Transcription, because you do too much

October 29, 2009 at 8:11 pm (Uncategorized)

I look at Shakesville and how the commitment to transcripts sometimes prevents Melissa from doing certain posts, and I look at how tired Lauredhel is after doing her Law and Order post, and, well, I’m dissatisfied. It seems to me that a commitment to transcripts quite obviously runs into some intersectional issues of its own. This isn’t an argument against transcripts. It’s just how it is.

Well, I don’t have kids, and I don’t have a fulltime job, and I don’t have chronic pain or fatigue, and I can see and hear well, and I actually really enjoy tasks such transcribing videos, so I have a proposal:

If you are in need of accessible video (or images), or if you are committed to providing accessible video (or images), but the energy needed to create transcripts is actually discouraging you from making posts, I invite you to e-mail me (quixotess@gmail.com) and request my transcription services.

Details:

I WILL do your transcripts for you, if two conditions are met:

1) I have the time to do it by the time you need it. So, ideally, specify when you would like the transcript by AND when you would like a “yes I can do it” or “no I cannot” response by (when you’ll have moved on.) I won’t necessarily have the time to do it–that’s just how things are.

2) Your transcript is not going to be used for hate or oppression. Obviously my communities of interest are feminists, radical women of color, womanists, anti-sexism advocates, but I’m going to tentatively say that you don’t have to identify as any of those things; you just have to want to be accessible to PWD. But I’m not transcribing, say, video of an Obama speech for someone who’s going to post it along with eliminationist rhetoric against him.

I do expect to be credited for the transcript or transcripts I make that you use. After all, it is work, and women go undercredited for the work that they do in this society. I do not expect to be compensated. If you would like to pay me for this, well, I’m not going to say no, okay? I need money for rent and tuition and various other things. I will be surprised and delighted and thankful. But I’m not doing it for money. The whole point of this is to provide people who are short on resources with a resource that may help them with accessibility. Time is a resource; money is another. If you find yourself thinking “I’d ask her for a transcript if I could only pay her,” seriously, wipe that thought from your mind. “I need a transcript that I can’t do myself, so I’ll ask Quixotess,” is a better one.

So, to recap:

A choice to engage in dialogue, discourse, or movement-building without making a commitment that any video used will be transcribed has a real cost in terms of cutting progressives out. A commitment to accessibility, combined with intersectional issues that make one short on time, energy, or spoons, has a real cost in terms of cutting progressives out. We can’t do it alone, people!

As a member of the progressive community, I have something I can give to help with that. quixotess@gmail.com

Let’s see if people are interested!