Filed Under Events, Interactive Tools, Web 2.0 tools, Writing Process

There are headsets and recording programs out there today that can assist with difficult tasks for some, but the note-taking process remains relatively unchanged. My last EDC blog entry surrounded a program called Qipit that borrowed qualities of what we know as ‘optical character recognition’. But you need a camera, and even if you have one you can’t take pictures of what your prof is saying. Instead of an end result that can be modified upon import, Qipit is restricted in some ways, by only allowing you to import as PDF, a format that cannot be modified once distributed.

An ad for a service called NoNotes.com passed across my desk yesterday. A service developed by SilenceIT.ca, NoNotes.com allows you to record your lectures, meetings or personal notes through a digital interface of your own supply (or one of theirs if you choose to fork out a few bucks), and upload the audio file to your free NoNotes.com account online.

The end result is a set of written notes that are automatically generated from your audio file, that can be edited and modified at your leisure. According to the website, grammatical accuracy is heavily dependent upon the quality of the audio uploaded. It’s suggested that the audio input device be as close to the speaker as possible, and also to try and get a hold of an omnidirectional mic to maximize the quality of your results. Meanwhile, the larger the file that’s uploaded, in theory, the longer it will take to upload and process through to your account. But for students with disabilities who have difficulty taking notes, or even for multi-tasking note-takers, this concept is gold.

Unfortunately, this is a pay service. Students who are uncomfortable with an entry point of $7.97 per audio hour should look elsewhere for more viable alternatives. The way it works is not so dissimilar to Skype’s method of payment for their VOIP service, according to NoNotes.com’s Q&A section of their website: “Your account total decreases each time you submit a file and you simply purchase more time as you go”. If you’re a student who has a few two-hour lectures per week, however, we’d suggest looking elsewhere; you’ll probably find your dollars being shot at with each bullet per lecture slide. In theory, though, this is headed in the right direction for keeping up with speedster lecturers, backing up your notes, and recording these experts teaching as they so fervently do.